How to set up Siri to read text messages into AirPods in iOS 13

How to Make Siri Read Text on iPhone

Siri can read most text on the screen. The personal voice assistant works on almost all apps while your free hands can work on other things. To make the iPhone read text, go into the Accessibility settings and set up the feature first. 

1. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Spoken Content.

2. Enable Speak Selection to display a Speak button on top of any selected text. 

3. Enable Speak Screen to hear the entire screen with a two-finger swipe from the top to the bottom of the screen.

4. Select Speech Controller and enable the Show Controller toggle button. The Speak Controller gives you quick access to the Speak Screen and Speak on Touch features with the help of an overlay on the screen. 

5. The other settings on the Spoken Content screen allow you to select Voices and adjust the Speaking Rate. Use Pronunciations to add difficult words to a list and have them voiced precisely. Typing Feedback is another accessibility feature that provides voice feedback as it spells each character, entire words, auto-corrections, auto-capitalizations, and typing predictions. Enable this only if necessary. 

6. To use Siri, long-press the button on the right side or trigger it with the “Hey Siri” voice command. Say something like “Speak screen” to make Siri read text on the screen. Alternatively, select the text you want Siri to read and then tap Speak.

Enabling Highlight Content in the Spoken Content settings helps you follow the words as Siri read them. Change the highlight colors if you don’t like the default blue. It’s a handy feature for reviewing documents on the phone.  

Replying to and sending new text messages with Siri

To send a message, activate Siri by pressing the side button or home button on older iPhones or by saying “Hey Siri” if you have the feature enabled.

Hey Siri, send a message to JaneHey Siri, send a message to dictate phone number

Siri will then ask you to dictate your message. Read our Siri dictation guide for a complete list of dictation commands.‍

What do you want to say?

You can also include the message and recipient details in the same phrase:

Hey Siri, text Jane ‘I’m running 10 minutes late’

Once you’ve finished dictating, Siri will then confirm the message back to you and ask what you’d like to do next:

Send itCancel itReview itChange it

Speak the option of your choice. Once the message is completed, Siri will ask you if you want to send it. To deliver the message immediately, say ‘Yes’.

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5. How Can You Stop Siri from Reading Text Corrections?

Does your iPhone continue to speak when you’re texting even after you’ve disabled Announce Messages with Siri? You can blame Speak Auto-text. It is a feature that detects misspelled words and recites the correct spelling and other text suggestions.

You can interrupt it by continuing to type your text message. Tapping the space key can also help. That signals your iPhone to enter the correct word automatically. If these two options don’t work for you, the next thing to do is disable Speak Auto-text.

Here’s how to disable Speak Auto-Text on your iPhone:

1. First, go to your iPhone’s Settings menu.
2. On the list, choose General. Then, tap Accessibility.

1. Next, select Spoken Content under the Vision section.
2. Then, find and tap Typing Feedback.
3. Lastly, turn off the button beside Speak Auto-text.

After that, go back to Messages and type a text message. You’ll notice that your iPhone or Siri will no longer detect and speak text corrections. 

That’s it. At this point, you should’ve already stopped Siri from reading text messages on your iPhone. Want to learn more tips and tricks on using your Apple devices more efficiently? Feel free to leave a comment below. Our team will do our best to craft another quick, simple how-to guide for you.

If this guide helped you, please share it. 🙂

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Have Siri automatically read messages aloud

Follow the steps below to have Siri automatically read your latest incoming message out loud.

1) Open Settings on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.

2) Tap Notifications.

3) Tap Announce Messages with Siri.

4) Slide the switch next to Announce Messages with Siri to the ON position.

5) To avoid Siri reading your transcribed reply back to you before sending it, toggle off the option Send Replies Without Confirmation.

If you’re not a native English speaker or Siri’s speech-to-text doesn’t impress you, you should leave this setting off in order to make sure Siri gets everything right.

6) Now tap Messages underneath the heading Announce Messages From.

7) Choose whom you want to receive messages from this way:

• Everyone: Siri will read out loud texts from everyone.
• Recents: Siri will only read out loud texts from people who recently messaged you.
• All Contacts: Siri will read aloud incoming texts no matter the sender.
• Favorites: Only messages from your favorite contacts will be read out loud to you.

