How to change Apple Maps voice

Many navigation apps offer turn-by-turn voice directions, including Apple’s Apple Maps tool. iPhone owners who regularly use Apple Maps may want to customize the voice used for these directions to improve the overall experience. The good news is that changing the Apple Maps navigation voice is relatively simple. The bad news is that Apple Maps doesn’t offer a built-in catalog of voices to choose from. Instead, the app shares the same voice as Siri, the iPhone’s voice assistant. That’s why changing Maps’ voice requires accessing the Siri menu in the Settings app, instead of diving into the navigation app’s various menus.

This suggests that any changes to the Siri voice in future versions of iOS could have a direct impact on the Apple Maps experience. The company may update Siri audio experiences through iOS versions, and changes to Siri may affect user preferences in Apple Maps. However, once you learn how to change the navigation voice, you can still customize the experience.

Finally, iPhone users should be aware that Siri’s voices and accents may differ depending on the market and device capabilities. For example, iOS 27 will introduce more expressive voices for the Siri AI chatbot, but the feature will have specific hardware requirements and may not be available in all markets where iPhones are sold. As such, not all Apple Maps users will be able to take advantage of the expressive voice options.

To change the Apple Maps voice, go to the Settings app on the iPhone and tap the Siri menu. Then find the Voice menu, where you will customize the audio experience. Tap it and you’ll be presented with a list of choices on a new screen that explains where the selected voice will be used. According to Apple’s description on an iPhone 14 Pro (iOS 27 beta installed) that does not support Apple Intelligence, “Siri, Maps turn-by-turn guidance, and page listening in Safari” will use the selected voice. iPhone users will have to make two choices: Variety (accent) and voice type.

Voice variations can include American, Australian, British, Indian, Irish and South African accents when the phone language is set to English. Each accent will have a number of distinct voice options in the Voice menu. For example, the American menu may offer five voices, without identifying them as male or female. You’ll have to go through each one to see which one you like best. Other accents may have fewer options. If you want a different language, you’ll need to go to the Language menu in the Siri section of the Settings app, make your selection, then return to the Voice menu. For additional customizations, you can go to the Settings app, tap Apps, and select the Maps app.

iPhone users updating to the iOS 27 beta might be interested in replacing the Siri AI voice with one of the more expressive options. Apple uses an on-device AI model to enable these customizations for the Siri chatbot, but users will need a model with at least 12GB of RAM. The list includes the iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max. The company is expected to launch three new iPhone models in September, likely to support more expressive Siri voices. These are the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max and Apple’s first foldable iPhone. In July, Apple’s iOS 27 beta 3 enabled the Expressiveness and Rhythm sliders in Siri settings. Consumers who want to use Apple Maps on an iPad with the new voices can do so on a tablet with at least 12 GB of RAM (iPad Pro M4 or later) after downloading the iPadOS 27 update.

Hardware isn’t the only limitation to taking advantage of the more expressive Siri voice options in iOS 27 and iPadOS 27. The new Siri will initially be available in English, with other languages ​​to follow. Apple customers in the European Union and China will not be able to use Siri’s expressive voices, as the Siri AI chatbot will initially not be available on iPhone and iPad in EU countries. Likewise, Chinese users might not have access to Apple Intelligence features, including the new Siri AI, once iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 are released.