Apple’s Upcoming iOS 17 Feature Will Allow You To Clone Your Voice In Minutes
By Alexa Heah, 06 Jun 2023
Last month, as part of Apple’s iOS 17 preview, the company unveiled myriad accessibility features that would soon be coming to its devices. One that stood out was ‘Personal Voice’, a function that analyzes users’ speech patterns and turns them into voice “clones” to be vocalized.
Now, at the recent WWDC, the technology giant confirmed that the feature, along with others, will launch together with the upcoming iOS 17, iPadOS 17, watchOS 10, and macOS Sonoma updates.
Individuals suffering from degenerative diseases, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), will benefit greatly from ‘Personal Voice’. Just 15 minutes of audio recordings from the user are required to get the ball rolling, giving one a newfound sense of control over communication.
‘Live Speech’, a complementary feature, will work in tandem with the former by allowing users to type in any desired text, which will then be vocalized in their cadence to others on a phone call, FaceTime, or can even be stored as commonly-used phrases to be used face-to-face.
In addition, the ‘Point and Speak’ will aid blind or low vision users in reading text on household objects aloud, so they can tell exactly what’s written on the controls of a washing machine or microwave.
That’s not all. Several health features will be added to the mix, including a daylight sensor and screen distance detection system that will alert children when they’re too close to the gadget in order to prevent vision problems such as myopia.