Thing Translator
Take a picture and Google's AI will tell you what it is.
At a glance
Price not confirmed · Source review 2026-11-01- Price & billing
No price is stated on the official experiment page, and the experiment is marked inactive; do not treat it as a purchasable product.
- Free allowance
Not separately confirmed. Check the current plan before relying on a free allowance.
- Best suited to
Historical reference for a camera-based translation experiment; not a currently usable translation tool.
Fit is editorial guidance, not a measured result.- Platforms
Access: not separately verified. Operating systems not separately verified.
Published-source facts and editorial guidance. No product test is implied. Confirm current conditions before purchase.
No product screenshot is claimed for this listing. Use the official website ↗ to inspect the current interface.
What to know before choosing
Good fit
Historical reference for a camera-based translation experiment; not a currently usable translation tool.
Limits and trade-offs
The experiment is no longer active, so it cannot be relied on for live translation, language coverage or accuracy.
Plans and free allowances
No price is stated on the official experiment page, and the experiment is marked inactive; do not treat it as a purchasable product.
Evidence
Thing Translator experiment page ↗ (reviewed 2026-11-01)
Official published page review; no authenticated product test
Dates: Last reviewed 2026-11-01. Last reviewed is the latest source or editorial review date; it is not a content-change date.
A closer look at Thing Translator
Thing Translator is a 2017 Google experiment by Dan Motzenbecker that let users take a picture of something to hear how to say it in a different language. Its official Experiments with Google page states clearly that this experiment is no longer active, although the page itself remains as a record. It was built with Google's Cloud Vision API and Translate API, as one example of what could be made with machine learning APIs.
Editorial guidance based on published documentation. The workflow below is a suggested starting point, not a measured product result.
When to choose Thing Translator
- Readers who want to learn about an early camera-based translation experiment and its approach
- Language learners curious about how image recognition was combined with translation in 2017
- Researchers tracing the history of Google's machine learning experiments
When to choose something else
- Anyone who needs a working camera translation app today, since the page says the experiment is no longer active
- Users who need translation from an input other than a photo of an object
A practical starting workflow
- Read the archived experiment page to understand what Thing Translator was designed to do
- Note that it used a photo to identify an object and then spoke its name in another language
- Treat it as a historical reference, not as a tool to install or run
- For a working translation task, choose a currently supported translation app instead
Check before committing
- The archived page is a historical record, not a guarantee that the experiment still works
- Prices and features may change; no price or current availability is stated, and the experiment is marked inactive
- Evidence here is thin: only the official experiment page was reviewed, with no authenticated product test
Common questions
Is Thing Translator still active?
No. Its official page states that this experiment is no longer active, but readers can still learn about it on the page.
What did Thing Translator do?
It let users take a picture of something to hear how to say it in a different language, using Google's Cloud Vision API and Translate API.
Who built Thing Translator, and when?
The official Experiments with Google page dates it May 2017 and credits Dan Motzenbecker, built with friends at Google Creative Lab.
Compare approaches for this task
- LongScribe — AI transcription of long public videos and audio into clean text, subtitles and structured data.
- Glasp YouTube Summarizer — Free YouTube, article and PDF summaries with timestamps and transcripts, plus chat about the content for light research use.
- Gling — YouTube and creator video editing that starts from an AI-cleaned rough cut, edited by text and timeline.
Sources and checks
Last source review is not a date of product testing. No rating or test result is implied by inclusion. Check the current plan and terms before buying.