Have synthetic Apple voices improved in quality and expressiveness in iOS 27? Is this only true for Siri voices, or can developers use those improved voices through the AVSpeechSynthesizer, too?

Asked on 2026-06-25

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Yes — Apple says the synthetic voices have improved in quality and expressiveness.

From the WWDC context:

  • In iOS 27 / Siri AI, Apple describes a “brand-new voice experience” for Siri that makes it sound “incredible and a lot more expressive.”
  • Apple also says you can customize Siri’s voice, including expressivity and pace.

Is this only for Siri voices?

Based on the provided sessions, the explicit voice improvements are described as Siri voice improvements, not as a general AVSpeechSynthesizer / system speech-synthesis upgrade.

So, from this context:

  • Yes, Siri voices are improved.
  • No clear evidence here that developers automatically get those same new voices through AVSpeechSynthesizer.

What developers can use

The developer-facing content in the retrieved sessions talks about:

  • Siri improvements
  • Speech-to-text / speech recognition APIs like Speech Analyzer
  • App integration with Siri via App Intents

But it does not say that the new, more expressive Siri voices are exposed to developers via AVSpeechSynthesizer.

If you want, I can also summarize the exact WWDC session that mentions the Siri voice changes.

Keynote

Keynote

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