We are thrilled to announce a major milestone: Church Translation has officially arrived on iOS and Android! Download the brand-new, fully native apps today and enjoy a more personalized listening experience.

• Now Live in App Stores: Download the official native application today from both the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store.

• The Full Web Experience, Mobilized: Access every tool, translation capability, and feature you already love from the web version, now fully optimized for your smartphone or tablet.

• Custom On-Device Voices: Personalize the text-to-speech (listening) mode by choosing from any compatible native voice already installed on your device.

• Adjustable Speech Rate: Take control of your audio. Easily speed up or slow down the playback speed to comfortably follow along with the service at your own pace.

• Seamless Mobile Discovery: Visiting our web app from your phone? Look out for our new smart banner at the top of your screen, making it easier than ever to jump straight to your app store and download the mobile app.

The new Projector Page allows you to move beyond individual mobile devices and share the message with the whole room.

• Big Screen Ready: On the Translations page, you can now open a dedicated "Projector" view designed specifically for large screens and church projectors.

• Focused Language Support: Select a single language to be displayed in a large, readable format for your audience.

• Real-Time Shared Experience: Ensure that visitors without the mobile app can still follow along with the service in the selected language.

• Simple Setup: Launch the projector view with just one click directly from your existing translation dashboard.

Communication just got a lot easier. With our new Announcements feature, church leaders can share important updates directly with the entire community.

• Create with Ease: Administrators can now add and manage announcements directly within the Admin App.

• Custom Styling: Make your messages stand out! You can now style your text to highlight the most important information.

• Engagement Insights: Stay informed on your reach. In the Admin App, you can now see exactly how many mobile users have viewed each announcement.

• Live Preview: See exactly how your message will look before it goes live. You can now preview the announcement in the Admin App before saving it for the congregation.

• Native Language Access: Every announcement is automatically translated into all languages currently activated for your church. Mobile users will see the announcements instantly in their own selected language within the app.

• Visual Indicators: Mobile users will see a red marker in the app whenever a new announcement is created or updated, ensuring no update goes unnoticed.

🌐 Mobile & Access Improvements

• Auto-Language Detection: To make the first steps even easier, the app now automatically uses your phone's system language as the default during signup.

• Simplified Mobile Sign-In: Users can now simply scan a QR code directly from the app to join a session instantly.

• 6-Character Codes: We’ve shortened sign-in codes to 6 characters for easier manual entry.

• Backwards Compatibility: All your old QR codes will still work perfectly—no need to print new ones!

• Persistent Church History: Users can now see a list of previously joined churches, even when signing in with a new guest account.

👤 Account & Profile Management

• Guest to Permanent: Seamlessly transform a guest account into a permanent one without losing your history.

• Social Sign-In: Link or sign in using Google or Apple directly within the settings menu for a faster login experience.

  

• Profile Updates: You can now update your name and email address directly in the settings.

🎙️ Admin, Support & Community

• Audio Recording Indicator: The Translations page now features a live audio indicator while recording, providing visual peace of mind that your stream is active.

• New Help & Feedback Hub (Featurebase): We’ve integrated Featurebase to host our Helpcenter, Changelog, and public Roadmap.

  • AI Support Chat: Use the new chatbox to talk to an AI trained on our Helpcenter for instant answers, or connect with me directly.

    

  • Your Voice Matters: We have optimized our internal processes to deliver new features even quicker. Please use the Featurebase/Chat integration to request new features or upvote ideas from others! This helps us prioritize what matters most to your church.

  • https://churchtranslation.featurebase.app/roadmap

🚀 Coming Soon

• Church Announcement Page: Admins will soon be able to create formatted announcements that appear in the mobile app in the visitor's selected language.

• App Store & Play Store Launch: Native iOS and Android apps are in final testing and will be submitted shortly after the Announcement feature is finalized.

• Desktop Admin Apps: Native macOS and Windows versions are coming to allow recording control via external hardware.

We are thrilled to announce a new update bringing enhancements to user management, online activity monitoring, and various improvements within Church Translation.

