What Siri’s new customization controls are and why they matter
Siri customization controls are new voice assistant settings that let you adjust Siri’s speaking speed, expressiveness, and behavior so the assistant sounds and responds in a way that better matches your preferences, accessibility needs, and daily routines while staying tightly integrated with Apple’s wider Apple Intelligence features. These options arrive as part of the next-generation Siri built into the broader Apple Intelligence platform, which Apple describes as a “major evolution of the assistant” with conversational interactions, visual intelligence, and personal context awareness. Unlike competitors that lock each voice to a fixed pace and tone, Apple now adds separate sliders for “Pace” and “Expressivity,” giving you fine-grained control over how Siri sounds after you pick a base voice. The result is a more comfortable, less one-size-fits-all assistant that can be tuned for fast information, calmer responses, or anything in between.
How to adjust Siri speed and tone using the new sliders
Once you have the new Apple Intelligence update on a supported iPhone, iPad, or Mac, you can use the fresh Siri customization controls to adjust how the assistant speaks. After choosing a base Siri voice in your voice assistant settings, look for two key options: a “Pace” slider and an “Expressivity” slider. Pace lets you adjust Siri speed so responses come out slower and easier to follow, or quicker if you prefer concise answers. Expressivity controls how animated or neutral Siri sounds, shaping the tone without changing the voice itself. This combination effectively lets you personalize your voice assistant beyond simple voice swaps, creating a style that feels natural to you. Apple added these options before Google Gemini offers similar granular tuning, giving Siri a feature lead for users who care about detailed voice behavior.
Personalize your voice assistant for comfort, focus, and accessibility
These Siri customization controls do more than tweak aesthetics; they help you personalize your voice assistant for real-world comfort and accessibility. If you find standard responses too fast to follow, you can slow the Pace slider so Siri reads messages, navigation directions, or reminders clearly. If you work in quiet environments, dialing down Expressivity creates a calmer tone that feels less intrusive. For users with hearing or processing differences, the ability to adjust Siri speed and tone can make interactions easier and less tiring. Because the new Siri sits inside Apple Intelligence, it also benefits from conversational awareness and writing assistance, so your tuned voice carries across many tasks. Together, these options turn Siri into a helper that adapts to you instead of forcing you to adapt to a single, fixed style.
Where these controls fit in Apple Intelligence and device support
The voice customization sliders are part of Apple’s broader Apple Intelligence rollout, which aims to make devices “more personal, useful and capable while maintaining a privacy-focused approach,” according to Apple. The latest Apple Intelligence release is included at no additional cost with upcoming software updates and supports all languages currently available for Apple Intelligence. However, Apple notes that some advanced capabilities, including its most powerful on-device AI model and expressive voices, are limited to higher-end hardware such as iPhone Air or iPhone 17 Pro, iPads with an M4 chip and at least 12GB of memory, and Macs with an M3 chip and at least 12GB of memory. Developers can test the new Siri now, with a public beta planned later in the year, meaning more apps will soon be able to tap into your personalized Siri settings.
