Apple to Bring Live Translation on AirPods to EU Next Month

Apple announced today that Live Translation on AirPods will expand to the EU next month, starting with its 26.2 OS updates.

“Next month, Live Translation on AirPods will expand to the EU, making face-to-face conversations easier by helping users communicate even if they don’t speak the same language,” the Apple announcement explains. “Live Translation on AirPods Pro 3, AirPods Pro 2, and AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) enables in-person communication across select languages.1 This convenient, hands-free experience is powered by Apple Intelligence and advanced computational audio, making it effortless for people to stay connected — whether they’re traveling to a new place, collaborating at work or school, or simply catching up with the people who matter most.”

Apple debuted Live Translation with the AirPods Pro 3 in September, and then it revealed later that month that the feature would not be available in the EU immediately. But now that its customers in the EU have suffered appropriately for their government’s aggressive antitrust enforcement, they can catch up with the rest of the world.

As noted, Live Translation works with the AirPods Pro 3, AirPods Pro 2, and AirPods 4 with the feature enabled on the iPhone as well. It’s integrated into Messages, FaceTime, and the Phone app, and uses on-device processing to translate between English, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Simplified and Traditional Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.

Live Translation is available today in the first developer beta of iOS 26.2 and the latest pre-release AirPods firmware. And Apple says there will be a public beta soon.