How to Choose a New Accent or Gender for Siri
With the iOS 14.5 update, Apple eliminated a default voice option for Siri. Instead, when you set up your iPhone and iPad for the first time, you can choose from several diverse options. After that initial setup, you can change how Siri sounds in the Settings app. Here’s how:
Open Settings on your iPad. Tap Siri & Search. Tap Siri Voice. The Siri Voice screen shows the options for Siri’s voice. It currently supports “varieties” including American, Australian, British, Indian, Irish, and South African accents. Apple adds new voices periodically. For example, Apple added an Indian voice for English speakers beginning with iOS 13 and iPadOS 13. To preview the Siri voices, tap an option under Voice. Different varieties will have more or fewer options than others. For example, the Irish variety includes two voices: male and female. The American variety, however, includes multiple male and female options of different ethnicities, along with a non-gender-specific one if you’re running iOS/iPadOS 15. 4 or later.
How to Change Siri’s Language
You can choose another language for Siri, which is great if you want to keep up your Spanish skills or use French.
To change Siri’s language, go to the main Siri page (tap the Siri & Search link at the top of the screen) and choose Language. There are dozens of languages to choose from, including Chinese (Mandarin), Spanish, Russian, and Italian, along with regional versions of most of them.
Other Changes to Make to Siri
While in the Siri settings, you can also customize when and how you activate the digital assistant. Use these settings if you’re concerned about privacy or don’t plan to use Siri often.
Don’t Allow Siri When Your Device Is Locked
By default, you can activate Siri when your iPhone or iPad is locked, which is convenient. But it also lets anyone who picks up your device activate Siri. It won’t launch apps without signing in, but it can place phone calls, set reminders, and show upcoming scheduled meetings.
Turn off ‘Listen for Hey, Siri’
“Hey, Siri” is great when you’re in the car or at the computer and don’t want to take the time to press the iPhone Home button. But it also means your device is constantly listening to you. This voice recording isn’t sent to Apple, but it can use battery power, so if you don’t use “Hey, Siri,” turn it off.
