ABBYY has announced a major update to TextGrabber for Android. The application now translates text in real time online and offline and is free to download with a premium subscription for a number of features.

The updated TextGrabber instantly captures text in 61 languages and translates it in real time to 104 languages online and 10 languages offline. The app allows users to translate text of any colour on any background directly on the camera preview screen eliminating the need to take a photo, crop it or highlight the text. In contrast to other translation apps, it does not require users to download languages in order to translate offline.

TextGrabber automatically identifies if the device has access to a stable Internet connection, and if so, uses it to deliver full-text translation into 104 languages in real time. If the device does not have Internet access, the app switches to offline translation, which is essential for travel and everyday situations like understanding menus, street signs, labels, and more.

Offline translation works for 10 languages including English, Spanish, French, German, Chinese, and Japanese. The user also has the option to switch to the offline mode manually in the settings.

From now on, TextGrabber for Android is free to download. Upon installation, each user can leverage the full functionality of the app to capture, translate, and share three texts. After the three complimentary full-feature uses are over, they can still digitize texts and save them as notes in the app's internal storage – this functionality is free. If the user would like to access the full functionality again, they are offered to purchase a subscription for $US0.5 a month for the first two months and $US2 a month after that.

extGrabber captures text on photo or in realtime and connects it to action. The app helps to digitize books, magazines, manuals, screens, menus, posters, and street signs. The captured text can be copied, edited, shared, translated or voiced.

All links, phone numbers, email addresses, and street addresses become clickable for the user to easily perform the corresponding task: follow, call, email or find on maps. Text recognition is performed on the device. The technology works with 61 languages, the biggest number on the market in its category. All the digitized texts are saved in the app, easily accessible for further use.

TextGrabber also serves the needs of people with disabilities who can use it to capture and voice virtually any text from print, screens, street signs, and billboards. It improves accessibility of information, which is one of ABBYY's core values and priorities.

The app complements ABBYY's portfolio of tools that simplify capture, digitization, and extraction of data. The company's offering ranges from top-of-the-line mobile-based optical character recognition (OCR) to enterprise-level automated document processing enabled by machine learning and semantics.

TextGrabber for Android is available on Google Play: http://bit.ly/TGAGooglePlay The app is free to download. After the first three complimentary uses, some features require a subscription.