When Apple announced live translation on WWDC25, it highlighted use of uses like FaceTime, telephone calls and messages. But a major use case lacked: real world conversations. It turns out that it was also in preparation.
A new image alludes to the gesture of new AirPods
In the IOS 26 developer today Beta 6, we have spotted a new system asset which seems to represent a triggered gesture by pressing the two Airpods stems at the same time.
The image displays text in English, Portuguese, French and German, and it is associated with the Translate application. For the moment, we can confirm that it is associated specifically with Airpods Pro (2nd generation) And Airpods (4th generation).
Live translation of the real world is just in the portable wheelhouse
While Apple did not mention the translation of the real world to Airpods During the keynote wwdc25, Bloomberg had reported Earlier in the year, this feature was in preparation. It looks like a natural extension of the live translation features already announced for FaceTime, messages and telephone, and this is also a strong case for portable devices in general, something we have already seen with devices such as meta-rays.
At this stage, it is not clear what iPhones will support the new gesture, because it is very unlikely that the functionality will work entirely on the Airpods. But it is reasonable to assume that the cut will line up with the official material requirements of Apple for other live translation features:
Live translation in messages is available in Chinese (simplified), English (United Kingdom, United States), French (France), German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil) and Spanish (Spain) when Apple Intelligence is activated on a compatible iPhone, iPad or Mac, as well as on Apple Watch series, 9 and later Apple Watch and Apple Watch to an Apple Intelligence iPhone.
Live translation in the phone and FaceTime is available for individual calls in English (United Kingdom, United States), French (France), German, Portuguese (Brazil) and Spanish (Spain) when Apple Intelligence is activated on an iPhone compatible, iPad or Mac.
A little speculation
Given the need for even lower latency for the interactons of the real world, it is possible that this functionality is exclusive to the iPhone 17 range, which could help to explain why Apple has kept it under Wraps so far.
Aside from speculation, what we know is that Apple seems to prepare the release of an associated live translation function AirpodsAnd it is quite exciting, especially for all those who live abroad or traveling somewhere, the language is not familiar.
Could you see yourself using Airpods For live translation? Let us know in the comments.
