Google expands Live Translate to iOS and adds new countries

On Thursday, Google announced a dual expansion of its consumer AI tools, bringing its Live Translate feature to iOS and new countries while rolling out its conversational Search Live feature globally. The expansion of Live Translate makes the tool available on both iOS and Android in the U.S., India, Mexico, Germany, Spain, France, Nigeria, Italy, the United Kingdom, Japan, Bangladesh, and Thailand. Prior to this update, the feature was restricted to Android devices in the U.S., India, and Mexico.

Live Translate, which leverages Google’s Gemini AI, essentially turns any pair of headphones into a real-time, one-way translation device. The feature works with any pair of headphones and supports more than 70 languages. According to Google, the real-time headphone translation experience keeps each speaker’s tone, emphasis, and cadence intact, making it easier to follow conversations and identify who is speaking. Google suggests the tool can be used to follow dinnertime conversations with relatives who speak another language or to understand train announcements while traveling in a different country.

The Live Translate expansion comes on the same day that Google is expanding Search Live globally to all languages and locations where AI Mode is available. This expansion brings the conversational search feature to more than 200 countries and territories, whereas it was previously only available in the U.S. and India. First launched in July 2025, Search Live allows users to point their phone camera at objects to get real-time assistance, enabling back-and-forth conversations that draw on the visual context from the camera feed.

To use either feature, users must access their respective Google applications. For Live Translate, users open the Google Translate app, tap the Live Translate option, and connect their headphones. For Search Live, users open the Google app on Android or iOS and tap the Live icon located directly beneath the search bar to initiate the camera-based conversational mode.

Why it matters

Google is expanding its AI-powered consumer tools into new markets and platforms, signaling a strategy to make Gemini-backed features available across both iOS and Android ecosystems.