Live translation for Zoom, Google Meet and Teams church meetings
Live translation for Zoom, Google Meet and Teams can come from the platform itself or from Livefy. This guide is for a church that holds a Bible study, prayer meeting, small group or board meeting online with people who speak different languages. It sets out what each platform offers on its own, quoted from its own help pages on 19 October 2026, and then how Livefy listens to the meeting in a browser tab and puts the translation on each person's phone, in any of 109 languages.
Zoom: language interpretation and translated captions
- Language interpretation gives each language its own audio channel, spoken by an interpreter. The interpreters are people in the meeting whom the host makes interpreters, so the church still needs someone for each language. Zoom lists a "Pro, Business, Education, or Enterprise account" among the requirements, so the free Basic plan is not on the list. Its limits include: it "can't be used in meetings using a Personal Meeting ID (PMI)", "You can't add or start language interpretation for instant meetings", and it "can't be used in breakout rooms, only the main session of a meeting" source.
- Translated captions show what is said as captions in another language, and each person chooses their own. Zoom says they require "the host to be a member of a Zoom Workplace Business Plus, Zoom Workplace Enterprise Essentials, Zoom Workplace Enterprise Plus, or Zoom Workplace Enterprise Premier account, or assigned the Zoom Translated Captions add-on". The host decides which languages are offered: "Language pairs (the input speaking language and the output caption language) available to participants are determined by the host's settings." The page lists the languages it supports source.
- Voice translator speaks a translation in a computer voice. Its requirements include the "Live Translation add-on or ZoomMate" and the Zoom desktop app, and the page names nine languages source.
Google Meet: translated captions
In Google Meet, each person can turn on translated captions and choose the language for their own screen. Google's help page says "Translated captions are currently only available for the following Workspace editions": Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus and Google AI Pro for Education. A free Google account is not on that list. The page lists the languages, warns that "This feature is gradually rolling out and may not be available yet", and adds that "Translated captions only display for the parts of the conversation where you're in the meeting and have captions turned on" source.
Meet also has speech translation, which speaks your words in another language "in a voice like yours". Its page names Google AI Pro, Google AI Ultra, Workspace Business Standard and Plus, Enterprise Standard and Plus, Frontline Plus, AI Pro for Education and AI Expanded Access. Translation is "available between English and" French, German, Hindi, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish, "Only one pair of languages can be used for a meeting", and "There's a 90-minute limit on Speech Translation per meeting" source.
Microsoft Teams: live captions and interpretation
- Live captions in the language being spoken: "Teams has built-in closed captioning you can turn on from your meeting controls" source.
- Live translated captions "are available as part of Teams Premium and Microsoft Copilot, an add-on license". When "the meeting organizer has a Teams Premium or Microsoft Copilot license, all meeting participants can use translated captions and transcription without a specific license required." The page also says "Teams doesn't save captions" source.
- Language interpretation adds human interpreters, and the church finds them: "Microsoft does not provide interpreters." It "isn't currently supported for interpreters or attendees joining on Teams for web", and "Interpreters must join meetings on Teams for desktop" source.
- Interpreter is an AI agent that speaks a translation to each person. Its page says "20 hours of interpretation are included per person per month with a Microsoft Copilot license", lists ten languages, and says it "isn't currently supported in ad-hoc meetings, meetings using Microsoft Teams Rooms with personal devices, town halls, webinars, or Teams Free meetings" source.
The Livefy way: share the meeting tab
If your church already has one of the plans above, and every language you need is on its list, try the platform's own feature first. Livefy's live translation for Zoom, Meet and Teams does not depend on the meeting's plan. It listens to the meeting's own sound through its Browser tab source, and people follow on their phones as on a Sunday.
- Open the meeting in Chrome or Edge on a computer. Google Meet always runs in the browser. For Zoom, choose Join from your browser; for Teams, Continue on this browser. The Zoom and Teams desktop apps are not a browser tab, so their sound cannot be shared this way.
