Apple Announces Live Translation for Messages, FaceTime, and Phone Apps - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Apple Announces Live Translation for Messages, FaceTime, and Phone Apps

Apple at WWDC today unveiled Live Translation, a new feature that breaks down language barriers across its core communication apps. The capability works seamlessly within Messages, FaceTime, and Phone, powered by Apple-built models running entirely on-device to preserve privacy.

f 46a469bcff7e03100e070c192302a0004e4269b8
In Messages, Live Translation automatically translates text as users type, delivering messages in the recipient's preferred language. Responses are instantly translated back, making international conversations effortless.

FaceTime calls gain live caption translation, allowing users to follow along with translated text while still hearing the original speaker's voice. Phone calls take it further with spoken translation throughout the conversation.

The on-device processing ensures personal conversations remain private, with no data sent to external servers. Apple demonstrated the feature with real-time travel planning scenarios, showing how users can coordinate with friends abroad without language constraints.

Live Translation represents Apple's latest push into AI-powered communication tools, following the company's broader Apple Intelligence initiative announced at last year's WWDC.

Popular Stories

iOS 26

iOS 26.4 Adds Two New Features to CarPlay

Tuesday March 24, 2026 1:55 pm PDT by
iOS 26.4 was released today, and it includes a couple of new features for CarPlay: an Ambient Music widget and support for voice-based chatbot apps. To update your iPhone 11 or newer to iOS 26.4, open the Settings app and tap on General → Software Update. CarPlay will automatically offer the new features so long as the iPhone connected to your vehicle is running iOS 26.4 or later....
Apple Business hero

Apple Unveils 'Apple Business' All-in-One Platform

Tuesday March 24, 2026 8:53 am PDT by
Apple today announced Apple Business, a new all-in-one platform that unifies device management, productivity tools, and customer outreach features. The service is designed to be a consolidated replacement for several of Apple's existing business-focused offerings, including Apple Business Essentials, Apple Business Manager, and Apple Business Connect. It provides organizations with a single...
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 3, AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4

Tuesday March 24, 2026 12:31 pm PDT by
Apple today released new firmware for the AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Pro 3, and the AirPods 4. The firmware has a version number of 8B39, up from 8B34 on the AirPods Pro 3, 8B28 on the AirPods Pro 2, and 8B21 on the AirPods 4. There is no word on what's included in the firmware, but Apple has a support document with limited notes. Most updates are limited to bug fixes and performance...

Top Rated Comments

michaeljk Avatar
10 months ago
This is by far the most appealing feature of iOS 26. I am married to a non-English speaker (she speaks English okay, but has difficulty reading it on the fly) so if this works as promised (big if), that would be a game changer for her and us.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
page3 Avatar
10 months ago
Will it be able to translate American in to English?
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
10 months ago
So with the release of the API does that mean that Whatsapp will be able to translate messages realtime like the android already does?
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
cnnyy20p Avatar
10 months ago
Please add more languages.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
10 months ago
Useful feature. But hopefully more languages will be supported in the near future.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Jay Tee Avatar
10 months ago
It's criminal iPhone 15, 15 Plus aren't getting these.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)