Voiceover turns into Samantha on restart

By Bingo Little, 6 January, 2022

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

it's not my day, it really isn't! this is the second topic I've posted about an iPhone SE2020 problem today. So, in order to try and resolve the other problem I posted about (my voice being quiet when using the earpiece with phone calls) I tried restoring from an iCloud backup. Since doing so, when I restart the iPhone my Voiceover voice is Samantha. Turning off Voiceover and then turning it back on again restores it to what it should be (UK Siri female) so it isn't the end of the world but what on earth is going on here? any ideas? IOS15.2 by the way.

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Comments

By Mister Kayne on Saturday, September 23, 2023 - 17:42

Sorry, this is a late reply I am on IOS 16.6. iPhone 12 and noticed strange things with Siri Voices and VoiceOver. I have written it on the forum here but no convincing replies. It has been reported to apple but no luck!
https://www.applevis.com/forum/ios-ipados/updated-trouble-automations-when-triggered-shortcuts-ios-166?fbclid=IwAR2POhmhAaD1b9nvLt80rqzAA6LNlOAu5QsI1ShL_704Quf5BDUnqVZGjhE

By Siobhan on Saturday, September 23, 2023 - 17:42

I was going to write that if you were on the beta, this tends to happen sometimes. Since you aren't, I'm afraid I have no idea. I wonder if resetting settings would help? Yes, I know you restored just throwing it out there. I don't remember if it's you who said getting to an apple store or whatever electronics store might be closer is arduous to say the least, but it might be worth a call to accessibility, share a screen recording and see if it's your device only. I hope it isn't but you are talking to one who lives Murphy's law by the book. Trust me on that. I get the, I haven't seen that, more times then I care to tell you. Sorry I'm not more help.

By Holger Fiallo on Saturday, September 23, 2023 - 17:42

Did you change the voice in Siri for use. Strange thing, Got her in my watch when I change siri Voice from 5 to 4. Restore it to 5 and my voice came back. Maybe sane issue with phone?

By Brian on Saturday, September 23, 2023 - 17:42

Try this:

1. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Spoken Content.
2. Make sure the voice matches your VoiceOver voice, including rate, volume, etc.
3. Toggle off, then on VoiceOver.

I know this typically is a work-around for the newer iOS 16.x, but it should work for you as well. 😃

By Brooke on Saturday, September 23, 2023 - 17:42

I'm on the latest release of iOS 16 and my primary voice is Eloquence. But every so often, for no reason that I can pinpoint, Voiceover's voice switches to Samantha for maybe a sentence or 2, then goes back to Eloquence. Not the same issue you're having, but there's definitely something strange going on. This happens about once every 2 or 3 days.

By Siobhan on Saturday, September 23, 2023 - 17:42

I know i'm running 17 beta, but voice over seems to crash, Samantha takes over and maybe stays on for a minute or two, maybe Alex, my default works after a sentence as previously said. I'm curious if voice over is just getting to big, with the third party access now given to Eliquence.

By Holger Fiallo on Saturday, September 23, 2023 - 17:42

No issues with Vo crashing. Not on iOS 16.6 and now that I am using iOS 17. The only issue I have is strange. When I change my voice in siri, the voice on my watch goes to Samantha. I have to return to my current siri voice for the voice in my watch return. iPhone 13 pro, 128 GB.

By Brian on Saturday, September 23, 2023 - 17:42

Seriously, does anyone else here think MacOS (or the artist formerly known as OS X) worked better pre Siri? 😕