iOS 26.2 Expands Live Translation on AirPods to EU

[surferfb]

Malicious compliance. Apple has been actively fighting the DMA every way they can using both legal and public opinion.

As is their right, and as they should (and I hope they would) if they think a law is bad for them, their products and/or their users.

Apple's known to be awfully petty historically.
I wouldn't be so sure here.

I think you would agree that the headphone translation feature is a “software feature accessed or controlled via the operating system”, yes?

For everyone claiming Apple is just spiting the EU, don’t you think it’s at least conceivable that Apple’s lawyers told them they needed to give access to that feature to their competitors per the text of the DMA I quoted above? And if they didn’t want to do that, then they couldn’t release the feature without checking with the EU first? And Apple didn’t want to discuss an unannounced feature with a government they see as unreasonable, uninformed, biased, and hostile?

Doesn’t that make more sense that a plan that is:

• Withhold feature for two months
• Fold (presumably receiving nothing other than lost sales)
• Release the feature anyway

 

[turbineseaplane]

I honestly have no idea about any of that.

My only point was that Apple definitely has a track record of being petty so I wouldn’t rule that out as a contributing factor.

 

[NicoTRZ]

Stop ranting. Nothing about the DMA changed. The only thing that changed was Apple’s claim that they couldn’t offer Live Translation to EU users “because of DMA”. But now, magically, they can. Just in time for Christmas.

2 + 2 =4

It’s not « magic ». Apple said to a French company (numerama) that the reason the feature is launched now is because iOS 26.2 will include the API so that other competitive apps could listen for iPhone and AirPod microphones so they can develop a similar feature.

There, you can stop speculate now.

 

[svish]

Good to know about this. However would like to see more languages being supported. Hopefully at least the next iOS version will add more languages.

 

[MrSnirf]

I think you would agree that the headphone translation feature is a “software feature accessed or controlled via the operating system”, yes?

For everyone claiming Apple is just spiting the EU, don’t you think it’s at least conceivable that Apple’s lawyers told them they needed to give access to that feature to their competitors per the text of the DMA I quoted above? And if they didn’t want to do that, then they couldn’t release the feature without checking with the EU first? And Apple didn’t want to discuss an unannounced feature with a government they see as unreasonable, uninformed, biased, and hostile?

The DMA does not mandate that Apple provide 3rd party developers access to Live Translate. The DMA mandates that gatekeepers must provide 3rd party developers

"effective interoperability with, and access to hardware and software features" that they control.

The law is explicit about the quality of this access. Any interoperability solution must be

"as effective as those gatekeepers uses for its own services and hardware".

This is known as the "API parity" rule. The law does not state that Apple must provide developers the live translate feature. Apple must provide the same APIs they use to enable those features.

(continue below for details)

It’s not « magic ». Apple said to a French company (numerama) that the reason the feature is launched now is because iOS 26.2 will include the API so that other competitive apps could listen for iPhone and AirPod microphones so they can develop a similar feature.

There, you can stop speculate now.

It should be noted that, APIs that allow apps to use simple full duplex (one mic, one speaker) on iPhones and earbuds has existed for decades. Apple created a private API that they used to allow complex, multi-device, multi-stream audio routing. Making use of (two mics and two speakers). The DMA mandates that they make those APIs available to 3rd party developers.

The DMA was not something new to Apple, it was adopted in 2022 and compliance was required by 2024. So Apple knew that they had to provide those same APIs to 3rd party developers since 2022. They have been maliciously complying to the DMA, withhold a feature then claim the DMA is making it hard then eventually capitulate because they have to otherwise they can't do business in the EU. The API already existed just privately for Apple only use, now one can argue that since they have to make it "public" they have to make it more robust and secure so it can't be exploited to break security. I can also make the argument for why that's a good thing, they are being forced to make their system more secure for public use.


They are being petty, corporations are run by people and those people have egos. Court documents from various trials have shown how childish a lot of the corporate leaders are.

 

[Big_D]

I guess you need it more there than in usa...

It could prove helpful, my landlord's girlfriend is Chinese and speaks broken English and a few words of German, so that could be useful. She has Pro 2s, as do I, but my wife doesn't have an AirPods and only speaks German... It is fun watching the pair trying to communicate, although her boyfriend and I usually end up as translators.

 

[Big_D]

Nice to see that Apple was able to bring it into compliance with the DMA.

I wonder if there was ever a problem around compliance, or whether it was a "if we hold it back, people will moan loud enough that the EU will drop this DMA!" But I doubt that would work, most people moan at Apple, not the EU about it.

 

[Big_D]

I tried this feature in Germany at the weekend during a tour to a brewery.

Unfortunately it was a group tour so the audio wasn’t picking up clearly. When it did, the translation was too slow to be of any use.

