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AirPods Getting Live Translation Feature Later This Year

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Apple is working on a feature that will let the AirPods translate in-person conversations from one language to another, reports Bloomberg. The functionality will be linked to iOS 19, and it will be introduced in an AirPods software update planned for later this year.

airpods-pro-2-blue.jpeg

The AirPods will be able to provide a simpler translation process for people who are speaking different languages, though the process will rely on the Translate app on the iPhone.

If an English speaker with AirPods is talking to someone who is speaking Spanish, the iPhone will detect the audio, translate the speech, and relay it back in English to the person wearing AirPods. The person speaking English will then be able to respond and have their response translated to Spanish and spoken aloud by the iPhone. Apple's iPhone Translate app can already be used for conversations like this, but having the function included in the AirPods will streamline the exchange.

To go along with the new AirPods feature, Apple is also planning to improve the Translate app in iOS 19, though no details are available at this time. While Apple is working on new AirPods Pro 3 earbuds that are set to launch in 2025, it sounds like Apple might bring the iOS 19 Translate feature to existing models as well.

Apple has been tying AirPods updates to iOS updates in recent years. In iOS 18, for example, Apple added a suite of hearing health capabilities that test for hearing issues and allow the AirPods to be used as a hearing aid if problems are detected.

Article Link: AirPods Getting Live Translation Feature Later This Year
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/03/13/airpods-live-translation-ios-19/
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This is cool. Will Apple make a live translation mode where everything it hears is translated into the user's language. Can it be as good as 2 people having a discussion in 2 different languages and it's smooth.

It will "rely on the Translate app". Is this a sick joke? Every time I use Translate to translate languages spoken around me it comes-up with nothing...
 
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The translation app is really poor at the moment, as is the integration with the action button. It is almost like it was never even tested in the real word by whoever designed it. It lets me down all of the time, sometimes at critical moments when I need a fast translation. I would like to think they will improve it, but I am losing any faith in Apple's software development.
 
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Based on the general results I've had with any automatic translation of any sort over the last few years, I will decline this and either learn the language enough to look like an idiot or hope they speak my native tongue or the other one I'm vaguely proficient.

Then there's this problem:

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I am excited for this since have family and friends who are from Europe speaking one language only and same with friends speaking Spanish from mexico so having some help and being part of conversations is great with this update. I know there are current devices like Timekettle that does the same and reasonable priced. Will see how this goes.
 
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Apple's gone totally to **** lmao!! Can't even make basic software that doesn't crash every 5 minutes anymore. Too busy counting their billions while Tim Cook wastes his time playing Hollywood producer with that Severance garbage. Remember when Apple actually WORKED? What a joke they've become.
 
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I know Apple absolutely blew it with Apple Intelligence, but let's remember that's a product they officially announced and advertised all over the place. They deserve all the scorn and skepticism they get for that.

This rumored AirPods translation thing (and so many other things on this site) are just speculation. If it doesn't happen or happens on a different time frame, that's not the same as them trumpeting a product and then not delivering it.
 
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ignatius345 said:
I know Apple absolutely blew it with Apple Intelligence, but let's remember that's a product they officially announced and advertised all over the place. They deserve all the scorn and skepticism they get for that.

This rumored AirPods translation thing (and so many other things on this site) are just speculation. If it doesn't happen or happens on a different time frame, that's not the same as them trumpeting a product and then not delivering it.
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That requires far more nuance than your average internet commenter is capable of. Any time one of Kuo's made up products is 'delayed' people rage at Apple anyway.
 
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