How to use Earwig on iPad: live subtitles and translation

Getting started on iPad

1. Open Earwig. On a first run, a How to Use Earwig card explains the icons: read it and tap Continue.
2. Tap the icon in the bottom-left corner to choose what Earwig listens to: a microphone for someone in the room, or the iPad's own audio for another app.
3. Set From to the language being spoken and To to the language you want to read.
4. Start talking, or start the audio. Text appears as it is recognised, and the translation appears with it.

Changing languages

Tap From or To to get the list. The first time you use a language, its on-device model may need to download: one model recognises the language being spoken, another translates into the language you read. It happens once per language, and when both are installed Earwig needs no connection at all.

Subtitling Netflix, YouTube and other apps

This is the part that differs from the Mac. While the microphone is live, an iPad does not let other apps play audio, which is why choosing a microphone shows a Microphone Active notice. To subtitle another app, Earwig listens to the iPad's own audio through a Broadcast instead.

1. Open Control Centre.
2. Press and hold the Screen Record button.
3. Choose EarwigTranslator, then tap Start Broadcasting.
4. Go to the app you want to follow and press play. Earwig shows these same steps on screen whenever it is waiting for a broadcast.

Two translations at once

An iPad can open more than one subtitle window. Each window has its own From and To, but they all listen to the same audio, so one conversation can be read in two languages at the same time. It is also a good way to learn: the language you are studying in one window, the one you already know in the other.

Each extra window runs its own translation, so two ask more of the iPad than one. If the text starts to lag, close a window.