New Delhi, Aug. 13 -- Live translation in your ear is one of those ideas that sounds like science fiction until it arrives quietly in a beta. An image tucked into the iOS 26 developer build suggests Apple is preparing a gesture to trigger "Live Translation" directly from AirPods. The hint, first spotted in code references by 9to5Mac, shows multilingual on screen text and a prompt to press both stems at once to begin. If it ships as expected, the feature would move translation from an iPhone app to the earbuds themselves, making it easier to keep a conversation flowing hands free.

The asset includes English, Portuguese, French, and German text, which lines up with Apple's existing on device translation catalog. Today, translation already ...