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Google Translate on mobile just got way smarter

Google just made its translation app a whole lot smarter.

Thanks to a new update, announced Wednesday, you can now use Google Translate within other apps on Android phones. When you copy text in a foreign language it will automatically bring a little pop-up that lets you translate it on the fly as well as translate responses, all without exiting the original app.

camels tourists desert mongolia china
Tourists ride camels on a tour of Xiangshawan Desert, also called Sounding Sand Desert on July 19, 2013 in Ordos of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China. Xiangshawan is China's famous tourist resort in the desert. It is located along the middle section of Kubuqi Desert on the south tip of Dalate League under Ordos City. Sliding down from the 110-metre-high, 45-degree sand hill, running a course of 200 metres, the sands produce the sound of automobile engines, a natural phenomenon that nobody can explain. Feng Li/Getty Images

Previously, using translate on mobile was a bit of an arduous process. You would have to leave the app to translate each individual piece of text — which isn't particularly handy for real-time messaging.

The new feature is being called Tap to Translate. Here’s a GIF showing how it works — and scroll down for a longer video demonstration.

Alongside Tap to Translate, Google is also bringing its offline language packs to iOS — meaning if you download some files in advance, you can translate things on your iPhone even without an internet connection.

The search giant is also now supporting Chinese for Word Lens — a neat Google Translate feature that automatically translates real-world written text.

The updates should be hitting phones in “the next few days,” Google says.

Here’s a longer video demonstration of Tap to Translate in action:

On February 28, Axel Springer, Business Insider's parent company, joined 31 other media groups and filed a $2.3 billion suit against Google in Dutch court, alleging losses suffered due to the company's advertising practices.

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