- Open Livefy in another tab of the same browser. On the Live page, under Audio, choose Browser tab.
- Click Go live. Chrome asks which tab to share: choose the meeting's tab and leave Also share tab audio switched on.
- Send the phone link in the meeting's chat. Each person opens it on their phone, or in another tab, and chooses their language: captions to read, or the voice in headphones.
Only the computer running Livefy needs the browser; everyone else joins the meeting as they always do. The phone link is Copy link in the Phones card, the same address as the QR code, and it needs no app and no account.
Two things can stop it. Safari and Firefox cannot share a tab's sound. And a Zoom host can turn off joining from the browser. Zoom's help page says the setting "is enabled by default", and that "The meeting host must have end-to-end encryption (E2EE) disabled for the Join from your browser link to display for participants" source. So try it once before the meeting.
Like any live translation, it makes mistakes, most often with names, uncommon words and unclear sound. The setup guide has these steps too, and the pricing page has the plans and the free trial.
When the speaker is you
The tab's sound is everyone in the meeting except you, because a meeting never plays your own voice back to you. So when you are the one speaking, choose This computer as the source, with your microphone, instead of Browser tab.
With your microphone as the source, Livefy translates you, not the others. If the leader teaches and the group answers, a helper can run Livefy on a computer of their own: they join the meeting in Chrome or Edge, stay muted, and share that tab. That tab then holds everyone, the leader included.
Headphones keep the voice out of the meeting
Listening with headphones keeps the translated voice out of each person's own microphone, so the meeting does not hear it. Ask everyone who listens to the voice on a phone to wear headphones or earphones, above all when they are on a computer with their microphone switched on.
People who read the captions need nothing more than the phone link.
A checklist before the meeting
- A laptop or desktop computer with Chrome or Edge. Phones and tablets cannot run Livefy; they read and listen.
- For Zoom, the host leaves Join from your browser on and end-to-end encryption off.
- The meeting open in the browser, not in the desktop app: Join from your browser for Zoom, Continue on this browser for Teams.
- The right source: Browser tab when others speak, This computer with your microphone when you do.
- The speaker language set to the language the meeting is held in, or the one used most if it mixes two.
- The caption languages, one for each language people need. The language checker shows what Livefy does for each pair.
- Voice on phones on, in the Phones card, if people will listen.
- The phone link copied and ready for the meeting chat, or sent beforehand in your group chat or an email.
- Headphones for everyone who will listen to the voice.
- A short try with one other person before the day, to see that the tab's sound is shared.
To see the page people will open on their phones, try the demo church: a short sermon on a loop, to read or to hear.
Questions
Can Livefy translate a Zoom meeting when people use the Zoom app?
Yes. Only the computer running Livefy has to join from Chrome or Edge, with Join from your browser. Everyone else can join as they always do. The Zoom desktop app is not a browser tab, so Livefy cannot share its sound.
Does everyone in the meeting need Livefy?
No. One computer runs Livefy. Everyone else opens the phone link from the meeting chat, with no app and no account, and chooses captions to read or the voice to hear.
Why is my own voice not translated?
The meeting tab holds everyone except you. When you are the speaker, choose This computer with your microphone instead of Browser tab, or ask a helper to run Livefy from a computer of their own.
Does it work in Safari or Firefox?
Not for meetings. Safari and Firefox cannot share a tab’s sound. Use Chrome or Edge on a laptop or desktop computer.
Do we need a paid Zoom, Google Workspace or Teams plan?
Not for Livefy, which listens to the meeting’s sound in a browser tab. The platforms’ own translated captions and AI voices need the plans or add-ons their help pages name.
What does Livefy cost for an online meeting?
Plans and the free trial are on the pricing page at livefy.live/pricing. Each caption language uses its own translation hours.
More guides: How to translate a sermon live · Church translation equipment: headsets, receivers or phones · AI translation for church: how to introduce it to your congregation · How to run a bilingual church service · Church interpreter tips: how to interpret a sermon well · How to become a multilingual church · all church translation guides