留学生 · STUDY PAL
Support
A translator for foreigners living in China. Press the red button and speak, or point the camera at a menu, then hand the phone over.
Getting started
How do I use it?
Press the red disc and talk. Whatever you say comes out in Chinese, large enough to hold up to somebody. When they speak back, press it again — Chinese comes back in your language. You never choose a direction; it works out which way round you are going.
Do I need an account?
No. There is nothing to sign up for and nothing to log in to. Everything you do stays on your phone.
It should be on my home screen
It works much better installed. On an iPhone, open it in Safari, press the share button and choose Add to Home Screen. On Android, open the browser menu and choose Install app. It then opens full screen and keeps your phrases between visits.
When something is not working
I opened it from a WeChat message and it behaves oddly
WeChat’s built-in browser is limited — it cannot install the app to your home screen, and copying sometimes needs you to press and hold the characters instead of the button. Tap the ··· menu in the top corner and choose Open in Browser. Everything works normally there.
The microphone does not work
On an iPhone this needs Safari, and the page has to be allowed to use the microphone the first time it asks. If you refused, the permission is in Settings under Safari. You can always type instead — the field under the button does exactly the same thing.
The camera will not open
Same answer: the page needs permission, asked the first time you press the button. If the restaurant is dark and the code will not read, there is a light control on the scanner on phones that support it.
I scanned a code and nothing happened
Many Chinese QR codes are WeChat mini-programmes or Alipay payment codes, and no app outside those two can open them — the app will say so. If it is an ordinary website, it offers to open and translate it for you.
Answers come back in English when I chose another language
The language setting controls one direction: what Chinese is translated *into* for you. What you say always comes out in Chinese, because that is the part you hold up to somebody. To see it working, point the camera at something Chinese.
My phrases have gone
They live in this browser’s storage on this phone. Clearing your browser data, switching to a different browser, or using a private window will lose them. Installing the app to your home screen is the reliable way to keep them.
Your data
What do you keep about me?
Almost nothing. There are no accounts, no advertising and no tracking, and your IP address is never read. The privacy page lists exactly what is stored and where.
How do I delete something?
Every phrase has a delete beside it in the history on the home screen. Start the phrases again on the Study screen clears all of them at once, including everything the app learned from them. Deleting the app removes the rest.
Still stuck
There is an Ask a question box on the You screen and on the Study screen — it answers questions about China, the language and about the app itself, and it is usually faster than writing to anybody.
If you need a person, write to [ contact address to be added ].