Not only has Apple updated Siri’s default (in the US, at least) female voice to something a bit more natural, a little less arrogant sounding, but it’s also included a new male voice, as well. While a male-gendered voice has been available for a while in other regions, this is the first time Siri’s voice gender has been a choice we can enable on iOS.
Here’s how to switch Siri from a female to a male voice (and back again).
First, launch your Settings app on your iOS 7 beta-enabled device. I used my iPhone 5 to test this one out. Then, tap through to the General settings area, and then tap on Siri.
Once there, you can turn Siri off (at the top with a toggle), change the language, set Voice Feedback to hands-free or always, tell Siri which Contact is you, and turn on the Raise to Speak function, which lets you just pick the phone up and talk to Siri, as if you were making a call.
Tap on the Voice Gender area and you’ll have a choice of Male or Female. Simply choose the gender you’d Like Siri to have, and boom, you’re ready to go. Tap Male for this tip, to hear how Siri sounds as a man. Tap back to the Settings, or out into the main icon pages, and try Siri out with the new male voice.
The male voice sounds quite a bit like a voice over for an Apple commercial, and it’s possible this is no coincidence.
If you tap through to the Settings again, you can change Siri’s Voice Gender back to female, if you like. Personally, I like them both, so might just bounce back and forth as I go. Right now, I’ve got Siri’s male voice enabled. I asked him to tell me a story, and he said that he was certain I’d heard it before. So nice.
