Sept 23 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms ( META ) on 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.