Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
The latest beta of iOS 15.4 adds a fifth American voice for its Siri voice assistant. Appleās user-facing interface simply calls it āVoice 5,ā but iOS developer Steve Moser reports that its filename refers to the new voice as āQuinn.ā The voice has arrived a little under a year after Apple added its last two American Siri voices, and stopped defaulting to using a female-sounding voice.
Axios notes that the new voice sounds more gender-neutral than earlier Siri voices. Apple confirmed to the publication that it was recorded by a member of the LGBTQ+ community, though the company didnāt offer any further details on the voice actorās identity. Last yearās voices were recorded by Black actors as part of the companyās ālong-standing commitment to diversity and inclusion,ā Apple said at the time.
You can listen to all the Siri options below. The audio clips start and end with the new, fifth voice.
A quick comparison of Siriās new voice with the existing four options pic.twitter.com/A7uLQeLvQw
ā jon.porter (@JonPorty) February 23, 2022
āWeāre excited to introduce a new Siri voice for English speakers, giving users more options to choose a voice that speaks to them,ā Apple told Axios in reference to the new fifth American voice. āMillions of people around the world rely on Siri every day to help get things done, so we work to make the experience feel as personalized as possible.ā
Other new features included in iOS 15.4ās latest beta include a new anti-stalking privacy notice when setting up AirTags. An official release date for the software is yet to be announced, but itās expected to be made widely available next month.