Short answer: the translate prompt is a suggestion, not a fixed button, and Chrome hides it in several ordinary situations. You do not need it. Open the three-dot menu and tap Translate to translate any page on demand. If that entry is missing too, the page’s language is probably not being detected, which the checks below will sort out.
Who this applies to
Chrome for Android and Chrome for iOS/iPadOS. Desktop Chrome shows a translate icon in the address bar instead and behaves differently. Nothing here requires a Google account or any special permission.
Why the translate prompt disappears
Chrome only offers to translate when it is reasonably confident the page is in a language you do not read. That confidence depends on the page declaring its language correctly, on Chrome detecting it, and on your own settings not having told Chrome to stop asking.
The last part catches most people. Every time you tap Never translate this language or dismiss the prompt a few times for a site, Chrome records that preference and stops offering. Months later, the prompt is simply gone and nothing on screen explains why. It is doing exactly what it was told.
Other reasons it stays hidden: the page is written in your own display language, the page has no language declared in its markup, most of the text is inside images rather than real text, or the site is a web app that loads content after the initial page load.
Which situation is yours?
- No prompt, but Translate works from the three-dot menu. The prompt was suppressed by a saved preference. Fix it in translate settings below.
- Translate is missing from the menu too. Chrome has not detected a translatable language on this page. Try a different page in the same language to confirm.
- Translate appears but fails or reverts. Usually a connection issue, since translation happens on Google’s servers rather than on your phone.
- Nothing translates anywhere, on any page. Check whether translation has been turned off entirely in settings.
How to translate a page right now
- Open the page you want to read.
- Tap the three-dot menu.
- Tap Translate.
- The translation bar appears at the bottom. Tap the language you want.
This works whether or not the automatic prompt ever showed. If you only need to read one page, stop here.
How to bring the automatic prompt back
Check that translation is switched on
- Open Chrome’s Settings from the three-dot menu.
- Tap Languages.
- Make sure the option to offer to translate pages is turned on.
Undo a “never translate” choice
This is the step that fixes the most cases, and the one people rarely find on their own, because the setting lives nowhere near where you dismissed the prompt.
- In Settings, then Languages, look for the list of languages you have added.
- Find any language marked as never translated, and turn that restriction off.
- Reload the foreign-language page.
On Android you may also see a per-site suppression. Reloading the page after clearing the language preference is usually enough to bring the prompt back.
Add the language you actually read
Chrome compares the page’s language with your preferred languages. If the list is wrong or incomplete, its judgement about what needs translating will be wrong too.
- In Settings, then Languages, add the languages you read.
- Remove any you do not read, since keeping them tells Chrome those pages need no translation.
Update Chrome and restart
- Update Chrome from the Play Store or App Store.
- Close it fully from the app switcher and reopen it.
If it still will not translate
A page with no declared language, or one whose text is embedded in images, cannot be translated by the browser regardless of settings. Two workarounds:
- Copy the text and paste it into the Google Translate app or translate.google.com.
- Use Google Lens on a screenshot, which reads text from images and offers translation.
An honest limit: we could not verify any current, officially acknowledged bug that removes the translate button for everyone. In our checks, the missing prompt traced back to settings, language detection, or page structure rather than a defect. If you have ruled out all of the above, the page itself is the likely reason.
FAQ
Why did the translate bar stop appearing on one site only?
You most likely dismissed it there several times, or chose never to translate that language. Chrome remembers per language and per site.
Does translation work offline?
No. Chrome’s page translation sends text to Google’s servers. On a weak connection it can fail or partially revert, which looks like a bug but is not.
Why is Translate missing from the three-dot menu entirely?
Chrome has not identified a translatable language on that page, usually because the page does not declare one, or its text is inside images.
Can I make Chrome always translate a language automatically?
Yes. When the translate bar is showing, use its options to always translate that language, and future pages convert without asking.
Is the Android and iPhone experience the same?
Broadly, though the menus differ slightly and iOS has historically offered fewer per-site controls. The three-dot menu route works on both.
What to remember
A missing translate prompt is nearly always a remembered preference rather than a fault. Translate from the three-dot menu when you need a page now, then clear the never-translate setting for that language if you want the automatic prompt back for good.
Last verified accurate: August 5, 2026.
