AI-Summary – News For Tomorrow
Apple’s new Live Translation feature, part of Apple Intelligence, doesn’t require both participants in a conversation to own AirPods Pro 3. The AI translation is processed by iPhones that support Apple Intelligence. AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 are also compatible. If the other person lacks AirPods, the feature still works through your phone, playing translated audio for you and displaying text for them. Live Translation is accessible in Apple Intelligence with supported OS versions (iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, macOS Sequoia 15.1). Unfortunately, the feature is currently unavailable in the EU.
News summary provided by Gemini AI.
When I first saw the Live Translation feature during yesterday’s AirPods Pro 3 announcement, I asked myself a question. “Does this mean,” I thought, “that if you want to have a conversation with someone else in two different languages without the need to pull my phone out, we both need AirPods Pro 3?”
So I did some digging, and after a visit to the Apple support page for Apple Intelligence, I discovered that no, you won’t both need $249 worth of earbuds. Good news!
How does it work?
Because all the AI translation is handled by your iPhone, it’s not reliant on any hardware inside AirPods Pro 3 specifically. The only thing you do need is a phone that supports Apple Intelligence — and then you’ll be chatting in English, French, German, Brazilian Portuguese, and Spanish.
The AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 will both work with Apple’s latest AI feature. Should you come across someone in a foreign country, you won’t lack for ways to have a chat.
Of course, if the person you meet doesn’t have a pair of AirPods of any kind, then you can still use the Live Translation feature with just your phone. Your AirPods will play you the translated audio, and then your phone will show your conversation partner what you’re saying.
Live Translation is available to try out now in Apple Intelligence, as long as you’ve got a supported OS like iOS 18.1 or later, iPadOS 18.1 or later and macOS Sequoia 15.1 or later.
Unless you’re in the EU. No Live Translation for you.
