iOS: Understanding Siri and VoiceOver voices
Summary
Learn more about Siri and VoiceOver voices.
Products Affected
iPad, iPhone, iPod touch
Your iOS device initially uses a compact voice for both Siri and VoiceOver. iOS will automatically download and install a more natural-sounding voice when you first connect to power and a Wi-Fi network. If you do not hear a change in the voice, you can do the following to ensure that the device downloads the full voice:
- Connect the device to a charging power source.
- Connect to a Wi-Fi network.
- Depending on the speed of the Internet connection, the download and installation of the new voice may take a few hours to complete.
Because the full voice uses a larger speech dictionary than the compact voice, iOS supports one full voice installed on a device for Siri and VoiceOver. If you are using VoiceOver and enable Siri to use a language different from the language VoiceOver is using, Siri will download the full voice and VoiceOver will switch to using the compact voice.
Additional Information
If you change either your Siri or VoiceOver language, you will need to download the full voice for the new language choice using these steps:
Siri
- Go to Settings > General > Siri > Language.
- Select the language you would like to use.
- Connect to a Wi-Fi network.
- Connect the device to a charging power source.
VoiceOver
VoiceOver uses the combination of your settings for language and region format to determine the full voice to use.
- Switch the language the phone is using in Settings > General > International > Language.
- Use the Region Format option to select the dialect: Settings > General > International > Region Format.
- Connect to a Wi-Fi network.
- Connect the device to a charging power source.
If you would like VoiceOver to continue using the compact voice, go to Settings > General > Accessibility > VoiceOver > Use Compact Voice. This option is only available once the full voice has downloaded and installed.
VoiceOver users: Once the full voice is installed, you can switch between full and compact voices. iOS will only need to download and install a new full voice if you change the settings for language or region format.
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