And German <-> English seems to be a hard nut to crack as well. I'll be interested to see how Apple's attempt goes, I've been less than impressed with Google over the years - from funny to downright dangerous with their (mis)translations.

"Do not open the case, high voltage inside!" -> "Gehäuse öffnen, Starkstrom drinnen" (open the case high voltage inside - I think Google was trying to kill me, because I had defected from Android to iPhone! 🤣)

"Do not open the case, no user serviceable parts inside" -> "Gehäuse öffnen, nichts drin" (open the case nothing inside)

Being 2 classics (I did use the feature to update the translations, so they worked after that), but having to be fluent in both languages, so that you don't kill yourself, seems to make the whole translation thing pointless...

Luckily I am fluent in both, but I needed to translate a user manual in a couple of hours and thought Google Translate could do the hard lifting and I could just tidy it up. After I finished rolling around on the floor laughing, I went to my boss and told him that the translation would take a couple of days. He wasn't happy, but he had to lump it.

It would certainly make events easier. We had a 25th anniversary celebration at work and invited guests from all over Europe and a couple of prospects from the USA. All the speeches and presentations were in German and I had to do a simultaneous translation, because the CEO wouldn't pay for professionals to do it - they wanted to send 3 people, so they could switch out after 5-10 minutes, so they didn't burn out, I ended up doing 8 hours straight, with a 30 minute break for lunch! Luckily I had given many of the presentations in German, or knew the subject, so I blocked out what the speaker was saying and just gave the presentations in English with my words, which worked well, but I still had a splitting headache by the end of the day.

AirPods and other buds that translate could make such things much easier in the future, if they are accurate enough.

 

[Big_D]

They will sue Apple in a couple for years for making this technology only available for iPhones. ….. Actually it would be good if it could be used with people who has Android devices

Google has had this for a while now on their Pixel Buds, I think others do to.

 

[Big_D]

I tried this feature in Germany at the weekend during a tour to a brewery.

Unfortunately it was a group tour so the audio wasn’t picking up clearly. When it did, the translation was too slow to be of any use.

Before I moved to Germany and learnt German, I went on a tour of a graphite mine in Bavaria and the guide gave the tour in "German". I was with some Dutch friends and they said, no problem, we speak German, we'll translate.

After about 10 minutes, I had understood a couple of numbers (high pressure water jets used to blast the walls of the mine to dislodge graphite deposits). I asked my friends, "and, what did he say?" Their reply, "no idea, he isn't speaking German!" He was Bavarian and gave the tour in the Bavarian dialect! 🤣🤣

 

[Big_D]

That’s not really the use case it’s designed for. It’s been billed as very much a “one to one” listen and reply tool.

Yes, but just listening is one part of it. I would have thought, if it is accurate, it would be a real boon on tours. With Pixel Buds and AirPods doing this, it would make things a lot simpler.

 

[Big_D]

If a major company’s executives tried to tank revenue over spite, someone in the chain would leak, object, or escalate. Especially at a company like Apple, where product decisions are methodically justified in writing. They’d get sued by shareholders, the board would have to investigate, it’d be a PR nightmare.

Seriously, what’s more likely: Apple is cautious around a law that’s poorly written with tons of grey area an that has already been selectively used to declare that Apple’s inventions belong to everyone and could result in massive fines if Apple is willfully violating it.

OR

Tim Cook risks his reputation and career to withhold a feature for TWO MONTHS for no reason other to prove a point and then immediately caving without any return.

Come on.

I’m coining it Cook Derangement Syndrome. A lot of MacRumors posters have it bad!

What is more likely is that Apple will try and sabotage the DMA as much as possible, because it could cost them a lot more than the profit on a few AirPods long term...

The EU has said, "put away your money printing machine and service your customers properly." And Apple (and Google, Amazon, TikTok etc.) cares more about money than being fair to its customers.

 

[surferfb]

What is more likely is that Apple will try and sabotage the DMA as much as possible, because it could cost them a lot more than the profit on a few AirPods long term...

As they should, because they think it’s a bad law that will harm innovation and make things worse for Apple’s customers. If a company thinks a law is bad they should work hard to change it. Particularly when they are right.

The EU has said, "put away your money printing machine and service your customers properly." And Apple (and Google, Amazon, TikTok etc.) cares more about money than being fair to its customers.

That’s absolutely not what the EU said. The DMA is about protecting European companies, not end users. It will, in fact, make things worse for end users (similar to the way their cookie pop regulation is worse for end users) and the potential for massive security and privacy issues. But this thread isn’t in the politics forum so I’m not going to get into it more than that.

 

[dotnet]

Nice to see that Apple was able to bring it into compliance with the DMA.

I hope they set a billion Euros aside, for when the Commission finds out that two-way translation only works between AirPod users...

