Cry Translator App – But Does It Translate?

Today Show rang this afternoon and said ‘try this new app, it’s a crying translator’. The App is called the ‘Cry Translator’ and it’s supposed to listen to the sound of a baby crying and then give you some hints and tips on what to do to comfort the baby.


I have a 15 month daughter, so she doesn’t cry all that much any more. Tantrums are creeping in, but crying is on the way out. So to test the app, I loaded up a video on the web of a baby crying. I played the video, ran the app and then waited for the translation. ‘Hungry’ was the result, and then some suggestions on what to do with a hungry baby were provided.

I was talking on the phone to the segment producer to discuss how it worked, and ran the app again, same video. Funnily enough the translator came back and said ‘Bored’. What? The baby is hungry. I was just told it was hungry!

OK, so it is ‘bored’ and ‘hungry’. I ran it again twice, with the third and fourth translation coming back as ‘Sleepy’ and ‘Stress’.

Um, this baby either has a heap of problems, or this App is bogus and does not work. I also noted in the back part of the video of this baby crying, the baby stopped crying and smiled (well sort of), then went back to crying again.

If you have $13 in your app store account and want to waste it, get this App. I did get to thinking, the developers of this App are located in Barcelona, Spain. A few years I visited Barcelona and while there saw a women get robbed while walking down the street. Interesting that Barcelona managed to rob me, only this time I didn’t need to visit the place!!

Seriously though, save your $13 and leave the ‘Cry Translator’ on the virtual app store shelf.