AI ToolsAug 11, 2026, 8:25 PM

Apple quietly shipped everything you need to build a real-time translator — so I built one

30-second summary

A developer created Wakaru, a macOS app for live audio translation, leveraging new on-device speech, translation, and LLM APIs introduced in macOS 14 (Sonoma). The application performs all processing locally, ensuring privacy and real-time performance.

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Apple quietly shipped everything you need to build a real-time translator — so I built one
Key takeaways
  • Apple's macOS 14 (Sonoma) includes robust on-device APIs for speech recognition, translation, and large language models.
  • Developers can now build powerful, privacy-focused AI applications that run entirely on the user's device, without cloud dependency.
  • The creation of a real-time audio translator demonstrates the practical capabilities and potential of Apple's local machine learning framework.
  • On-device AI processing offers benefits in privacy, latency, and offline functionality for end-users.
Full story

A developer has successfully built Wakaru, a macOS application that provides live, translated subtitles for any audio playing on a Mac. This innovative tool operates entirely on-device, utilizing the new speech, translation, and large language model (LLM) APIs that Apple integrated into macOS 14, also known as Sonoma.

The project highlights Apple's quiet but significant advancements in making powerful machine learning capabilities accessible to developers for local execution. By processing all audio and translation tasks directly on the user's Mac, Wakaru ensures enhanced privacy and eliminates the need for cloud-based services, which often come with latency and data security concerns.

This demonstration serves as a practical example of how developers can leverage Apple's framework to create sophisticated AI-powered applications that benefit from the performance and security of on-device processing. It underscores a growing trend towards local AI, enabling new categories of software that prioritize user data and offline functionality.

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Why this matters
Developers

Highlights new powerful on-device AI APIs in macOS for building privacy-preserving applications.

Businesses

Shows potential for new privacy-centric AI products and features on Apple platforms, reducing reliance on cloud services.

Everyone

Demonstrates the increasing capability of on-device AI for practical, everyday applications like real-time translation.

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