Google’s onscreen keyboard gets built-in translation function

Google’s onscreen keyboard Gboard gets a built-in translation function. This allows users to translate text without having to open a full Translate app. The feature is in an online beta of the app.

The Translate function is accessible via a button on the toolbar at the top of Gboard. The app then asks for permission to send input in the text field to Google servers. According to Android Police, this only concerns input that users enter when using the translation function.

Text entered by users is translated by the keyboard and then pasted into the text field the user selected. The function should, among other things, make it faster and easier to chat in languages ​​that the user does not understand.

The feature is in Gboard 6.1, a beta version of the keyboard. The appearance of the feature in beta indicates that Google plans to introduce the built-in translations in the stable version of the application soon. Gboard 6.1 can be installed by becoming a tester of the app in the Play Store via this link. For now, the function only works on Android and not in the iOS version of the app.