Apple’s new Live Translation feature will be unavailable to millions of European users when it launches next week, due to strict EU regulations holding back its rollout.
What is live translation?
Live Translation enables hands-free communication by allowing users to speak naturally while wearing AirPods. For conversations with non-AirPods users, the iPhone displays live transcriptions horizontally, showing translations in the other person’s preferred language.
The feature becomes even more powerful when both conversation participants wear compatible AirPods with Live Translation enabled. Active Noise Cancellation automatically lowers the volume of the other speaker, helping users focus on the translated audio while maintaining a natural interaction flow.
To use Live Translation, AirPods must be updated with the latest firmware and paired with an Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone running iOS 26 or later. iPhone 15 Pro and newer models are supported. Apple has been beta testing firmware in conjunction with iOS 26 beta updates, and we anticipate the firmware release on the same day as iOS 26’s official release on September 15.
Live Translation supports real-time translation between English (UK and US), French, German, Portuguese (Brazil), and Spanish. Apple plans to add Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese (simplified) support later this year.
But not in the EU
Apple says on its feature availability webpage that “Apple Intelligence: Live Translation with AirPods” won’t be available if both the user is physically in the EU and their Apple Account region is in the EU. Apple doesn’t give a reason for the restriction, but legal and regulatory pressures seem the most plausible culprits.
In particular, the EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) both impose strict requirements for how speech and translation services are offered. Regulators may want to study how Live Translation works, and how that impacts privacy, consent, data-flows, and user rights. Apple will also want to ensure its system fully complies with these rules before enabling the feature across EU accounts.
Apple’s Live Translation feature, unveiled during its AirPods Pro 3 announcement, is also coming to older models including AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation and AirPods Pro 2.
Last summer, Apple launched a host of new AI-powered features for its iPhones. However, the company delayed bringing these features to Europe until March this year due to criticism of the bloc’s Digital Markets Act, which came into force last year.
Apple argued that the EU competition laws require it to provide detailed access to its systems and data to rivals, which could potentially expose sensitive user information.sitive user information
