On this page
Which option fits
Zoom app
Translation inside the Zoom desktop app, from a side panel. No bot and no capture app.
Google Meet add-on
A side panel and a shared caption view in Meet on the web. Audio comes from a small capture window on the host's computer.
Zoom live streaming
Zoom streams the meeting to ChurchTranslator. Needs a paid Zoom plan (Pro or higher).
Meeting capture window
For any meeting in a browser: Meet, Teams, Webex or Zoom on the web. Share the meeting's tab.
All of them are on every plan, and the time counts toward your hours like any service. They're all set up from the dashboard's Streaming, Zoom & Meet page. Where it's switched on, a Translator bot card there can also send a translator into a Meet, Teams or Webex call.
Beta and review status
Zoom app
In beta with a few churches while Zoom reviews it for the App Marketplace.
Google Meet add-on
In review for the Google Workspace Marketplace. Other accounts can install it once it's published.
The listener link is public
A translated meeting plays on your church's normal listener page, the same link and QR code you use on Sunday. The side panel inside the meeting shows that link so people on phones can join.
One more thing: each campus has one live stream at a time. A meeting can't be translated on the same campus while a service is streaming there.
Translate a Zoom meeting
What you need
- The Zoom desktop app, version 6.5 or newer, for the host and for everyone who wants the side panel.
- Your Zoom account admin, once, to connect Zoom and allow the app to receive meeting audio.
- People on phones, tablets or Zoom in a browser use your listener link instead of the panel.
Step 1: Connect your Zoom account (once)
On the Streaming, Zoom & Meet page, in ChurchTranslator for Zoom (beta), click Connect Zoom account. Sign in on zoom.us as the account admin and approve.
Step 2: Allow meeting audio (once)
The Zoom account admin turns on Share realtime meeting content with apps in Zoom's account settings (Account Settings, then Meeting).
Step 3: Start translating
In the meeting, open Apps, choose Church Translator (that's how Zoom lists our app — two words), and click Translate this meeting. Zoom may ask you to approve sharing meeting audio.
Step 4: Invite everyone
Click Invite everyone so participants get the panel. They pick a language and press Listen. Hear only the translation mutes the meeting for them (Zoom asks them to allow it). Click Post link in chat for people on phones.
Translate a Google Meet
What you need
- Chrome on a computer for the host, with headphones.
- The add-on installed, by you or by your Google Workspace admin.
- People on phones, or not signed in to Meet, use your listener link.
Step 1: Link the meeting (optional)
On the Streaming, Zoom & Meet page, in Google Meet (beta), paste the Meet link and click Link meeting. A recurring meeting keeps its link every week.
Step 2: Open the add-on
In the meeting, open Activities, then ChurchTranslator and click Translate this meeting. Sign in with your ChurchTranslator account when asked.
Step 3: Start the capture window
A small capture window opens. Under Listen to, choose My microphone + the meeting, The meeting only (the speaker is remote) or My microphone only, then click Start streaming. To capture the meeting, share the Meet tab and tick Also share tab audio in Chrome's sharing prompt.
Step 4: Keep the window open
Participants listen in the side panel and read the shared caption view. Closing the capture window stops the translation.
Permissions, in plain words
Zoom app
- Runs inside your meetings and receives the meeting's audio while translation is on.
- Starts and stops that audio stream.
- Reads your Zoom account ID and user ID; keeps the meeting ID for 12 hours.
- Only Zoom users connected to your church can start it.
Google Meet add-on
- No account data: the add-on reads only the meeting code.
- It can't hear the meeting. Audio comes only from the capture window, through Chrome's own microphone and tab-sharing prompts.
- Only people signed in to your church's dashboard can start it.
Audio is translated live and isn't stored, unless your church has Service Replay on. See Transcripts, replay and dubbing for what is kept and for how long.
Fallbacks that work today
Zoom live streaming
Needs a paid Zoom plan (Pro or higher). On the Streaming, Zoom & Meet page, open Set up Zoom custom streaming and follow the steps: the Zoom account admin allows custom live streaming once, you paste the Stream URL, Stream key and Live streaming page URL into the meeting, then click More (…), then Live on Custom Live Streaming Service.
Meeting capture window
In the Google Meet (beta) card, click Open meeting capture and share the meeting's tab. It works for Meet, Teams, Webex or Zoom in a browser.
Either way, post your listener link in the meeting chat so people can pick their language, and ask them to turn the meeting's own volume down while they listen. Zoom's live stream adds some delay; a capture app on the speaker's own computer avoids it.
How to stop
Zoom app
In the panel, click Stop translating. Ending the meeting stops it too. A listener stops their own audio by pressing Listening, and the meeting's sound comes back when they close the panel.
Google Meet
Click Stop translating in the panel, or Stop streaming in the capture window, or close the capture window.
Zoom live streaming
Stop the live stream in Zoom, or end the meeting.
Removing the apps
- Zoom: in the Zoom App Marketplace, Manage, then Added Apps, then Remove.
- Meet: Activities, then ChurchTranslator, then ⋮, then Uninstall, or your Workspace admin removes it.
- To unlink your Zoom account, open Advanced: view or disconnect the linked Zoom account on the Streaming, Zoom & Meet page, clear the field and click Save.
Still stuck?
Email help@churchtranslator.ai with your church's name and what you see on screen, or visit the Support page.