Guide · Translate
How to translate text in a screenshot on Mac
Saw a UI, blog post, or tweet in another language? Translate it right off the screen — no copying, no retyping.
Photos and previews don’t let you select text, so translating them usually means retyping the whole thing into Google Translate. A screenshot tool that reads text can save you that entirely.
Two ways to translate on-screen text
Free option: take a screenshot, then on your iPhone in the Photos app you can lift and translate selected text. It works, but it requires an iPhone and several steps.
On your Mac with iShot: capture the text, then translate it in-place into 12+ languages. It reads natural, conversational output rather than word-by-word translation.
- Translate any on-screen text without retyping it.
- 12+ languages with natural, not literal, output.
- Powered by your own GPT, Claude, or an OpenAI-compatible API — you stay in control.
When it’s handy
- Reading foreign-language UI copy or docs.
- Understanding a tweet, post, or comment that isn’t selectable.
- Working with international design mockups.
Need the text as well as the translation? Start with copying text from a screenshot — OCR comes first, translation builds on it.