Apple AirPods Real-Time Translation Now Supports Korean... Also Available for Calls and Messages

Support for Korean, Chinese, and Japanese Begins
Translation Runs On-Device... Conversation Data Protected

Apple announced on November 4 that AirPods and FaceTime's real-time translation feature now additionally supports Korean, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, and Japanese.

The real-time translation feature on AirPods recognizes conversations between users speaking different languages and delivers them in real time in the language used by each user.

Apple announced on the 4th that AirPods and FaceTime's real-time translation feature now supports Korean, Chinese, and Japanese. Photo by Apple

The real-time translation feature is available on AirPods Pro 3, AirPods Pro 2, and fourth-generation AirPods models with Active Noise Cancellation (ANC). Even if the other party is not using AirPods, users can view real-time transcriptions in the other person's language through the translation application on iPhone.

This feature is currently available as a beta service and is scheduled for official support in iOS version 26.2. The currently supported languages are Korean, English, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Japanese, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Apple's real-time translation operates based on Apple Intelligence, Apple's artificial intelligence (AI) service. Apple Intelligence analyzes what both the user and the other party are saying and provides real-time translation. The translation process runs on-device, meaning the user's conversation is processed only within the device and does not pass through a server, which Apple says ensures the protection of users' conversations.

The real-time translation feature is also supported in the Messages, Phone, and FaceTime apps. In the Messages app, replies being typed by the user are automatically translated and delivered in the recipient's language. In the Phone app, users can listen to translated audio of the call or view transcriptions on the screen. In the FaceTime video call app, users can have conversations using translated real-time subtitles.