The best bit of travel tech I’ve used in years is this MagSafe iPhone accessory. It’s a translator puck that sits on the back of your iPhone to help you communicate like a local. I know what you’re thinking: “It’s 2025, why is a tech magazine praising a translator?” Trust me, I also had my doubts when this thing first turned up. But trust me when I say it got my out of a fair few jams.
This year, I’ve spent some time in China, among other places. Having struggled to learn much Mandarin, communicating can be quite hard. But this translation iPhone accessory from InnAIO is one of the best devices I’ve ever used. It lets you translate without having to open any apps… in your own voice… while offline… and also directly into text fields. Yeah – it’s the real deal.
Translation, translation, translation: What it’s like to use
So this translation iPhone accessory is about the same shape and size as Apple’s MagSafe charging puck – minus the cable. It sits on the back of your phone (quite securely I might add), ready to translate. Set-up is easy, you just need to connect to the device via Bluetooth and download InnAIO’s companion app.
Once you’ve got the app set-up, I’d recommend downloading some languages for offline use. You’re also going to want to dive into the settings and go through the voice cloning feature. This feature needs you to record your voice reading out a short paragraph, and then uses this recording to play out translated phrases in your own voice. It works a lot more reliably than I expected, and I think it’s a great feature that takes some of the awkwardness away from using a translator.
After that, you’re ready to start using the iPhone accessory, and it couldn’t be easier. There’s a small button on the back of the InnAIO puck that you hold down and talk into. The puck has a built-in microphone, so you’re not reliant on your phone’s. It also means you won’t get messed up if you’re watching content or listening to audio on your smartphone. It’ll then read aloud the phrase in your chosen language, and also display the translated text in the companion app.
The part that really sold this device to me is that you don’t need to have the InnAIO app on-screen. As long as it’s open in the background, you can be on your homepage or doing something else on your phone, press the button, and it’ll still read the translation out loud. It takes away the friction of having to constantly open an app like Google Translate.
One of the other best features is that you can use the puck to directly translate text. If you’re in the text field of any app (messaging, search, or maps), you can press the translator’s button and it’ll autofill the text field with the correct translation. While the iPhone accessory does a great job of this, it’s not perfect. You have to keep a picture-in-picture video window minimised on your iPhone. It’s a little annoying at first, but I got used to that and it didn’t affect my battery life. This is due to iOS limitations so it seems like this can’t be avoided.
Is it worth getting this iPhone accessory?
If you’re a frequent traveller that struggles to learn language, I’d say absolutely. InnAIO’s translation puck is smoother experience than apps like Google Translate, and it offers plenty more features to get your hands on. Slapped to the back of your iPhone, it’s also pretty slim at 0.17-inch and light at 35g.
While there are some experience quirks, like the PiP window, overall it made my life a bit easier while travelling. It’s not the cheapest device, but I think it’s worthwhile for frequent travellers. It’s available to order on Amazon or directly from InnAIO for $200.
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