Speech

Person in motorized wheelchair looking at a Mac computer on a desk

If you have a speech disability or prefer to connect without using your voice, these innovations give you more ways to communicate, your way.

NewLive Speech

Turn your typed text into spoken words.

Type what you want to say, and your device will speak it out loud. If you are unable to speak, have a speech disability or prefer to communicate through text, you can use Live Speech to stay connected during Phone and FaceTime calls as well as in-person conversations. You can also save commonly used phrases to respond easily during daily interactions or while having lively conversations with friends and loved ones.

Available on:

iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch

New

Type what you want to say, and your device will speak it out loud. If you are unable to speak, have a speech disability or prefer to communicate through text, you can use Live Speech to stay connected during Phone and FaceTime calls as well as in-person conversations. You can also save commonly used phrases to respond easily during daily interactions or while having lively conversations with friends and loved ones.

Set up Live Speech on:

NewPersonal Voice

Create a voice that sounds like you.

Those who are at risk of voice loss now have a simple and secure way to create a voice that sounds like them.1 Personal Voice guides you through a series of randomly chosen text prompts to record 15 minutes of audio that can be used to generate a voice that sounds like you.2 This feature uses on-device machine learning to keep your information private and secure. And you have the option to sync Personal Voice with end-to-end encryption on iCloud to use your voice on other Apple devices. It integrates seamlessly with Live Speech, so you can type what you want to say and have your iPhone, iPad or Mac speak it aloud in your Personal Voice.

Available on:

iPhone, iPad, Mac

New

Those who are at risk of voice loss now have a simple and secure way to create a voice that sounds like them.1 Personal Voice guides you through a series of randomly chosen text prompts to record 15 minutes of audio that can be used to generate a voice that sounds like you.2 This feature uses on-device machine learning to keep your information private and secure. And you have the option to sync Personal Voice with end-to-end encryption on iCloud to use your voice on other Apple devices. It integrates seamlessly with Live Speech, so you can type what you want to say and have your iPhone, iPad or Mac speak it aloud in your Personal Voice.

Set up Personal Voice on:

Spoken Content

Select the text you want to hear out loud.

Spoken Content includes a collection of features that enable your devices to read text out loud. Use Speak Screen if you want to hear the content of your entire screen. Or try Speak Selection if you want to select and hear a specific range of text. During speech playback, you can control the pace of the reading more precisely with Speech Controller. And Typing Feedback speaks every letter you type. Spoken Content is available in more than 60 languages and locales, with more options to customize settings such as pitch range for your preferred built-in voices.3

Available on:

iPhone, iPad, Mac

Spoken Content

Spoken Content includes a collection of features that enable your devices to read text out loud. Use Speak Screen if you want to hear the content of your entire screen. Or try Speak Selection if you want to select and hear a specific range of text. During speech playback, you can control the pace of the reading more precisely with Speech Controller. And Typing Feedback speaks every letter you type. Spoken Content is available in more than 60 languages and locales, with more options to customize settings such as pitch range for your preferred built-in voices.3

Set up Spoken Content on:

UpdatedMessages

Say everything you want, without saying anything.

Messages helps you communicate without needing to say a word. Emoji, Memoji, stickers and reactions make your texts more personalized and expressive. Quickly catch up on unread messages, swipe to reply to specific messages, and edit or unsend messages for more seamless communication in real time. Messages makes it easy to share photos, links and even your location with friends and family. Staying connected without speaking is simpler and more fun than ever.

Available on:

iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch

Updated

Messages helps you communicate without needing to say a word. Emoji, Memoji, stickers and reactions make your texts more personalized and expressive. Quickly catch up on unread messages, swipe to reply to specific messages, and edit or unsend messages for more seamless communication in real time. Messages makes it easy to share photos, links and even your location with friends and family. Staying connected without speaking is simpler and more fun than ever.

Set up Messages on:

Updates:

Catch-up and swipe to reply. A new catch-up arrow lets you jump to the first message you haven’t seen in a conversation. And you can swipe right on any message to send a reply.

All your stickers in one place. The new stickers drawer lets you access all your Live Stickers, emoji, Memoji and other sticker packs in one place. Your stickers sync with iCloud so they are available on your iPhone, iPad and Mac devices.

All your iMessage apps in one place. Tap the new plus button to view all the things you send the most — like photos, audio messages and your location. You can swipe up to view the rest of your iMessage apps.

Check In. Let your loved ones know you’ve arrived safely by automatically notifying them when you reach your destination. If you stop making progress, it checks in with you, and if you don’t respond, it shares helpful information with your friend, like the location, battery level and cell service status of your iPhone. Your shared information is end-to-end encrypted.

Audio message transcriptions. Audio messages are now transcribed, so you can read or listen to them depending on your needs and preferences.

Scribble

Handwrite everything you want to say.

Reply to a message or write a note by scribbling on your display, and your device automatically converts your words to typed text. You can use your finger to write quick responses on your Apple Watch display, or jot down notes with Apple Pencil on iPad. If you’re nonverbal or prefer to communicate through handwriting, Scribble helps you get all your ideas across.

Available on:

iPad, Apple Watch

Reply to a message or write a note by scribbling on your display, and your device automatically converts your words to typed text. You can use your finger to write quick responses on your Apple Watch display, or jot down notes with Apple Pencil on iPad. If you’re nonverbal or prefer to communicate through handwriting, Scribble helps you get all your ideas across.

