Guide

Can iPhone Live Translation or AirPods translate a video?

Not a video playing on your iPhone. Live Translation is built for conversations: a phone call, a FaceTime call, a Messages thread, or the person speaking in front of you while you wear AirPods. It does not translate the audio of YouTube, a livestream or any other app. For that you need an app that listens to what your iPhone is playing: Hono Translate floats translated subtitles over the video, on the device.

What Live Translation translates

WhereWhat gets translated
MessagesThe texts you send and receive
PhoneBoth sides of a call, spoken and on screen
FaceTimeThe other person's words, as captions
AirPodsThe person talking to you, in your ears
A video or livestream in another appNothing

Why AirPods do not translate a video

Live Translation with AirPods listens through the microphones — the AirPods', and the iPhone's in a noisy room — to someone speaking near you, and plays the translation in your ears. The sound a video sends to your AirPods is not what it listens to. It is started from the Translate app's Live tab, the AirPods stems or Siri, and it is a conversation mode, with your replies translated back.

What it needs

  • An iPhone with Apple Intelligence: iPhone 15 Pro or later, with Apple Intelligence turned on.
  • For AirPods: AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation, AirPods 5, AirPods Pro 2 or later, or AirPods Max 2, on current firmware.
  • The languages downloaded: the one being spoken and the one you want.
  • A supported region. Apple Intelligence, and with it Live Translation, is not available in mainland China.

If Live Translation is missing or not working

Almost always it is one of the requirements above: an iPhone older than the 15 Pro, Apple Intelligence switched off, a language pair Apple does not offer yet, or the languages not downloaded. For AirPods, update the firmware and look for Live Translation in the AirPods' settings on the iPhone. The feature availability page lists the languages and regions.

To translate a video instead

  1. Open Hono Translate and choose the language being spoken and the language you read.
  2. Tap Start translating sound, confirm on the iOS sheet, then tap the empty space below the sheet.
  3. The subtitle window floats up on its own and the iPhone returns to the Home Screen. Go back to the video and press play.

It works on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Twitch, Weverse, Safari and any other app that plays sound, because it reads the audio iOS hands it rather than connecting to the platform. It does not need Apple Intelligence, so it runs on any iPhone with iOS 26, and in regions where Live Translation is not offered. Recognition and translation run on the device.

Questions

Can AirPods translate a YouTube video?

No. Live Translation with AirPods translates people speaking near you, not the audio of a video. YouTube's own Auto-translate works on videos that have captions; for the rest, translate the audio with an app.

Does Live Translation work in mainland China?

No. It is part of Apple Intelligence, which is not available there. Hono Translate does not depend on it.

Does Live Captions translate?

No, it transcribes in the language that is spoken — what Live Captions does and what to use instead.

Do I need AirPods for Hono Translate?

No. Any headphones or the speaker work: iOS gives the app the audio directly, so the subtitles do not depend on what you listen with.

Can an iPhone app hear the sound another app is playing? Do I need a second phone?

Yes, and one iPhone is enough. Through screen sharing — the iOS sheet you confirm when you start — iOS hands the sound that is playing to the app you pick. Hono Translate takes that audio from iOS, not from the microphone, so headphones are fine, and its subtitles float in a Picture-in-Picture window over TikTok, YouTube or any other app.

For livestreams, see how to translate any livestream on iPhone.

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