Swapit Update: Quick Select & Post Title/Description Translation

We’ve just updated Swapit with two key improvements:

1. Quick Select popular categories and filter settings
2. Translate Post Title and Description to and from 100 languages.

Get Your Update Swapit Today: http://get.swapit.la/now

We’re constantly improving Swapit and all changes Swapit introduces are based on our user feedback and demand.

This new update is already available on Google Play and will soon also be available on the Apple App Store.

HOW QUICK SELECT WORKS

We’ve added a small horizontal bar at the top of our list where you can now quickly select popular categories and filter settings. Here is how it looks like:

The top left image shows the standard way our Swapit product browse list looks like. After clicking one of the pre-defined “quick select” buttons, you can now quickly narrow down the content that’s shown to you. It’s easy, useful, and works like charm.

One of the reasons, why we introduced this feature, was that people didn’t realize – at a first glance – that there is such way to narrow down and filter the choice of products you see. From the onset, Swapit has some quite sophisticated filters, which allow you to only show what you’re interested in. However, many people don’t discover that at their first use of Swapit. As a result, they see a lot of items they might not be interested in right now, and as a result of that, they believe Swapit is not for them.

It’s that psychological compartmentalization, which then puts Swapit as an app and marketplace into that corner of the user’s brain where it might be useful, but is not at this moment in time. Swapit got used less because of that. In order to reduce this behavior, we’ve introduced our Quick Select bar. On purpose, we want Swapit to require as minimal or best no education on its usage at all. It just simply needs to work out-of-the-box and feel natural to our users.

Anyhow, just give it a try. We’re sure you like it.

HOW POST TRANSLATIONS WORK

Again, we’ve built this in the most easy way possible. If an item post is in a language you do not speak (check your profile settings), you will see a simple “See Translation” button in it. By clicking that button, the post’s title and description is being translated into the language your phone is set to.

The translation might take a second or two as we are using cognitive background processing to ensure a close-enough translation of such text.

Have you tried Swapit yet? Get it from: http://get.swapit.la/now

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Swapit Update: Chat Across 100 Languages with Instant Translations

Swapit is all about bringing people together. We’ve always been about removing barriers and with this release, Swapit buyers can chat with sellers across 100 different languages. It’s easy, instant, helps sellers close their sale and buyers get what they really want.

Update Swapit today: http://get.swapit.la/now

We’ve created the easiest way you can imagine, to communicate with someone who does not speak your language. It’s a free feature in Swapit and has just been rolled out across the globe in our iPhone and Android apps.

How Chat Translations Work

When you receive a chat message in a language you do not speak, you will now see a small “See Translation” button right next to that chat message. When you tap it, we translate that chat message into your own language and show it to you. This is how it may look like:

Not translated.

Translated to English.

Furthermore, let’s see how it looks for different chat partners.

Chat what the seller (Patrick) sees, who only speaks English and German.

Chat what the buyer (Couchpotato) sees, who only speaks Chinese and Tagalog.

The translations are not perfect, but they are sufficient to get the gist of it. They help buyers to communicate with sellers who do not speak their language. It’s something many of our users have asked for and we really like to listen and act on our user feedback. Thanks again to all of our loyal Swapit users! You really rock!

More Information While You Chat

In any chat window you might have with a buyer or a seller, you now see a re-designed header, which shows you the item the chat is about and your chat partner. At the same time, we now also show you whether it’s an item you’re selling and what languages your chat partner is speaking.

Languages which you speak and your chat partner speaks, are highlighted. So it’s easy for you to determine, that you two can actually communicate in the language you have in common.

How Swapit Knows About My Language

We introduced a new language setting in your user profile. When you launch your app for the first time, Swapit reads the language you have set your phone to, and sets it in Swapit as a language you speak. That’s the language, chat messages will be translated to when you hit the “See Translation” button.

In your profile you can also add additional languages you speak. That will help us identify matches between the languages you speak and your chat partner speaks. There is no upper limit to the number of languages you can add here. So even the Pope with his 7 spoken languages can join us!

Sale Posts In Your Language

In fact, we did not just improve chats. We’ve also added a more flexible setting when you’re posting items for sale. Up until recently, it was only possible to choose manually whether the item you post is in Chinese or in English. Now, you can choose any language you like. Similarly, the first time the post item screen opens, Swapit reads the language setting from the phone and sets that as a default language for the item you’re posting. We just assume you also post in the language you are using in your phone.

This language setting helps us sort through content on Swapit on a global scale.

Filter Items By Languages – Globally

Swapit is being used in dozens of countries and many different people with different nationalities who speak different languages are using it every day. When you open Swapit, you’ll automatically a list of items listed and you can jump right into them. Due to our standard search order setting of “by Distance”, all such items were posted nearby, which makes them most relevant to you.

Yet, in Swapit you’re also able to filter those items by language. Especially in multi-cultural cities like Hong Kong or in border areas, this is a very useful feature. Personally, my Chinese reading skills are very limited, so I do prefer item posts in English or German. So I can adjust this to my liking and only the items where I can read the title and description.

We’ve built a smart filter in this, though. Instead offering users to choose their languages of the item list out of the 100 languages we support, we offer you exactly the choices of languages, which are actually available by the current list of items. For example, if there are only items in the current result list, which are in English or Chinese, then you’ll be able to choose only between those two languages in the filter setting. It’s a quick one-tap switch to switch one language off.

Have you tried Swapit yet? Get it from: http://get.swapit.la/now