iOS 14.5 Adds New Siri Voices, No Longer Defaults to Female

[Alan Wynn]

The setup process already asks too many questions imho.

Yup.

 

[Madmic23]

I want a Steve Jobs voice on my iPhone.

If you don’t get a good answer and complain about it, the Steve Jobs voice will scold you and say you’re asking the question wrong.

 

[Kylo83]

Unbelievable apple now it says voice 1 and voice 2 why can’t they use gender or does that not work now days

 

[Kylo83]

 

[kildraik]

even Siri isn't immune to social justice initiatives

Can confirm from the inside.

 

[xalea]

Wishing for Madea voice..

 

[kyleh22]

Still waiting for celebrity voices:

Scarlett Johansson (Samantha from "Her")
Candice Bergen (SAL from "2010")
Douglas Rain (HAL from "2001: a space odyssey")
Matt Frewer (Max Headroom from "Max Headroom")
Ana de Armas (Joi from "Blade Runner 2049")

Don't forget R2D2! Probably more helpful that Siri anyways.

 

[jjudson]

A totally politically incorrect thought came to my head about this, but I was able to abstain my fingers from typing it just in the nick of time...

 

[jonnyb098]

Okay when is Siri getting good though

It doesn’t matter as long as it’s politically correct.

 

[jonnyb098]

New voices and likely more emoji's, but not a damn thing to resolve the screen freeze between core iPone apps. Apple doesn't even try to skirt around the issue anymore as they're quite content with mediocrity.

Why fix bugs when you can virtue signal? The women with beards emoji is totally worth any other concessions.

 

[jjudson]

I still wish we had character voices. IMO it would fun to have Darth Vader or mb a "Suze" - a bulimic chain smoker from Staten Island yelling back to me. For now I use the female Australian voice.

Don't get Apple started. Like emojis, it will be the next big list of regular release chest thumping...

 

[fishmoose]

Still waiting for celebrity voices:

Scarlett Johansson (Samantha from "Her")
Candice Bergen (SAL from "2010")
Douglas Rain (HAL from "2001: a space odyssey")
Matt Frewer (Max Headroom from "Max Headroom")
Ana de Armas (Joi from "Blade Runner 2049")

I’d pay for Scarlett.

 

[JosephAW]

I always liked the old Siri voice. Now I have mine set to English speaking Indian male and I love it. Very articulate and easy to understand and fun too.

 

[Richdmoore]

View attachment 1751711

Really? Too bad they are losing the male/female labels.

It’s not a huge inconvenience as how often do you want to go in and change Siri voices, but it slightly degraded the user experience during setup.

FYI, I have heard that most (but not all) of the spoke audio alerts in aircraft (Stall/wind sheer/etc.) are female due to the fact that they are easier to hear in a noisy environment, and pilots have a higher rate of understanding/obeying vs a male voice.

I am not sure if that is actually true, or just a rumor that got started evades ago when they started moving away from simple buzzers/bells/alarms....

 

[DeftwillP]

I’ve always thought standard female voices on assistants are disgustingly promoting the cliché of someone’s secretary being a woman (hence a woman in an office is probably the secretary).
Not sure why people in the progressive Silicon Valley thought it just felt natural to give firm and rude orders to a woman.

So brave.

Lol....nobody would think twice about it if Siri worked. Most wouldn't be giving firm and rude orders to an actual helpful assistant.

 

[JosephAW]

The American male voice has always been gender neutral. Just don’t take away any other male voices that we have.

 

[Zaren]

I started using the British male voice when I downloaded an Iron Man app and wanted my phone to be a bit more JARVIS-y. I still use it, even though it uses British pronunciations for some things.

 

[alexandr]

Unless it’s Arnold as the Terminator I’m not interested in a different Siri voice.

i'm sorry i cannot find directions to the chopper.

 

[JosephAW]

HAL would be fun. I imagine current Siri voices are synthesized rather than samples of actual people talking, hence the difficulty. But still, character voices would be so much frickin fun it'll make hot coffee shoot out of your nose.

Don’t forget Majel Barrett-Roddenberry

 

[alexandr]

wait, siri no longer defaults to female right as they are slammed with sexism accusations for the apple card? bold move.

 

[Unsupported]

I'd rather hear Zarvox! ?

Free Online Voice Generator | OnlineToneGenerator.com

onlinetonegenerator.com

 

[Kylo83]

I understand not defaulting to one and letting you choose but why get rid of gender?

 

[Jessica Lares]

Wouldn't it have been better to switch to a setup screen like you have for picking out the choices for the taptic engine in this case?

 

[mollyc]

I want original Siri back.

 

[ELman]

Being non gender specific will make it much easier for Siri when you ask where the restroom is.