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You’re on a voice or video call with other people but are having trouble speaking, maybe due to a cough, sore throat, or other obstacle. Instead of struggling to talk, you can use a synthesized voice of yourself via the right iPhone and iOS version.
With Apple’s Personal Voice feature, you record your own voice in full by speaking different phrases. After the recording is complete, you’re able to use the Live Speech option to speak whatever you type through your new synthesized voice. The voice does have an artificial and synthetic quality to it, so you’re not going to fool anyone into thinking it’s the real you. Instead, the objective is to provide a voice that sounds like your own if you can’t speak for yourself.
Personal Voice works with FaceTime calls, audio calls, and certain communication apps. The feature is supported only on the iPhone 12 or later and requires iOS 17 or higher. You can also create your personal voice with certain model iPads with iPadOS 17 or higher and certain model Macs with macOS Sonoma or higher. Further, you can sync the recording you make on your iPhone to use the voice on an iPad, Mac, or Apple Watch.
Update Your iPhone
First, you’ll need to update your iPhone to iOS 17 or higher. Go to Settings > General > Software Update. Select the link to download and install the latest update if necessary.
Enable Personal Voice
After updating your iPhone, go to Settings > Accessibility > Personal Voice. Turn on the switch for Share Across Devices if you want to share the recording you make on your iPhone with other iCloud-enabled devices, such as your iPad or Mac. Turn on Allow Apps to Request to Use if you want apps that are compatible with Personal Voice to request access.
(Credit: Lance Whitney/Apple)Get Ready to Record
Tap the link for Create a Personal Voice. The next screen describes the process and points out that you’ll have to record 150 different phrases, a task that will probably take a good 15 minutes. Make sure you have enough time to do this. However, you can always kick off the recording, pause it, and then pick up where you left off at another time. Tap Continue. The next screen advises you to find a quiet place, speak naturally, and take your time. Tap Continue.
(Credit: Lance Whitney/Apple)Check Out Your Environment
Confirm the name assigned to your voice; if you don’t like it, tap to change it. Tap Continue. At the next screen, tap the red record button and speak the phrase displayed on the screen. The next screen tells you if the conditions are ideal for recording. If so, tap Continue to proceed.
(Credit: Lance Whitney/Apple)Record Your Phrases
Tap the record button and speak the phrase shown on the screen. The next phrase then automatically pops up. Continue with each phrase that appears. If you make a mistake, tap the Rewind button at the top to go back one screen, tap the record button, and then try again.
(Credit: Lance Whitney/Apple)By default, the recording process takes you to each new phrase without you having to tap the record button each time. To stop after each phrase and tap the record button to continue to the next phrase, tap the Continuous Recording option at the bottom and change it to Stop at Each Phrase. Otherwise, continue recording each new phrase. As you record, a countdown tells you how many phrases are left.
(Credit: Lance Whitney/Apple)Pause the Recording
To take a break from recording at any point, tap Done at the top. When you’re ready to resume recording, return to the screen for your personal voice if you’re not already there. Tap Continue Recording. Tap the record button to record the next phrase.
(Credit: Lance Whitney/Apple)Finish the Recording
Continue recording each phrase until you’ve completed all 150 of them. After you’ve finished, the screen tells you that you’re done recording. Tap Continue.
(Credit: Lance Whitney/Apple)Prepare Your Personal Voice
The next screen prompts you to create your personal voice, informing you that the voice will be generated only while your phone is locked and charging. Tap OK. The tool then starts to prepare your personal voice, displaying a percentage countdown.
This process can take several hours, so you’ll want to kick this off at a time when you don’t need to use your phone and can keep it locked and in charging mode. Your best bet is to do this before you go to bed, when you can allow the process to run and finish overnight.
You might still want to periodically check the countdown to see how much time is left. When the countdown no longer appears, then your voice is primed and ready.
(Credit: Lance Whitney/Apple)Turn on Live Speech
You now need to enable the Live Speech option. On your iPhone, go to Settings > Accessibility > Live Speech. Turn on the switch for Live Speech. Tap the current voice listed for your language and change it to your new personal voice.
(Credit: Lance Whitney/Apple)Set Up Your Voice on an iPad
If you turned on the option to share your voice across devices, you can also use it on your iPad, Mac, and even Apple Watch. To set this up on an iPad, go to Settings > Accessibility > Live Speech. Turn on the switch for Live Speech, tap the voice listed under Voices, and then change it to your personal voice.
(Credit: Lance Whitney/Apple)Set Up Your Voice on a Mac
To use your personalized voice on your Mac, click the Apple icon and select System Settings. Go to Accessibility and select Live Speech. Turn on the switch for Live Speech and then change the voice to your personal one.
(Credit: Lance Whitney/Apple)Set Up Your Voice on an Apple Watch
To use the voice on an Apple Watch, go to Settings > Accessibility. Swipe down the screen to the Speech section, tap the option for Live Speech, and then turn on the switch for Live Speech. Tap the current voice listed under Voices and change it to your personal voice.
(Credit: Lance Whitney/Apple)Use Your Personal Voice
After you’ve enabled Live Speech on any supported Apple device, launch a FaceTime call or a regular phone call. On an iPhone or iPad, triple-tap the side button, select Live Speech, type the text you want spoken, and then tap Send. On a Mac, type the text in the Type to Speak field and then click the Send button. On an Apple Watch, triple-click the Digital Crown, enter the text to be spoken aloud, and tap Send.
The text you type is then spoken aloud in your personal voice so that you and the person or people on the call can hear it. Continue typing the words you want spoken in your personal voice until the call ends.
(Credit: Lance Whitney/Apple)Turn Off Live Speech
When you no longer need to use your personal voice, all you need do is turn off the Live Speech option. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Live Speech and turn off its switch.
(Credit: Lance Whitney/Apple)Manage Your Personal Voice
To manage your personal voice on your iPhone, go to Settings > Accessibility > Personal Voice. Tap your existing personal voice. You can now change the name, export the files used to create the voice, or delete the voice entirely. You can also create additional voices if you wish. Tap the link for Create a Personal Voice and follow the steps to record and create a new voice.
(Credit: Lance Whitney/Apple)
