Top feature denied: Apple disappoints Airpods users in the EU

The new AirPods Pro 3 come with a great interpreter feature, and an update should also allow older Apple earbuds to translate conversations worldwide in real time. However, users in the EU are left out in the cold, as the US company is denying them this useful feature.

The AirPods Pro 3 were a small but nice surprise at Apple's iPhone event. At €245, the earbuds have a lot to offer at a lower price than their predecessors. Among other things, their active noise cancellation (ANC) is supposedly twice as effective, the earbuds sound even better, and are more comfortable and secure thanks to a new fit and more different silicone tips. Added to that is the ability to measure your heart rate.

With the AirPods Pro 3, Apple also introduced one of its few new AI features, which can be extremely useful—especially in a region like Europe, where many different languages ​​are spoken. The earbuds come with the ability to translate in real time.

The prerequisite is a connection to an Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone running iOS 26. A little later, the AirPods 4 with ANC and the AirPods Pro 2 will also receive the feature with an update.

In addition to English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese, German is also supported from the start. However, this only applies if you want to use real-time translation outside of the EU. On a support page, Apple states: "Live translation with AirPods is not available if you are in the EU and your Apple account country or region is also in the EU."

No justification

The US company hasn't provided a reason for the restriction. One possible explanation is that Apple is in conflict with EU regulations. For example, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) could play a role in the processing of language data. The same applies to redirection via servers outside the EU. However, licensing or copyright issues may also be preventing the interpreter function from working in the EU.

Whether real-time translation for AirPods will be added in the EU at some point remains to be seen. However, Apple's restriction lacks a word like "yet" or "for the time being," which is more of a cause for pessimism.