Apple reportedly will add a live translation feature to AirPods in iOS 19 that will enable real-time conversations between people who speak different languages.
The feature will come alongside Apple “bolstering the translation technology in iOS 19.” With this advancement, Apple is set to compete with other ai translation earbuds, bringing seamless multilingual communication to AirPods. Learn more about the update here.
iOS 19 may bring live translation to AirPods
Apple has continuously improved AirPods via regular updates ever since the earbuds’ launch. Most recently, iOS 18 lowered the audio latency for AirPods Pro 2 and added head gestures for answering or declining calls. It also introduced Personalized Spatial Audio for games and Voice Isolation for superior voice call quality. More importantly, the update allows you to use AirPods Pro 2 as hearing aids, making them an excellent option for part-time use if you have mild to moderate hearing loss.
With iOS 19, Apple seemingly will focus on adding live translation capabilities to AirPods. Bloomberg reported Thursday that the feature will translate in-person conversations into another language in real time.
So, for example, if someone talks to you in Spanish, your AirPods will translate the conversation into English in real time. When you speak, your iPhone will translate your words into Spanish and play them through its speaker for the other person to hear.
The AirPods live translation feature would be tied to the upcoming iOS 19 release. Apple will first showcase the operating system to the world at WWDC25 in June. To go along with the real-time translation capabilities, Apple reportedly will improve its translation technology in iOS 19. It will likely use AI to improve the translation and speed up the process for a better experience.
Apple won’t be the first to offer this feature
Apple ships a Translate app in iPhones (for more info, read our post on how to use the iPhone’s built-in Translate app). However,
it does not offer live translation through AirPods. The company won’t be the first to offer such a feature, though. Google’s Pixel Buds lineup already provides real-time translation. Samsung also recently added a similar feature to the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro and Galaxy S25 Ultra.
However, Apple offering a live-translation feature will have a bigger impact, since so many people use iPhones and AirPods.
Samsung’s realtime translation feature gets generally positive reviews. Translations are generally fast and accurate, unless slang or technical language is used.
However, it’s not strictly ‘realtime.’ The speaker must finish their sentence first before any translation starts, making some conversations stop-and-start affairs. Plus, if the other party isn’t also wearing translation-capable earbuds, they have to listen to machine-generated responses, which sometimes doesn’t go down so well.
A report earlier this week claimed Apple will give iOS a major design overhaul this year — its largest since iOS 7. It appears the company plans to compensate for the absence of new AI features in the next iOS release with a refreshed design and several useful additions.
