Abuela talks in Spanish. Halmoni talks in Korean. Ammamma talks in Malayalam. The grandkids answer in English. Grandkins translates the video call as you talk, so each of you hears the other in your own language, with captions on screen. iPhone or Android, Guadalajara, Seoul, Kochi or Chicago.
14-day free trial · one plan for the whole family · calls are never recorded
Illustration · actors from stock footage
The translation built into phones today mostly skips Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu on calls, and often works only on certain phones. We started from the other end: the languages grandparents actually speak, on the phones they already have.
Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, Punjabi and Urdu, each translated both ways, including the ones phones leave out.
Spanish, Chinese (Mandarin), Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, Filipino, Arabic, Persian, Russian, Ukrainian, Portuguese, French and 13 more. Any two of the 36 work together. See all 36
Lola's Android in Manila, your iPhone in Texas, your brother on a laptop in London. Everyone uses the same Grandkins app, whatever phone they have.
Calls run over Wi-Fi or mobile data, so there are no international calling rates. Time zones are handled for you when you schedule a regular call.
Any two of these work together on calls and messages. Highlighted ones have their own guide.
Grandparents get exactly what everyone else gets. One person sets the family up; everyone else joins with a code.
Sign up with your email and a code we send you. No password needed. Add each person with the language they speak, send them their invite, and choose who can call whom. The plan and the privacy settings stay with you.
See the full walkthrough
Install Grandkins, tap "Join my family", type the code and pick the languages they speak. No email, no password. The buttons are in simple English, and every word the family says reaches them in their own language.
How joining worksThe kind of thing families actually say, and what each side hears. Pick a language:
Three steps for you. One code for each of them.
Each person once: their name, who they are, and the language they speak. That's the language their calls and messages will be translated into.
Grandma gets a message on WhatsApp or by text with a link to the app and a 6-letter code. She taps "Join my family", types it, and she's in. The code works for 7 days.
Video calls with a translated voice and captions. Voice, video and text messages that arrive in the other person's language. Nobody interprets for anyone.
The translation is the means. What you're really after is Grandma and the kids knowing each other.
One-to-one or the whole family together. Each person hears a translated voice in their own language, with captions. A green outline shows who's talking; amber means their translation is on its way.
Speak or type in your language. It arrives in theirs, as text and as a spoken translation. Tap "Hear their real voice" to hear the person themselves.
Record a short video for someone who's asleep on the other side of the world. They watch it with captions in their language and can hear it spoken in their language too.
Tap Book on a call and pick one of 62 picture books for ages 2 to 9, every one in English and Spanish and most in Malayalam, Tamil, Hindi and more. You both see the same page, the pages turn together, and it remembers where you stopped. Books from StoryWeaver by Pratham Books.
One group chat for everyone. Each person reads the whole family's messages in their own language, so the cousins and the grandparents are in the same conversation. You can send a video to everyone at once, too.
Calls are never recorded. The written words of each call are kept, and when something lovely happens you can tap "Save this moment". Anyone can turn Memories off during a call.
Each week the family gets one question to ask each other, like "Who was your best friend in school?" It's an easy way to get Grandpa talking.
Set a weekly call and everyone gets a reminder ten minutes before, shown in their own time zone. No more "is it morning there yet?"
The phone can say who's calling out loud. For someone who finds answering hard, calls can pick up by themselves while the app is open (off unless you turn it on). And an "Ask for help" button tells the organizer they need a hand.
Up to 15 people on one plan. The plan's minutes are only used while translation is on.
Early families are in our founding period: Grandkins is free and unlimited for them while it lasts. Calls are never recorded. Only the written words and the moments you choose to save are kept.
Abuela speaks Spanish, Halmoni speaks Korean, Ammamma speaks Malayalam. On Grandkins they just talk, and everything the family says comes back to them in their own language, as a voice and as captions.
Your kids talk to their grandparents without you interpreting in the middle. The call translates both ways, so the relationship is finally theirs.
She grew up in Seoul; you grew up in Ohio. Until now, every word between you and your mother-in-law went through your spouse. On Grandkins you talk to each other directly, and get to know the woman who raised the person you love.
Kerala to Kentucky, Manila to Houston, Guadalajara to Chicago. Everyone uses the same app on whatever phone they have, and a regular Sunday call lands at the right hour in every house.
Only the written words of a call and the moments someone chooses to save are kept, inside your family. Anyone can turn Memories off during a call.
Families pay for a plan, and that's the whole business. Your family's conversations are not a product, and we never use them to train AI.
A parent adds each child, with consent for anyone under 13. Children can reach only the family members the organizer allows.
No contract. Cancel whenever you like, download your family's data, or delete everything for good.
Pick the language your grandparents speak, or the situation you're in.
Malayalam Tamil Telugu Hindi Spanish Chinese Korean Filipino Vietnamese Arabic
All 36 languages
Set your family up in a few minutes. Send Grandma her code tonight.
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Grandkins