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Endangered indigenous languages are being saved by the iPhone

Apple supports over 200 languages on the iPhone, but doing that takes years of continual effort and consultation with indigenous cultures around the world.

Smartphone screen showing a virtual keyboard with white keys and unfamiliar script characters, plus standard keys for numbers, emoji, spacebar, return, language switch, and microphone dictation
Apple’s iPhone supports over 200 languages.

As far back as 2010, Apple has partnered with members of indigenous cultures to ensure that their languages were correctly supported on the iPhone. Apple even documented some of the process earlier in 2026.

And as a new report in Wired details, there is so much more to it than adding a translation dictionary.

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