The AirPods May Become a ‘Star Trek-like’ Universal Translator in iOS 19
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Over the past few years, Apple has offered some pretty significant updates to its AirPods as part of each major iOS release, and it looks like iOS 19 won’t be an exception.
The history of improving AirPods with new iPhone software updates goes back to at least iOS 12, when Apple added Live Listen. However, that wasn’t nearly as groundbreaking as what came later; iOS 13 brought Audio Sharing and then iOS 14 introduced a whole laundry list of new features, from Spatial Audio to automatic device switching.
Apple took a slight break on audio features in iOS 15, introducing an enhanced Find My feature and Conversation Boost, and then followed that up with Personalized Spatial Audio in iOS 16. In 2023, iOS 17 upped the stakes with an impressive new Adaptive Audio feature for the AirPods Pro that included Adaptive Noise Control and Conversational Awareness, and iOS 18 added hands-free Siri interactions, Voice Isolation, and more, plus new hearing health features for the AirPods Pro.
Now, it looks like the big reveal for iOS 19 will be something that could be even more magical. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple is planning an AirPods feature that will be able to translate live conversations — in real time.
This sounds akin to a Star Trek-style universal translator, allowing you to pop in your AirPods and have them automatically translate what someone is saying in a foreign language.
At least, that’s the ideal. The feature isn’t new — Google has offered it on its Pixel buds for years, but it’s not as seamless as it sounds. Google’s implementation uses a Pixel phone as an intermediary, requiring that the other person speaks into the phone’s microphone, which is then translated and spoken into the wearer’s ears. In the other direction, the earbud-wearer speaks in their own language and the translation comes from their phone. In other words, the phone is doing the heavy lifting here, and the Pixel buds aren’t doing anything special beyond acting like a regular set of earbuds with a mic.
As Gurman notes, Apple’s solution could be more Trek-like, albeit still using the iPhone as the intermediary.
Still, the move promises to bring a Star Trek-like experience to AirPods users. 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. The English speaker’s words, meanwhile, will be translated into Spanish and played back by the iPhone.
Mark Gurman
That makes sense, as none of Apple’s AirPods have the processing power to run an entire translation engine on board. The Translate app on the iPhone can already process spoken conversations, so it wouldn’t be a massive stretch for Apple to take the same approach Google already has.
Still, we’re hoping Apple will go a step further by allowing it to be more easily triggered on the AirPods, and possibly even let their external mics pick up the other speaker and handle all the details with the iPhone behind the scenes. This would make for a more seamless “Universal Translator” experience where you could wear your earbuds naturally without holding your iPhone awkwardly in your hand to pick up what the other person is saying.
There’s also no word from Gurman or his sources on which AirPods models will be supported. In the past, Apple has limited some features to its more expensive AirPods Pro, while the AirPods Max have been completely left out due to their older H1 chip. Apple’s latest USB-C AirPods Max are still behind the curve, so expect them to continue to miss some of these latest enhancements. However, even though the AirPods 4 now use the same H2 chip as the AirPods Pro, they still lack the hearing health features Apple debuted last year, so there’s no guarantee they’ll get all the same iOS 19 features.
Meanwhile, Apple is reportedly working on a set of third-generation AirPods Pro that could be released later this year. These are likely to add the new health sensors that debuted in the Powerbeats Pro 2 last month, but it’s unclear what else is coming. Gurman has previously reported that Apple is exploring the idea of adding cameras to the AirPods Pro to tie them into Apple Intelligence, but that’s likely a longer-term project, and as Gurman said earlier this week, it “all hinges on Apple getting its AI in order.”
[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]
