Meta Platforms Tuesday said it is introducing a translation feature for its WhatsApp messaging service, aiming to ease cross-language chats among its more than 3 billion users.

The translations will initially be available in six languages on Android devices and 19 languages on iPhones, with more languages to follow.

"Message translations were designed to protect the privacy of your chats. That's why translations occur on your device where WhatsApp cannot see them," Meta said in a blog.

Users can long-press on a message and tap "Translate" to see any message in another language. The feature works for personal and group chats, as well as channel updates.

Android users can also enable automatic translation for an entire chat thread so future messages are translated by default.