AirPods live translation blocked for EU users with EU Apple accounts

Summary

Apple's new Live Translation feature for AirPods will be off-limits to millions of European users when it arrives next week, with strict EU regulations likely holding back its rollout. 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. Live Translation enables hands-free communication by allowing users to speak naturally while wearing AirPods. For conversations with non-AirPods users, the iPhone can display live transcriptions horizontally, showing translations in the other person's preferred language. The feature becomes 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 translated audio while maintaining natural interaction flow. The new Live Translation functionality requires AirPods updated with the latest firmware to pair with an Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone running iOS 26 or later, so iPhone 15 Pro and newer models are supported. Apple has been beta testing firmware in concert with iOS 26 beta updates, and we expect the firmw...