iOS 26 Beta 6 Leaks In-Person Live Translation Feature For AirPods

Apple released iOS 26 beta 6, which brings additional bug fixes and experience refinements ahead of next month's iPhone 17 release. The first commercial version of iOS 26 should be available on supported devices after Apple unveils the 2025 iPhone models. That's the usual launch schedule for the newest iPhone operating system every year.

Apple might unveil additional iOS 26 features that are exclusive to the iPhone 17 series during the mid-September event. These are features Apple could not talk about at WWDC 2025 in June, when it unveiled most of iOS 26's novelties.

For example, Apple detailed Live Translation features for several native iOS 26 apps at WWDC 2025, but the company never mentioned in-person Live Translation support for AirPods. The feature first leaked in March. It has now leaked again thanks to the iOS 26 beta 6 release. The software build includes imagery that indicates Live Translation is coming to AirPods soon, according to findings from 9to5Mac and MacRumors.

In March, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman provided an example of how Live Translation on AirPods might work for in-person conversations. "The capability will work like this: If an English speaker is hearing someone talk in Spanish, the iPhone will translate the speech and relay it to the user's AirPods in English," Gurman explained. "The English speaker's words, meanwhile, will be translated into Spanish and played back by the iPhone."

This experience ensures that both parties would benefit from Live Translation. The person wearing AirPods will hear the foreign language translated live in the earbuds, while the other participant will hear a live translation via the AirPods user's iPhone. Gurman's explanation hasn't been confirmed by Apple.

The image above, first discovered by 9to5Mac and then verified by MacRumors in the iOS 26 beta 6 files, teases how the Live Translation process will start for the AirPods user. A double press on the stem of the earbuds should initiate Live Translation. The image is included in the Translate app inside iOS 26 beta 6, indicating which app will handle translation once the process starts.

The actual Live Translation process will happen on the iPhone, not the wireless earphones. It's likely the AI-powered translation process will happen on devices for in-person translations, just like other iOS 26 Live Translation features (see below). Also, Apple competitors handle AI live translation features similarly. For example, live translation has been a staple of Samsung's Galaxy suite of generative AI features on flagship phones starting with the Galaxy S24. Samsung's live translation features process data on-device.

It's unclear at the time of this writing whether Apple's Live Translation will require new AirPods and iPhone hardware. The image found in iOS 26 beta 6 indicates the feature would work with the current AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 models. However, it's unclear whether all iPhones that can run iOS 26 will support in-person Live Translation. Since the iPhone would handle language translation, Apple could always make Live Translation an iPhone 17 exclusive feature. This would explain why Apple did not announce Live Translation for in-person conversations back in June.

Apple did have a segment dedicated to Live Translation at WWDC 2025. Powered by Apple Intelligence, Live Translation will be integrated into Messages, FaceTime, and the Phone app in iOS 26. Apple said during the show that Live Translation is "enabled by Apple-built models that run entirely on device," stressing that "your personal conversations stay personal."

Live Translation will work with text in the Messages app, and voice in FaceTime and the Phone apps. Translated languages will appear on the screen alongside the original, as seen in the screenshot above. The Phone app will also offer a voice experience, as the iPhone will speak the translated words during a call. In other words, all the software elements Apple would need to support in-person Live Translation on AirPods seem to be already in place in iOS 26 beta 6.

Finally, Apple also announced a new API at WWDC that would help developers enable Live Translation support for calls made via third-party apps.