 

[MilaM]

Glad they found a way. Now I only need a new iPhone, because apparently the "live" part only works with iPhone 15 Pro and newer.

I'm wondering if this means, that live translation will also work with third-party Bluetooth headphones. That would be really neat and a win for consumers.

 

[Happy_John]

Yes, but just listening is one part of it. I would have thought, if it is accurate, it would be a real boon on tours. With Pixel Buds and AirPods doing this, it would make things a lot simpler.

It definitely would, but I don't think the technology is there yet - it's not "full Babel fish". Hopefully soon in the future.

I've tried it, and it works pretty well if 1) it's a one to one conversation 2) the person you are listening to knows you're using Live Translations and 3) the person does put long pauses after saying each "chunk" of information to be translated, giving you time to catch up.

I can see how it wouldn't be effective with a tour guide who is not dleibrately pausing and waiting for the transloatruon to "catch up". But, as it is, it's pretty impressive already - instant translation of people who do not need to deliberately add pauses is for a future iteration, hopefully.

 

[MilaM]

I can see how it wouldn't be effective with a tour guide who is not dleibrately pausing and waiting for the transloatruon to "catch up". But, as it is, it's pretty impressive already - instant translation of people who do not need to deliberately add pauses is for a future iteration, hopefully.

There is Bluetooth LE technology called Auracast. It essentially allows one device to broadcast an audio stream one-way to many receivers. In the future tour guides could use this to stream their voice to your smartphone, which in turn could translate it and forward the translated audio to everyone's Bluetooth headphones. The scenario is not too far-fetched I think. The building blocks are already there on recent hardware.

 

[Happy_John]

There is Bluetooth LE technology called Auracast. It essentially allows one device to broadcast an audio stream one-way to many receivers. In the future tour guides could use this to stream their voice to your smartphone, which in turn could translate it and forward the translated audio to everyone's Bluetooth headphones. The scenario is not too far-fetched I think. The building blocks are already there on recent hardware.

Quite a few "tourist attractions" in many places have pre-recorded guides that are trigged by rf at certain locations - this would also work on phones in the way you're describing.

 

[MilaM]

Quite a few "tourist attractions" in many places have pre-recorded guides that are trigged by rf at certain locations - this would also work on phones in the way you're describing.

Indeed. The only problem is, that most existing phones don't support this yet. It will take some time until the installed base of hardware catches up.

 

[BatAtPickingUsernames]

Why do you jump to that turn of events vs. something like "they withheld the feature because they thought it would be in violation if they didn't give it to competitors (or withheld it out of an abundance of caution), once they announced the feature, EU told them "you're good, you don't have to share that with your competitors" and so then they released it.

Honest question. What does Apple get from withholding it for two months other than bad press? You think Apple is making decisions that cost them money out of spite?

The EU regulators have stated that they have tried engaging with Apple several times and let them know they are open to clarifying situations like these before the features are launched to avoid delays but Apple has refused to engage several times.

Apple is pissed at the EU for several reasons, the two main ones being the massive tax bill Tim Cook called political bs but the European Court of Justice disagreed, and also for starting these anticompetitive probes that have led to regulators all over the world to reach the same conclusions, there’s basically not a single developed country where Apple isn’t being sued for anti competitive stuff, and the EU started that.

And now that there’s a president and administration that change trade policies and pressures foreign regulators in exchange for flattery, golden gifts, donations to ball rooms, and rhetoric that plays into their victimization narrative that the US and its trillion dollar companies are being unfairly treated, Apple is very clearly playing political games hoping trump will pressure foreign government into making these lawsuits and regulations go away. This combined with headlines of delayed features and press releases saying the DMA is harming European consumers are ways to pressure European regulators.

This is all factual.

This is my opinion: It’s not going very well, and it’s just damaging Apple’s relationship with regulators and governments but it seems Tim Cook’s ego is a bit involved. It also plays well with the right wing political influencers and people like musk who have declared the EU a communist hell hole, and have a personal vendetta against the previous competition commissioner. This is very telling because she was a champion of free markets and fair competition, with no direct state involvement, and with regulation only to correct market distortions. Ever since those influencers started using the EU as a talking point and some sort of boogeyman of liberalism, the number of American “experts” on the EU (that actually have no idea how it works) in comment sections have exploded in number, vomiting the same talking points that were regurgitated but those same podcasters, influencers and twitter bots.

 

[Big_D]

also for starting these anticompetitive probes that have led to regulators all over the world to reach the same conclusions, there’s basically not a single developed country where Apple isn’t being sued for anti competitive stuff, and the EU started that.

As a certain YouTuber says, “If you meet a butthole, maybe they are the butthole, but if everybody you meet is a butthole, maybe you are the butthole.”