iOS tip: 4 ways to change the sound of Siri’s voice

ben patterson — Tue, 22 May 2018 16:10:07 +0000

Not only will the ever-loyal Siri—you know, Apple’s voice-activated digital assistant for iPhone and iPad—cheerfully read your email, set alarms, deliver weather reports and generally be at your beck and call, she’ll even change the sound of her voice if you ask her to. In addition to changing the gender of Siri’s voice, you can also give her a different accent, teach her a new language or even ask her to keep quiet unless you’re using a headset.

The first step: tap Settings, Siri & Search. You can also ask Siri to “change the sound of your voice”; when you do, she’ll give you a shortcut to her voice settings.

1. Change the gender of Siri’s voice

Want to change the sound of Siri’s voice from female to male, or back to female again? Tap the Siri Voice setting (Settings, Siri & Search, Siri Voice), then pick “Male” or “Female” under the Gender heading.

You can change the gender of Siri’s voice or even give her a new accent.

2. Give Siri a new accent

You’ll probably find the Accent setting just above the Gender heading; I say “probably” because not all of Siri’s known languages offer different accents. In English, for example, you can choose between American, Australian, and British accents. If Siri’s speaking French, though, there won’t be any alternate accents to choose from.

Related: 5 tasks that Siri does better than your fingertips can

3. Ask Siri to speak a different language

Speaking of languages, Siri is fluent in everything from Arabic and Chinese to Russian and Turkish. Just back up to the main Siri screen (under Settings, Siri& Search), tap Language, and pick one.

4. Decide how much Siri gets to speak

By default, Siri will speak aloud at all times, even when your device is switched to silent mode. Want to make a change? Easy.

Set Siri’s Voice Feedback setting to “Hands-Free Only” if you want Siri to be quiet most of the time.

Just tap Voice Feedback from the main Siri settings screen, You’ve got three settings to choose from: Always, meaning Siri will speak aloud whenever you talk to her; Control with Ring Switch, which will keep Siri quiet whenever the ring switch is set to “silent”; and Hands-Free Only, which means you’ll only hear Siri’s voice when you’re using a headset. If you want Siri to keep quiet most of the time, go for the Hands-Free Only option.

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iOS tip: Ask Siri to call you by a nickname (or anything you want)

ben patterson — Tue, 17 Mar 2015 14:46:01 +0000

The unfailingly polite Siri will, by default, address you with whatever first name you entered on your contact card.

Want Siri to call you by a nickname? Just ask.

But in addition to being polite, Siri is also obedient—and that means she’ll call you anything you want. All you have to do is ask.

Just press and hold the Home key to launch Siri, then say something like:

From now on, call me ‘Scooter.’

When you do, Siri will add the nickname “Scooter” to your contact card—and from now on, Siri will call you “Scooter” (or whatever name you like) whenever the occasion arises.

Having second thoughts about your new nickname? You can always ask Siri to go back to calling you by your real name, if you wish.

Bonus tip

You can also tell Siri your relationship to any of your contacts—meaning, for example, that you can tell her “Michael Scott is my boss.”

Once that’s done, you can say “Call my boss” to Siri, and she’ll start dialing the right person.

Click here for more iOS tips!

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