macOS Live Captions shows speech in the original language—here's how to get real-time translation on any Mac app.
macOS Live Captions transcribes audio in the language being spoken but does not translate it. Apple's Live Translation feature works only inside specific apps—FaceTime, Phone, and Messages—on supported Mac models, and it doesn't provide translated captions for Zoom meetings, video players, games, or other desktop applications. If you need translated live captions for any app on your Mac, you need a third-party solution.
Translext is a Chrome extension that captures audio from any Mac app and displays live translated captions in a floating window that stays on top. It works with the Zoom or Teams desktop app, media players, browser-based meetings, and games. You'll need macOS 14.2 or later, a recent version of Chrome or Edge, and a one-time system permission to allow screen and audio recording. Audio is streamed to a speech translation service for translation, not stored, and you'll need a Translext account with available minutes.
Before Translext can capture computer audio, macOS requires explicit permission. Open System Settings, navigate to Privacy & Security, then scroll down to Screen & System Audio Recording. You'll see a list of apps; find your browser (Chrome or Microsoft Edge) and toggle the switch to the on position. macOS will prompt you to quit and restart the browser for the change to take effect—close all browser windows and reopen Chrome or Edge. This is a one-time setup step. Without this permission enabled, Chrome cannot share system audio with any extension, and the Computer audio source will fail silently or show an error when you attempt to start capture.
Visit translext.com and click the link to the Chrome Web Store, or search for Translext directly in the store. Click Add to Chrome, then confirm by clicking Add extension in the popup. Chrome installs the extension and shows a puzzle-piece icon in the toolbar. Click the puzzle piece, find Translext in the list, and click the pin icon so the Translext badge stays visible in your toolbar. Open the extension by clicking the badge. You'll be prompted to create a free account or sign in; new accounts receive free minutes to start. Once signed in, the extension panel opens and you're ready to select your audio source.
In the Translext panel, click the source dropdown and select Computer audio. Click Start. Chrome will open a system dialog asking you to choose what to share. Select the Entire Screen tab at the top of the dialog—not a specific window or Chrome tab. Make sure the Share system audio checkbox at the bottom left is ticked. Select any screen from the list and click Share. Translext immediately turns off the screen picture and uses only the audio stream. A small floating caption window appears on your desktop and stays on top of other apps. Translext detects the spoken language automatically and displays live translated captions in your chosen target language.
First, confirm that macOS 14.2 or later is installed—earlier versions don't support system audio sharing in Chrome. Check System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen & System Audio Recording and verify that your browser is toggled on; restart the browser after enabling it. If you shared a Chrome tab or application window instead of the entire screen, captions won't work—Computer audio requires Entire Screen with Share system audio checked. If the floating caption window appears but stays blank, check that sound is actually playing and audible on your Mac; Translext can only caption audio it hears. Make sure you selected Computer audio as the source, not Browser tab audio or Microphone. If problems persist, try quitting Chrome completely, reopening it, and starting a new Computer audio session. Live speech translation makes mistakes, especially with background noise, overlapping speakers, or technical jargon, so occasional caption errors are normal.
Yes. Computer audio mode captures sound from any application running on your Mac, including the Zoom desktop client, Microsoft Teams desktop app, Skype, Discord, Slack calls, and media players. Translext doesn't join meetings as a bot or integrate directly with these apps—it simply listens to whatever audio your Mac is playing and displays translated captions in a floating window. The process is the same for all desktop apps: select Computer audio in Translext, share your entire screen with system audio enabled, and captions appear on top of any window.
Yes. Switch on spoken translation and Translext reads each translated sentence aloud, with Computer audio as well as Browser tab audio. It removes its own voice from the sound it captures, so it never translates itself, and the captions keep showing in the floating window. If the original is loud, turn that app's volume down a little; the translated voice stays as loud.
Audio is streamed in real time to a real-time speech translation service and is not stored by Translext. The translated caption text is saved in your browser as session history so you can review what was said, but you can delete this history at any time or switch off history saving in settings. No audio files are created, and no recordings are kept. The Computer audio permission you grant in macOS System Settings allows Chrome to access system sound temporarily during a session; closing the session stops all audio capture immediately.
Translext detects the spoken language automatically from more than 70 supported languages and translates into any of those same languages. You choose your target translation language in the extension settings. Common pairs include Spanish to English, French to English, Mandarin to English, Japanese to English, and English to Spanish, but any combination works—Korean to German, Arabic to French, or Portuguese to Japanese. The automatic detection usually identifies the spoken language within a few seconds of audio, though live translation can make mistakes with accents, background noise, or mixed-language speech.
Chrome's screen-sharing API bundles system audio together with screen video—there's no way to share computer audio alone. When you select Entire Screen and tick Share system audio, Chrome captures both the picture and the sound. Translext turns off the screen video stream immediately after you click Share and uses only the audio channel, so your screen contents are never transmitted or displayed. This is a technical limitation of how Chrome implements system audio access on macOS, not a Translext design choice. The shared screen preview disappears as soon as Translext starts processing audio.
Translated captions and optional audio translation for online meetings, video calls and videos — in Chrome or any app on your computer. No bots to invite, nothing to upload.