Live Translation is initially limited to select languages, including English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish.
AirPods Pro 2 with ANC (pictured) is equipped with a H2 chip
Apple's Live Translation feature, first introduced with the AirPods Pro 3, is now available on older models, including the AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) and the AirPods Pro 2. The Cupertino-based tech giant unveiled the AirPods Pro 3 with an improved design and a heart rate sensor on Tuesday, alongside the iPhone 17 series of smartphones. It comes with an IP57 rating and is claimed to offer a total battery life of up to 24 hours, including the case.
Apple has confirmed that its Live Translation feature will be available via a software update for the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 with ANC. However, the feature does not run on the AirPods themselves and requires a connected iPhone to function. A relatively recent iPhone model is also required for this feature, even when using AirPods Pro 3.
To use Live Translation, users must have compatible AirPods and an iPhone 15 Pro or later models, running iOS 26, as the feature depends on Apple Intelligence, which is only supported on these newer models. Notably, Apple has been testing the firmware with the iOS 26 beta updates, and the official release is expected to coincide with the release of iOS 26 on September 15.
Live Translation is initially limited to select languages, including English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish. Later this year, Apple plans to expand support to Italian, Japanese, Korean, and simplified Chinese. To use Live Translation, users press the stems of both AirPods simultaneously. The microphones then detect other languages, translate it into the user's preferred language, and play it back through the headphones.
Live Translation primarily supports one-sided conversations unless both participants have compatible AirPods with the latest software. To address this, Apple displays a transcript of the translated speech on the user's iPhone. This allows users to hear the translated speech through their AirPods, while they can read the response in their own language.
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