How to change your language on the Signal messaging app for iPhone, Android, or desktop

By: Business Insider

October 19, 2020 at 16:50 PM EDT

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Summary List Placement

If you're bilingual, traveling to another country, or simply want to practice your language skills, you may want to use Signal to send messages in another language. You can change your language settings on the Signal secure messaging app on Android and on newer iPhones. However, if you're using the desktop app, you can't change only the Signal app's language — you'll need to change the language of your whole computer.

How to change language on Signal using the desktop app

On the desktop version of Signal, the language used in Signal will match that of your computer's general settings. To change the overall language used in Signal, you'll have to change your computer's language settings directly. However, you can still toggle spell check options.

1. In Signal's desktop application, click on your profile icon in the upper left corner of the screen, then click "Preferences."

How_to_change_language_on_Signal_ _1 Chrissy Montelli/Business Insider

2. Scroll down to "General." You can click on the box next to "Enable spell check of text entered in message composition box" to check or uncheck it. If the box is checked, spell check is enabled; if the box is unchecked, spell check is disabled.

How_to_change_language_on_Signal_ _2 Chrissy Montelli/Business Insider

How to change language on Signal using the Android app

1. Open the Signal app and sign in if necessary.

2. Tap on your profile icon, located in the upper left corner of your screen.

How_to_change_language_on_Signal_ _3 Chrissy Montelli/Business Insider

3. Tap "Appearance."

How_to_change_language_on_Signal_ _4 Chrissy Montelli/Business Insider

4. Tap "Language."

How_to_change_language_on_Signal_ _5 Chrissy Montelli/Business Insider

5. Swipe up or down until you find the language you want to switch to, then tap on it. The language will change instantly.

How_to_change_language_on_Signal_ _6 Chrissy Montelli/Business Insider

How to change language on Signal using the iPhone app

Your ability to change the language on Signal for iPhone depends on the version of iOS your iPhone uses. If you're using iOS 12 or earlier, Signal's language will match your iPhone's default language settings. If you're using a more recent version of iOS, like iOS 13 or 14, you can change the language via your iOS settings for the Signal app.

1. To change the language of Signal on iOS 13 or 14, you must first enable multiple languages in your phone's Settings app. Open the Settings app on your device.

2. Tap "General."

3. Scroll down and select "Language & Region."

signal Grace Eliza Goodwin/Business Insider

4. On the next screen, tap "iPhone Language," then select a secondary language from the list.

5. Now that you've added a secondary language in your phone, you can change the language of Signal. Go to your phone's Settings app. Scroll down until you see Signal in the list of apps, and tap it.

signal2 Grace Eliza Goodwin/Business Insider

6. On the next screen, tap "Preferred Language," and select a language from the following list.

signal3 Grace Eliza Goodwin/Business Insider

7. Now, you can go back to the "General" tab and change your phone's default language back to your primary language, without affecting the Signal language you chose.

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