When Apple announced the new Apple Intelligence features in iOS 26 earlier this year, there was one in particular that really piqued my interest.
You see, I’m Scottish with Italian grandparents, an Italian wife, and I moved to France when I was 10 years old. Combined, this makes for lots of different languages on my iPhone, and a lot of dialect shuffling in my brain to make conversing easy.
I speak fluent French, understand most Italian, and can make myself understood through a mix of my upbringing, speaking to my partner regularly in the language, and by adding Os and As to French words.
So while I don’t necessarily need the AI feature I’m about to talk about, using it for the last week or so has significantly improved my communication experience on iPhone, and I think this might be one of the best iOS 26 features, full stop.
If you haven’t guessed yet, or aren’t up to speed with the new Apple Intelligence features available in iOS 26 (there’s a lot, check out this article), I’m of course talking about Live Translation.
Now, before you click off from this article because a translation tool sounds boring, hear me out, I swear this is the kind of technology that will transform the way we communicate. Just keep reading.
Language barriers? What language barriers?
I’ve been trying Live Translation for the last few months now, and I think it will transform how smartphone users communicate.
It’s a pretty seamless tool. In iOS 26, you can open up any conversation in Messages and select a primary language to translate from. The language will be downloaded, and then any incoming messages will seamlessly be translated from the language of the message to your preferred one.
I tested this with my Italian in-laws as well as my wife, and I was thoroughly impressed with how seamless the translation was. There’s no waiting; someone just messages you, and it arrives in two languages, allowing you to understand exactly what is being written and see the original message too.
Live Translation doesn’t only work in Messages, it also removes language barriers from phone calls and FaceTime. And if you have a pair of AirPods Pro 3 (or Pro 2/AirPods 3 with ANC), the feature is even better.
It’s the voice communication Live Translation feature that I’m most excited about, as it now allows me to take part in conversations with my Italian family without any struggle. Live Translation translates in real-time as the person on the other side of the phone speaks, and can do the same for them, allowing one of you to speak in English and the other to speak in Italian without any hiccups.
Sound cool? This is the kind of built-in feature I’ve been waiting for for years, and I’m so excited to finally have my hands on it.
Connecting the world, one language at a time
iOS 26 is now available, and Apple Intelligence-compatible iPhones get access to everything Live Translation has to offer. Live Translation, as well as all the other new Apple Intelligence features, such as Visual Intelligence for screenshots and ChatGPT styles in Image Playground, are some of the best AI features we’ve seen on iPhone to date, and you don’t need an iPhone 17 to use them.
In my brief time testing Live Translation, I’ve been thoroughly impressed with its accuracy and just how quickly it works. I’ve written conversations in French and English, and received replies in Italian, all absolutely seamlessly.
Live Translation might not have as much of an impact on your life if you rarely converse in other languages, but even then, the capability to eliminate language barriers across Apple devices is the first step in making the world more connected, and that’s an incredibly exciting and powerful thought.
