SurfEnglish
Bilingual news reader · iPhone · Free to start
SurfEnglish keeps the original and its translation together. Swipe right on a sentence to translate it in place, see language chunks highlighted automatically, and double-tap any word for the meaning that fits — with pronunciation.
Free download · 21 translation languages · App interface in 12 languages
Por qué algunas ciudades cierran sus calles a los coches los fines de semana
Cities across Europe are rethinking how streets work. A growing number of them now close entire districts to cars on weekends.
Ciudades de toda Europa están replanteándose cómo funcionan las calles. Cada vez más de ellas cierran barrios enteros al tráfico los fines de semana.
Live preview — real text, exactly how it reads in the app.
Three gestures
No switching to a translator, no losing your place. Translation, language chunks and word meanings appear exactly where you are reading.
01 · Swipe right
Swipe right on any sentence and its translation slides in directly beneath it. Read one sentence at a time, or switch to paragraph mode when you want more context. Both lines stay on screen, so you always see how the English maps to your language.
02 · One tap
After a sentence is translated, SurfEnglish can highlight its language chunks — the groups of words that work together, like “a growing number of”. See how the sentence is built at a glance, then open any chunk for a focused explanation.
03 · Double-tap
Double-tap an unfamiliar word for the sense that fits the sentence you are reading, not a generic dictionary list. Hear it pronounced, see the part of speech, and open the full entry when you want more.
Why bilingual reading
Pasting a sentence into a translator app answers one question and breaks your reading. When the original and the translation sit together, you compare them, notice the patterns, and keep going.
You never lose the English. Every translation is placed under its own sentence, so you can read the two side by side and check exactly what a phrase means.
Translate one sentence, one paragraph, or nothing at all. Hard articles stay readable, easy ones stay in English.
Sentences you translate and words you look up are saved with their context, then come back as quick games.
Real English news, every day
Follow the topics you care about — world news, sports, tech, travel, daily life — and get current articles from real sources, each with a CEFR-style level and reading time. Add your own HTTPS RSS feeds to read the sites you already love.
Explore the wider web New in 1.3.0
Search the web or enter an address in the built-in browser. Keep up to 24 tabs, save favorites, and pick up exactly where you left off after reopening the app. On supported webpages the same gestures work: swipe to translate, language chunks, double-tap lookup and read-aloud.
Listen
Words, sentences and whole passages are read aloud by an on-device neural voice engine (Kokoro) with 12 American and British voices. It runs entirely on your device — no connection needed, and what you read never leaves your phone.
Save what matters
Sentences you translate and words you look up stay connected to their original context. When you want to revisit them, two games turn your own reading into quick practice — no decks to build.
Every translated sentence and looked-up word is saved on your device automatically — with its source, context and review schedule.
Rebuild the sentences you translated, piece by piece, with translation hints and per-word pronunciation.
A retro handheld shooter — intercept falling word bombs by picking the right meaning before they land.
Capsules pile up — tap the word that matches the meaning before the stack overflows.
Pick words by meaning to reveal the hidden picture.
Made for the world
The app interface is available in 12 languages, and English can be translated into 21. Interface language and translation language are independent — set each to what feels right.
SurfEnglish Plus
The core reading tools are free every day, with daily limits on actions like translation, chunks and word lookup. Plus raises those limits and adds conveniences like automatic feed translation.
Monthly or yearly · Cancel anytime · No account needed — Plus follows your Apple ID
Private by design
Translated sentences, looked-up words, chunks and game stats live on your device. Nothing syncs unless you sign in.
SurfEnglish inserts no ads and uses no IDFA or cross-app tracking. Websites you open in the browser may show their own ads.
Sign in with Apple only if you want your topics and custom feeds to sync across devices.
FAQ
Every translation is placed directly below its own sentence or paragraph, so the English and your language stay on screen together. You read the original, glance at the translation when you need it, and keep going — instead of copying text into a translator app.
Swipe right on it. The translation slides in beneath the original. You can translate one sentence at a time or switch to paragraph mode in Settings, and choose between the cloud engine, the on-device engine and AI Natural Translation.
Groups of words that work together — phrases like “a growing number of” or “get used to”. SurfEnglish highlights them in the original text after a sentence is translated, automatically or on demand, and explains each one, so you see how English sentences are built.
Yes. Double-tap a word to get the meaning that fits the sentence, its part of speech and pronunciation, and open the full entry for more senses and examples.
21 languages: Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Thai, Hindi, Arabic, French, German, Italian, Russian, Turkish, Polish, Dutch, Ukrainian and English (US and UK). The app interface itself is available in 12 languages.
Yes. The feed, reader, browser, games and on-device voice are free every day, with daily limits on actions like translation, chunks and word lookup. SurfEnglish Plus raises those limits and adds automatic feed translation.
Partly. The on-device voice and the local translation engine work offline, and your saved articles and learning library are stored locally. The live feed, cloud translation, language chunks and word lookup need a connection.
Yes. Open the built-in browser, search or type an address, and keep up to 24 tabs. On supported webpages, sentence translation, language chunks, word lookup and read-aloud work the same way as in the feed.
No. SurfEnglish works fully without an account. Sign in with Apple only if you want your topics and custom feed definitions to sync across devices.
iPhone and iPad with iOS or iPadOS 18 or later. Get it on the App Store.
Real English news, with the translation right where you need it.
Download on theApp Store