Galaxy Buds 4 May Let You Launch Interpreter Mode With a Simple Pinch

Samsung may unveil the Galaxy Buds 4 alongside the Galaxy S26 series at its Unpacked event early next year. We already know what the former will look like. A new report sheds light on how Samsung may improve real-time translation on the upcoming Galaxy Buds 4.

You won’t need your Galaxy phone to launch Interpreter Mode on the Buds 4

Folks over at Android Authority, while digging through pre-release One UI 8.5 firmware, discovered clues pointing to a new gesture for Interpreter Mode. According to the code, the Galaxy Buds 4 and Buds 4 Pro will let you trigger Interpreter Mode by pinching and holding both earbuds. That might sound small, but it changes how the whole feature works.

For example, with the Galaxy Buds 3, you can use pinch controls only after opening the Interpreter app on a paired Galaxy device. The translation works well once it’s running, but getting there still requires you to unlock your phone, locate the app, and start a session manually.

The new gesture seems designed to fix exactly that. The strings mentions starting translation “without getting out your phone or tablet” which suggests that the Buds 4 will be able to launch Interpreter straight from the earbuds. You will still need your phone nearby, but you will not have to interact with it to begin translating.

If this ships as described, it brings Samsung much closer to the ease of use that Apple offers on the AirPods Pro, where a simple squeeze can pull up translation tools instantly. The translation workflow itself will likely stay the same, but faster access means you’re far more likely to use it during real conversations. And the whole experience will be much better, now that Galaxy AI supports 22 languages.

It’s still a bit early to know whether Samsung will bring the gesture to the Buds 3 series or keep it exclusive to the new models. One UI 8.5 will debut with the Galaxy S26 lineup early next year, so we should get a clearer answer by then. Or who knows, maybe the upcoming beta program will spill the beans.