AirPods Stay Translation take a look at: A hands-on assessment of latest characteristic

I put AirPods’ new Stay Translation characteristic to the take a look at and got here away impressed with the outcomes. 

I examined the characteristic with the assistance of Niléane, a local French speaker and fellow tech blogger. Whereas we hit a number of hindrances in our dialog, we have been capable of have a superbly good chat for a stable 10 minutes.

I reduce it right down to a seven-minute video, the place you possibly can see it for your self. Maintain studying for my full ideas and evaluation of the improbable new characteristic. 

AiPods Professional 3 Stay Translation take a look at

The AirPods’ new Stay Translation characteristic grabbed headlines when Apple introduced it — for good motive. Immediate common translators are the stuff of science fiction. And now Apple has made this a actuality. However how effectively does it work?

The characteristic relies on Apple’s Translate app and it’s considerably restricted proper now. AirPods Stay Translation at the moment solely works in French, English (U.S. and U.Okay.), German, Spanish and Portuguese. Extra languages are coming in iOS 26.1, although: Japanese, Korean, Italian and Chinese language (each conventional and simplified).

It’s additionally not restricted to Apple’s newest earbuds. Stay Translation characteristic works with AirPods Professional 2 and three, in addition to AirPods 4 (with energetic noise cancellation). It requires an iPhone with Apple Intelligence (an iPhone 15 Professional, iPhone 16 or later) working iOS 26. 

Establishing an AirPods Stay Translation take a look at

To check out the characteristic, not understanding anyone who lives close by who can communicate fluent French, I arrange a video name with somebody who does. Niléane is a contributor to MacStories and hosts the Consolation Zone podcast — and is a fluent French native. I performed her audio out loud by way of my audio system, so so far as the AirPods have been involved, I used to be speaking to her in particular person.

However translation goes each methods — it additionally interprets my English into French, which I can present somebody on my cellphone display screen. Niléane muted my audio, so she was depending on studying my translations to simulate being a non-English speaker.

It took some time to get our setup prepared, however it labored very effectively.

Stay Translation high quality

To my shock, we appeared to have a really coherent dialog. The translations weren’t strictly correct, however for probably the most half, we every understood what the opposite was making an attempt to say.

For me, it felt like speaking to an almost-fluent English speaker. A few of the translations have been phrased a bit stiffly or robotically, however they have been all the time intelligible. 

Just a few of the issues I stated, nevertheless, have been misunderstood. One mistake got here proper in the beginning. I apologized for beginning the dialog with a meandering “phrase salad,” however tried to get well by asking, “What’s your favourite kind of salad, whereas we’re at it?” That was translated as, “What’s your favourite kind of salad when he’s a rabbit?” That clearly didn’t make a lot sense to Niléane.

However to be truthful, I used to be deliberately making an attempt to push the boundaries, speaking fully naturally and considerably rapidly. (It’s additionally the form of mistake that might be caught instantly.) If I have been really in France, I’d most likely attempt talking in less complicated sentences to make sure my English was simply translated.

All of it relies on correct transcriptions

Our little stumbling block is an effective reminder that for Stay Translation to work, it first must precisely flip your speech into textual content. If it mishears you within the first place, it’ll translate that mistake into one thing worse.

If you happen to often use your iPhone to rapidly dictate a textual content message, you most likely already know that speeding by way of phrases in your pure talking voice is strictly get the worst outcomes. Stay Translation with AirPods can idiot you into forgetting that you simply’re really speaking to your laptop.

It’s additionally a bit sluggish

One other downside is considerably inherent to the AirPods’ Stay Translation expertise: the awkward pause between when somebody is completed talking and also you’re nonetheless receiving (or ready for) the interpretation. Some phrases change their that means whenever you get to the tip, and totally different languages usually use totally different sentence constructions, so the machine should wait till you end speaking earlier than it may possibly work its translation magic.

You’ll be able to obtain languages to your iPhone, so that you don’t want to fret about your cell sign slowing you down additional. Though in the event you do that, accuracy will take a slight hit. You most likely have to stability your reference to the significance of the dialog.

Stay Translation with AirPods: Closing ideas after a radical take a look at

In our AirPods Stay Translation take a look at, Niléane and I pushed the system arduous, and but we nonetheless had a reasonably good dialogue. There weren’t any apparent errors within the translations after that. We spoke about a few of the variations in tradition with regard to studying second languages in our nations, and why the AirPods Stay Translation characteristic isn’t obtainable for EU customers. Lastly, I needed to hear her tackle the iPhone 17 Professional’s cosmic orange shade. 

I can think about this being a useful device the subsequent time I journey overseas. 

Try the opposite new options of the AirPods Professional 3 in my full assessment.