You can now export the list of current users as a CSV

Steps:

• Go to User Management page

• Click on Download CSV in the Current users section (bottom right)

• The CSV will contain: Name and Email (if available), the selected language and the last login date

User Management page shows who’s online now

The user is online if there is a green dot next to the name

You can now see who is online on the Translation Page

We added a new section Users Online to the Translation Page.

• Here you can see who is currently online

• You can see

  • the Name and Email (if user signed up with Google or Apple)

  • the selected language

The Statistics Page will show the Cost by day accurately again

We introduced a bug during the last release, causing the Cost by day to show nothing. This is fixed now!

Split Sentences should not cut off too long text anymore

The split sentences feature on the Preparations Page did cut off text if it was too long. This is resolved now!

Please review the 👉 The Split Sentences Rules if you’re using Preparations as your translation tool.

Reduced lag for audio output on the mobile app

The text-to-speech (audio output) feature on the mobile app lagged behind the actual preaching quite a bit for two reasons:

1. the audio files were downloaded from our server once the text was ready to be spoken

2. the playback rate was set too low

Improvements

1. We’re now downloading up to 5 audio files in advance to reduce the time between the end of one file and the start of another

2. We increased the playback rate to 1.3 to not fall behind the actual preaching but still sound natural

3. In case the listening feature falls behind the actual preaching, we will not automatically scroll to the bottom anymore. Instead scroll to the actual text spoken.

We will enhance our support process very soon

We will be rolling out detailed articles about Church Translation

• Getting started guides

• Tips and Tricks

• General information (language support, pricing, etc)

The articles will be available in English and German.

Please checkout the first articles in 👉 The Help center.

The Changelog moved from a page on the actual website to 👉 here and will be released in English and German going forward.

PS: On that page you will also see “Feedback” and “Roadmap”. You will hear more about that soon!

Happy translation!

🎙️ Intelligent Speech-to-Text Upgrade

• AI-Driven Sentence Detection: Replaced "silence timers" with AI that detects natural sentence endings for faster, more responsive translations.

• Unified Language Models: Replaced regional accents with a single, high-performance model per language (e.g., one model for all English accents).

• Swiss German Note: While Swiss German is supported, we recommend using High German for maximum accuracy. Please test your specific setup before going live.

• Keyword Optimization: Added a 100-keyword limit to maintain high speeds. Your existing custom keywords have been prioritized.

• Action Required: We recommend testing the new system before your next Sunday service.

💰 Simplified Pricing Model

• No Hourly Fees: The €1.00 per hour Speech-to-Text fee has been completely removed.

• Flat Translation Rate: Pricing is now a simple €0.01 per 150 characters translated.

• Invoice Updates: Existing customers may still see a "Speech to Text" line item on upcoming invoices, but the charge will be €0.00 while we transition.

📱 Mobile App & Connectivity

• Stabilized Connections: Fixed real-time connection issues, specifically improving reliability for iOS users.

• Smart Reconnection: If a connection drops, the app now automatically reconnects and uses a 3-second "polling" system to ensure no translations are missed.

• Legacy Support: Restored compatibility for older smartphones to ensure all congregation members can stay connected.

🛠️ Additional Improvements

• Accurate "Users Online" Count: Overhauled the tracking system to provide significantly more accurate live attendance data.

• Extended Dictate Mode: Removed the 1-hour auto-disconnect to allow for uninterrupted workflows.

We've integrated a dedicated Billing Management Portal to simplify how you handle your Church Translation subscription.

• Access the Billing Portal: You can now directly open the billing portal right from your application settings.

• Self-Service Subscription Management:

  • Cancel Your Subscription

  • Update Payment Methods: Change your credit card or other payment details securely.

  • View Billing History: Access and download past invoices and receipts for your records.

• Powered by Stripe: All payment processing and sensitive financial data handling is managed securely by our trusted partner, Stripe. Church Translation does not store your payment information directly.​

• We've introduced an option to automatically approve new language requests from your users.

• To enable this feature, simply navigate to your settings and toggle on "Automatically approve languages".

• Please consider that every activated language will incur additional costs.