Apple reportedly plans to add a live-translation feature to AirPods

AirPods are arguably Apple's most popular post-iPhone product, and it sounds like the company has plans to make them even more essential. Bloomberg reports that Apple is adding a live-translate feature to AirPods later this year as part of an upcoming software update.

The feature sounds like it would work in a similar way to the translation feature on the Pixel Buds, only without the need to ask Google Assistant or in this case, Siri, to start listening for a specific language first. Apple's feature would reportedly automatically detect that something other than your native language is being spoken, and start converting what you're hearing into a language you understand.

Pixel Buds have had live-translation since 2020, one of the few abilities that makes Google's earbuds superior to Apple's. With the addition of the Translate app in iOS 14, Apple took at least one major step towards offering something similar, but the company never expanded on it in the years that followed.

Assuming it's released, this update would follow another major upgrade to the AirPods: Apple's Hearing Health features. In 2024, the company gave the AirPods Pro the ability to perform hearing tests and act as over-the-counter hearing aids. Adding translation could give AirPods owners even more reason to never take their headphones out. When you add in rumors that Apple might add heart-rate tracking to the AirPods like it did on the Beats Powerbeats Pro 2, its even easier to imagine how the headphones could go from wireless accessory to something you wear all the time, like an Apple Watch.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/apple-reportedly-plans-to-add-a-live-translation-feature-to-airpods-211402313.html?src=rss https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/apple-reportedly-plans-to-add-a-live-translation-feature-to-airpods-211402313.html?src=rss
Created 2mo | Mar 13, 2025, 11:20:16 PM


Login to add comment

Other posts in this group

'Delete for everyone' appears in the Google Messages beta

If you sent something you regret in a Google Messages RCS group chat, it looks like you'll soon be able to delete it for everyone, not just yourself. On Thursday, a Reddit user

May 9, 2025, 6:30:29 PM | Engadget
Whoop's latest wearables are smaller and offer 14-day battery life

Fitness tech company Whoop has

May 9, 2025, 6:30:28 PM | Engadget
Spanish company GMV is bringing GPS to the Moon

If you've ever taken a wrong turn at the Sea of Tranquility and ended up lost in the Ocean of Storms, then you're in luck, because the Moon is getting GPS, sort of. GMV, a Spanish capital business

May 9, 2025, 6:30:27 PM | Engadget
The best last-minute Mother's Day gifts: Gadgets and subscriptions mom will love

Mother's Day is nearly here — and the window to get a gift shipped on time is closing. The good news is, as of this writing, a majority of the gifts we recommend here should arrive by Sunday, if yo

May 9, 2025, 6:30:26 PM | Engadget
Surface Pro 12-inch review: A downgrade, but it sure is cute

The 12-inch Surface Pro is the most iPad-like hybrid tablet Microsoft has made yet, but to get there the company had to make plenty of compromises. Clocking in at 1.5 pounds, it weighs almost the s

May 9, 2025, 6:30:23 PM | Engadget
Google settles lawsuit that accused it of fostering systemic bias against Black employees

Google has agreed to pay $50 million to settle a lawsuit that accused the tech giant of s

May 9, 2025, 6:30:22 PM | Engadget