Apple just turned on new voice controls for Siri in the latest test version of iOS 27. Two simple sliders—one for how fast Siri speaks, another for how much emotion it sounds like it has—are now ready to use.

Here's what they do: drag the speed slider, and Siri talks faster or slower. Drag the emotion slider, and Siri sounds warmer and more human-like, or flatter and more neutral. When you adjust either one, Siri reads a sample message out loud right away, so you can hear exactly what it will sound like before you lock in your choice. You don't have to close the menu, ask Siri a question, and come back to tweak it again—you just slide and listen.

Apple showed off these features in June at its developer conference. They're part of a bigger overhaul of Siri to make it smarter using AI. In iOS 27, you'll also be able to wake Siri by voice, button press, swipe down from the top of your screen, typing, or just opening a Siri app. And there's a range of different voices to pick from, too.

Who Needs This

These sliders are straightforward tools, but they matter for some people more than others. If you have hearing difficulties, or you speak English as a second language, or you just find the default voice grating to listen to for hours—these controls are for you. They make Siri work better on your terms.

The emotion slider is the trickier one technically. Modern voice technology doesn't just change the speed—it can layer in different feelings (calm, upbeat, neutral) the way a human might. Apple's engineers built Siri to adjust that feeling while you drag the slider, in real time. That takes some engineering work under the hood, but from your side, it just feels smooth.

Things to Keep in Mind

Because this is a test version, not the final release, some users reported losing access to the new Siri after installing it. Others saw their phone take time to reorganize files afterward. Both are typical for big changes to how the software works underneath—nothing to panic about, but worth knowing.

Apple flagged one issue in their release notes: if you turn off Siri, the phone might not fully delete the data it collected from listening to your voice and dictation. That's a bug, not something Apple intended, and it's important to watch because governments are paying attention to how companies handle voice data.

What This Means Going Forward

These voice controls are one piece of a much bigger update to how Siri works in iOS 27. Apple is redesigning Siri from the ground up to be smarter and more personal—less about showing you the same Siri everyone else gets, more about making Siri adapt to you. The pace and emotion sliders are the first sign of that shift. Whether Apple pulls off the full vision when the software actually ships is still an open question.