According to Apple, if notifications have been turned off for a particular messaging app, enabling Announce Messages with Siri will also turn back on notifications.

Aside from Messages, third-party messaging app installed on your iPhone or iPad will be listed in Settings → Notifications → Announce Messages with Siri, allowing you to separately manage this feature for every messaging app, which is pretty great.

3. How Can You Stop Siri from Repeating Your Replies?

Some users like the fact that Siri reads their messages aloud. What annoys them is that whenever they reply, Siri reads the text back to them. If you feel the same way, you can keep Announce Messages but prevent Siri from reading your replies. 

Here’s how to do it:

1. First, go to your iPhone’s Settings menu.
2. Then, choose Notifications from the list.
3. Now, find and tap Announce Messages with Siri.
4. Lastly, toggle off the button next to Reply without Confirmation.

After following these steps, Siri will send your replies as soon as you finish talking instead of reading your reply to you first.

How to change Siri’s voice

Did you know it is possible to change Siri’s voice, and the ‘sex’ of Siri on your iPhone, HomePod, and Mac, and even the accent if you so desire? Here we show you how.

Siri User Guide 22 Mar 2021

Tutorials

More on AirPods

If you own Apple’s wireless earbuds, you’ll enjoy another cool new feature called Shared Listening, which lets a friend listen to the same song or watch the same movie or hear the same audiobook that you’re enjoying through your own AirPods.

This is possible because all iPhones from iPhone X onward, as well as the second-generation AirPods and Apple’s truly wireless Powerbeats Pro sporty earbuds, include the latest Bluetooth 5.0 wireless protocol that—aside from more reliable performance and increased range—packs in support for pairing with two audio accessories at a time.

Before iOS 13, showing someone what you’re listening to required handing over one of your AirPods, which meant only using one and enjoying half the experience.

By the way, Siri can also announce who’s calling (this is actually an old feature from prior iOS editions). If you’re running iOS 13 or later, your iPhone can automatically silence unknown callers to cut down on the amount of spammy robocalls and other unwanted calls.

Reader Interactions

Comments

1. Mihai Garba says

   Friday, May 7, 2021 at 4:28 PM

   Hello. Siri does a fine job starting the feature Speak Screen by simply saying “Siri Speak Screen” Does anyone know what is the voice command to make Siri pause or stop the speak screen feature? Struggling for quite some time with this and couldn’t find a way.

   Reply

Use Announce Notifications

With this feature turned on, Siri announces incoming notifications from apps such as Messages and Reminders, and from supported third-party apps. Siri reads your incoming notifications out loud when your headphones are connected to your iPhone or iPad, you’re wearing them, and your device is locked.

If the app that you’re using classifies a notification as time sensitive or as a direct message, Siri plays a tone, then announces the notification automatically. You can also choose which notifications Siri reads:

1. On your iPhone or iPad, go to Settings > Notifications > Announce Notifications.
2. Tap Messages. 
3. Select either Time Sensitive and Direct Messages or All Notifications.

If you customize Control Center on your iPhone or iPad to include Announce Notifications, you can use Control Center to turn the feature on or off quickly.

If you’re receiving multiple notifications at once, you can stop Siri from announcing them all by taking out one of your earbuds or removing your headphones.

Reply to notifications

For apps in which you can send a reply, such as Messages, you can reply to the notifications that Siri announces on compatible headphones or in a vehicle that supports CarPlay: Wait for Siri to read the notification. Siri then listens for your reply. Tell Siri that you’d like to reply, then speak your message. Say something like "Reply ‘I’m on my way’" or "Tell her ‘I’ll meet you there.’" When you stop talking, Siri reads your reply back to you and asks if you want to send it.

Customize Siri announced messages

If you want to work without interruptions, you can change Siri’s settings so it won’t alert you about incoming messages.

Step 1: Navigate to the Announce Messages with Siri screen and click the Messages option underneath Announce Messages From.

Step 2: Here you can pick whether you want Siri to notify you when you receive a message from anyone (the Everyone option) or only the texts from certain people such as those on your Favorites list, Recents, or people in your Contacts.

If you want to send replies without taking the time to look them over manually, you can change Siri’s settings so that it will automatically send your response after you speak to it. If you’d like to go with this option, switch on the Reply without Confirmation button on the Announce Messages with Siri page.

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