- Live translation comes to AirPods 4, AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3
- Not available in EU to EU-based Apple accounts
- Apple says it’s because of EU rules
One of the most impressive features of the AirPods Pro 3 is live translation that offers real-time translation between several different language-ice Europeans at launch. But the feature is actually not available to people living in many of these countries.
It’s also a stroke for AirPods 4 with ANC and AirPods Pro 2 owners who expected Live Translation to arrive in their ears with the launch of iOS 26. And it’s Apple’s own iOS 26 page that contains the bad news.
If you are in a country in the EU – so the UK is not affected – the feature has been delayed. It’s still coming, Apple says. But that doesn’t mean when.
Why can’t Europeans use live translation for their own country’s languages?
Here’s what Apple has published:
“Apple Intelligence: Live Translation with AirPods
Live Translation with AirPods is not available if you are in the EU and your Apple Account country or region is also in the EU ”
The first available languages are:
- English (UK)
- English (USA)
- French (France) – Not available in the EU
- German (Germany) – Not available in the EU
- Portuguese (Brazil)
- Spanish (Spain) – Not available in EU
In a speech with Techcrunch, Apple accused the EU’s digital markets act and its interoperability requirements; Apparently, speculation was that the delay was due to the EU data protection provisions being incorrect.
DMA is the same law that Apple said was responsible for postponing some Apple intelligence functions for European users last year.
Apple and other tech giants are not big fans of DMA. According to this legislation, both Apple and Meta were hit with fines earlier this year – in Apple’s case by not allowing app developers to point out alternative offers outside Apple’s own App Store. Meta’s fine was for violating DMA by combining their personal data from multiple services.
If you are the cynical type, you may think it is in Apple’s interests to make DMA look bad for EU voters, but whatever you think about the background is the big question: When do you get live translation?
The short answer is that we do not know, but it is probably months rather than weeks: Apple’s EU-delayed Apple Intelligence Features arrived in March 2025, five months after non-EU customers got the entire collection in iOS 18.1.
