7 Easy Steps to Change the Language on an iPhone or iPad

Quick guide to change the text on your phone to any language

Written by Rain Kengly

Last Updated: September 14, 2024 Fact Checked

Did you know you can switch the language of the text on your iPhone? You can set another language as the primary or swap back and forth with English. Keep in mind that this will change the language on your entire device, and if you select a language that reads from right to left, all horizontal screen options will be reversed. Here's how to change the language on an iPhone.

Quick Steps

Open the Settings app.
Tap General.
Tap Language & Region.
Tap Add Language and select a language.
Set the new language as your primary or keep the current one.

Steps

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1
Open your iPhone's Settings
. This is the grey cog icon.
- Be sure to update your iPhone.
You may need to scroll down to find it.

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3
Tap Language & Region. This will be in the same group as Date & Time.
- You can also use this page to change your region.
4
Tap Add Language…. This is in blue underneath the 'Preferred Languages banner.
- A new page will open.
5
Select a new language. You can scroll down to find a language or use the search bar at the top.
- A pop-up menu will open.
6
Set your primary language. You can select the new language as your primary language or keep your current primary language (usually English).^{[1]
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- Once the language has been changed to your preferred one, you'll be back at the "Language & Region" screen.
- Adding a language will also add a new keyboard for that language.
7
Change your primary language back to English (optional). When your language changes, you'll still have the previous language underneath the Preferred Languages header. The one set as primary will be at the top, and any other languages will be below it.
- To change your primary language back to English:
  - Tap and hold the ☰ next to English. Drag it to the top.
  - Tap the red words in the pop-up menu. This confirms the primary language change.

Community Q&A

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Question

How do I change the iPhone 4 language to Persian/Dari?

Community Answer

It's just as easy as any other language. Select your desired language from the list of languages. Persian and Dari should appear on the list as "فارسی" and "دری", respectively.

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Tips

If your phone is stuck in a language that you can identify but can't understand and you can't find the Language & Region option, try typing "language & region" into Google Translate and setting the other side of the translator to the language in question.

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In this menu you can also set the country, such as USA, measurement system such as Metric or US, Temperature Unit (Celsius or Fahrenheit) and more.

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Warnings

Some languages, such as Arabic, use right-to-left writing instead of left-to-right. If your phone is in a right-to-left language, all horizontal screen options will be reversed (e.g., top-left-corner options will be in the top-right corner, etc.).

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