Google Brings Live Language Translation to Headphones and Earbuds on iPhone

Google announced that its Google Translate app for iPhone can do live language translation through earbuds and headphones. It’s also expanding language compatibility across Android and iOS.

“Google Translate’s Live translate with headphones is officially arriving on iOS,” Google product manager Sasha Kapur writes. “And we’re expanding the capability for both iOS and Android users to even more countries, including France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Thailand, and the U.K. Live translate helps you instantly understand and connect with the world right through any pair of headphones in over 70 languages.”

As Google describes it, Live translate is a “game changer” for international travel, and I’m sure that’s true given my experiences using this capability in transcription form on my Pixels and iPhones.

But I literally could have used this capability last night, when we had an in-person meeting of the owners of condominiums on the roof deck of our building. Most of the people present are native Spanish speakers, of course, and though most speak at least some English, the meeting was of course conducted in the local language. My plan was to use the live language capabilities provided by my AirPods Pro 3 earbuds and iPhone, but I didn’t download the language pack first and it was Spanish for Spain, not Mexico, anyway and never downloaded. So I just used the Google Translate app to read a live transcript of the what was said instead.

Using this feature is as simple as you’d expect: Just update Google Translate, connect your earbuds or headphones, and tap “Live translate.”