Initially, some users in the European Union won’t get Apple’s most powerful new AirPods feature.
At Tuesday’s keynote event, Apple livestreamed — which is exactly what it sounds like — debuting the AirPods Pro 3 and launching the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 with ANC. But EU-based users are being left out, at least for now, for reasons that remain unclear.
Apple noted this on its Feature Availability page in the Region. The page reads: “Online translation with AirPods is not available if you are in the EU and your Apple account country or region is also in the EU.”
This means that two things must be true for the restrictions to apply: your Apple account must be registered in the EU, and you must be physically located there.
Apple hasn’t explained why live translation isn’t rolling out in the region, but the most likely culprit is a regulatory hurdle.
Apple-focused tech site MacRumors speculated :
“In particular, the EU’s Artificial Intelligence Law and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) impose strict requirements on how speech and translation services are offered. Regulators may want to investigate how live translation works and how it impacts privacy, consent, data flows and user rights.”
The EU has stricter rules on technology than other areas. For example, Apple’s Intelligence features were blocked at launch in the EU, but that eventually changed in the region. It makes sense that EU users would gain access to live streaming at some point – just not yet.