Set up Scribble on:

UpdatedFaceTime

Type what you want to say during video calls.

FaceTime is a great way to stay connected to family and friends, especially if you rely on facial expressions, gestures or sign language to communicate. Its high-quality video and fast frame rate ensure that you never miss a moment. Live Speech integrates seamlessly into FaceTime — just type your responses and your device speaks it out loud to others on the call. Or quickly chime in with your favourite saved phrases during animated conversations. FaceTime makes it easy to be even more expressive without a word. Use simple hand gestures to add a reaction that fills the camera frame with effects like hearts or confetti.4

Available on:

iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV

Updated

FaceTime is a great way to stay connected to family and friends, especially if you rely on facial expressions, gestures or sign language to communicate. Its high-quality video and fast frame rate ensure that you never miss a moment. Live Speech integrates seamlessly into FaceTime — just type your responses and your device speaks it out loud to others on the call. Or quickly chime in with your favourite saved phrases during animated conversations. FaceTime makes it easy to be even more expressive without a word. Use simple hand gestures to add a reaction that fills the camera frame with effects like hearts or confetti.4

Set up FaceTime on:

Updates:

React with your hands. Use a simple hand gesture to add a reaction that fills the camera frame with fun effects like hearts, confetti or fireworks.4

Leave a message. When someone misses your FaceTime call, record a video or audio message with all the same video effects that make you look your best in FaceTime, like Portrait mode and Studio Light. Your messages can also be played on Apple Watch.

FaceTime on Apple TV. Use your iPhone as a camera and start a call directly from the FaceTime app on Apple TV, or hand off the call from your iPhone to your TV.5

Accessibility Shortcut

Triple-click to start using features faster.

Easily add, organize and customize the features you use the most in Control Center or System Settings with the Accessibility Shortcut. You can triple-click the side button, Digital Crown or power button to quickly access your favourite features — like Live Speech or Spoken Content — without needing to leave the app you’re using.

Available on:

iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple TV

Easily add, organize and customize the features you use the most in Control Center or System Settings with the Accessibility Shortcut. You can triple-click the side button, Digital Crown or power button to quickly access your favourite features — like Live Speech or Spoken Content — without needing to leave the app you’re using.

Set up Accessibility Shortcut on:

UpdatedSiri

Siri responds to text too.

Siri can help you with the things you do every day without your needing to speak a word. Use Type to Siri to ask questions, set up reminders, issue commands and more.6 With Siri Pause Time, you can also adjust the amount of time Siri waits before responding, so you can speak comfortably at your own pace without worrying about Siri interrupting you.

Available on:

iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple TV, HomePod, AirPods

Updated

Siri can help you with the things you do every day without your needing to speak a word. Use Type to Siri to ask questions, set up reminders, issue commands and more.6 With Siri Pause Time, you can also adjust the amount of time Siri waits before responding, so you can speak comfortably at your own pace without worrying about Siri interrupting you.

Set up Siri on:

Updates:

Customize Siri speed. Customize Siri to speak at a slower or faster rate depending on your needs and preferences.

Siri activation. Siri now works when you just say “Siri” as well as “Hey Siri.”7

Back-to-back requests. Once you activate Siri, you can make multiple requests back to back without needing to say “Siri” again.8

Siri in Safari Reader. You can have text read aloud in Reader-compatible sites in Safari by saying “Siri, read this.”

Back Tap

Tap-tap to cue your favourite features.

Back Tap lets you double‑tap or triple‑tap the back of your iPhone to perform a range of custom tasks automatically. You can use Back Tap to start using your favourite speech features, like Live Speech or Speak Screen, even faster.

Available on:

iPhone

Back Tap lets you double‑tap or triple‑tap the back of your iPhone to perform a range of custom tasks automatically. You can use Back Tap to start using your favourite speech features, like Live Speech or Speak Screen, even faster.

Set up Back Tap on:

iPhone

UpdatedSwitch Control

Navigate onscreen with a sound.

Switch Control makes it easy and efficient to control your device with a variety of adaptive switch hardware, wireless game controllers or even sounds. You can use item, point and manual scanning to navigate sequentially through onscreen keyboards, menus and the Dock. Sound actions for Switch Control let you use simple mouth sounds — like a click, a pop or “ee”— to navigate sequentially and perform actions onscreen. And the same switch or sound actions you use to navigate and control your iPhone and iPad can be turned into a game controller.9

Available on:

iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV

Updated

Switch Control makes it easy and efficient to control your device with a variety of adaptive switch hardware, wireless game controllers or even sounds. You can use item, point and manual scanning to navigate sequentially through onscreen keyboards, menus and the Dock. Sound actions for Switch Control let you use simple mouth sounds — like a click, a pop or “ee”— to navigate sequentially and perform actions onscreen. And the same switch or sound actions you use to navigate and control your iPhone and iPad can be turned into a game controller.9

Set up Switch Control on:

Update:

Switch Control for Gaming. People who use Switch Control have the option to turn the same switch or sound actions they use to navigate and control their iPhone or iPad into a game controller. For example, those who prefer to use sound actions as switches can set different sounds, like a pop or a click, to perform game maneuvers, such as moving left and right.

Go deeper with videos from Apple.

Learn tips, tricks and how-tos for speech features from Apple Support on YouTube.

Watch now

Make yours. showing Speak Selection feature.

Discover more about Apple accessibility features.

Learn more