Siri Gets a Voice of Its Own
With iOS 27 beta 3, Apple is giving testers an early look at customizable Siri voices and emotions. This marks a significant step towards making Siri feel more natural and personal.
Apple's latest developer beta introduces AI-powered Siri voice controls, enabling users to personalize their Siri experience with customizable voices, pace, and expressivity. This is part of Apple's broader effort to make Siri feel more natural and personal, as it rebuilds the assistant around generative AI.
Like ChatGPT and others offering voice AI assistants, letting users customize how the AI sounds is an important aspect in helping connect people with the new technology.
The update is also part of Apple's effort to make Siri feel more personal. Users will be able to switch between a range of voices with different accents, and then use sliders to change how slowly or quickly Siri speaks and how much human-like emotion its voice conveys.
- Voice customization options: Users can now adjust how quickly and expressively Siri speaks, with options for pace and expressivity.
- Accent and voice selection: Users can switch between a range of voices with different accents and then use sliders to change how slowly or quickly Siri speaks and how much human-like emotion its voice conveys.
- Practicing Siri's voice: As users make the adjustments, Siri will practice saying some common things, like "You have one new message," so users can get a sense of how the different voices sound.
The AI version of Siri is deeply integrated across the updated version of iOS, where it will allow iPhone owners to start conversations by speaking, swiping down from the Dynamic Island at the top of the screen and typing, tapping on the phone's side button, or even by using the brand-new standalone Siri app.
Other minor updates are also rolling out with iOS 27 beta 3, including an updated Reminders app icon.