Translation

Aurora can automatically translate in-game text while you play — on your device with Apple’s translator, or online with Google Translate or DeepL. Translation is off by default and per-game — turning it on for one game never affects any other, and it ignores the Use Global Settings switch, so every game keeps its own service, language pair, and switches. Changes apply live, so there is no need to restart the game.

What you need depends on the translation service:

• Apple — needs iOS 18 or later. The first time you use a given language pair, its language model may have to be downloaded. That happens once per pair, and translation starts working once it finishes.
• Google and DeepL — work on iOS 15 or later and need an internet connection. DeepL also needs your own API key.

Apple’s on-device translator does not exist below iOS 18, so on iOS 15 to 17 Aurora uses Google instead.

Pick the service in the same place you turn translation on — Game Settings → Translation, or the in-game overlay. Like everything else here, the choice is per-game.

Runs entirely on your device: nothing is sent anywhere, and it keeps working offline once the language model has been downloaded. Available on iOS 18 and later, where it is the default.

Online translation through Google Translate. It is free, needs no key or account, and works on iOS 15 and later — which makes it the default below iOS 18. The text being translated is sent to Google.

Online translation through DeepL, usually the best quality of the three for conversational text — it also receives the last few lines of dialogue as context, so a line reads correctly in the scene around it.

DeepL needs your own API key, which you can create at deepl.com — the free tier covers 500,000 characters per month. Enter the key under Translation in the game’s settings or the in-game overlay, then tap Validate: Aurora checks the key and shows the character usage and quota on your account.

Because translations are cached on your device, each line is only ever sent once, so a character quota goes a long way.

• Game Settings → Translation — open a game’s settings from its detail page. Everything here is saved with the game.
• In-game overlay — open the in-game overlay, then open its settings and choose Translation. The window has the same switches and language pickers, and changes reach the running game right away.

The master switch for this game — auto-translation of in-game text, applied live while the game runs.

Shows the original text alongside the translation. Handy when a line reads oddly and you want to see what it was translated from.

Four switches choose which kinds of in-game text are translated. All of them apply live.

• Dialogue — conversation and message text.
• Choices — the options you pick from.
• Menus & UI — menu entries, labels, and other interface text.
• Names — proper names and other short labels.

The language the game is written in. Defaults to Japanese.

The language to translate into. The default is Device, shown with your device’s language code — it follows whatever language your device is set to. You can also pick a specific language, or None.

Translations are cached, so text you have already seen comes back without being translated again. The Translation Cache page shows how many entries are stored — in total and for this game — and how much space they take, with buttons to clear this game’s cache or the whole cache.

Translated text is often longer than the original, so where a game’s settings offer it you can adjust per-category text sizes — dialogue, choices, menus, and names — under Game Settings → Text → Text Size. See Settings for the rest of the per-game options.

• Translation is per-game, always — each game keeps its own on/off state, service, language pair, and category switches.
• Everything applies live, including changes made from the in-game overlay while a game is running.
• On iOS 17 and earlier, Apple’s on-device translator is not available, so Aurora uses Google instead — translation still works.
• Clearing the cache loses nothing permanent — cached lines are simply translated again the next time you see them.