Are Gesture-Enabled AirPod Live Translations Incoming? iOS 26 Beta Suggests Yes

Reports based on a developer beta version of iOS 26 seem to confirm Apple is working on this feature.

Some models of Apple's popular AirPods may soon be able to do live, in-person language translations when you squeeze both stems at the same time. 

According to an image posted by websites including 9to5Mac, the touch gesture is featured in a system asset that's part of Apple iOS 26 developer beta 6. In the image, the gesture is shown on a pair of AirPods with words in languages including English, Spanish, German, French and Portuguese. In June, Apple showed off AI-powered live translations features it plans to roll out for apps including Messages, FaceTime and Phone.