Web Speech Synthesis API: not all voices installed listed

Question

Created Jan ’23

Replies 6

Boosts 2

Views 1.9k

Participants 5

I'm developing an application using the Web Speech API for speech synthesis. According to the API specification SpeechSynthesis.getVoices() should retrieve the voices available on the system.

On my iPad Pro, 12,9 inch, 3rd generation, iOS 16 however this doesn't return all voices installed on the system.

In system settings (Accessibility -> Spoken content -> Voices -> German) e.g. I see these voices:

Anna
Eloquence
Markus
Petra
Siri
Viktor
Yannick

However if for SpeechSynthesis.getVoices() I only get the voices within the group "Eloquence":

Eddy
Flo
Grandma
Grandpa
Reed
Rocko
Sandy
Shelley

All other voices (Anna, Markus, etc.) are missing. Is this a bug or is it intended by Apple that it's impossible to use all voices? This is independent of the browser, it's the same for Safari, Chrome or Firefox.

Use this in order to test which voices are available using the WebSpeech API: https://plnkr.co/edit/E2etsrUZVOVfrDwG

Boost

Answer 1

Frameworks Engineer OP

Apple

Jan ’23

Hey there, it is expected that with Web Speech APIs only the pre-installed voices are available. Optionally downloadable voices are not available

0

Answer 2

klues OP

Jan ’23

This is really very bad news since our app needs it and it worked with iOS 15 and now isn't working with iOS 16 anymore. So with the update users are loosing functionality. Sad that Apple users have less and worse possibilities in this case compared to users of all other platforms.

0

Answer 3

klues OP

Jan ’23

Additionally it's not the case what you've described as the expected behaviour: e.g. the Spanish voice "Jorge" is preinstalalled, but also not listed via the Web Speech API.

1

Answer 4

jesse_greenberg OP

Jul ’24

We just encountered this as well. Can you please explain why this is expected behavior? This limits functionality and feels like a potential bug.

2

Answer 5

klues OP

3w

With iOS things again became worse. In iOS 17 there was at least access to some high quality voices in webapps, which now are gone again. Please change this back, it's really affecting the user experience for your users in many modern webapps, where it's a real disadvantage to have an iOS device compared to Android. This is really a point why I'm recommending people to not buy Apple devices in my daily life (especially for people who are needing the speech features, where I have many contacts).

2

Answer 6

Jashson OP

2w

Sadly this situation with the latest releases of macOS (Sequoia), iPadOS 18 and iOS 18 is really critical.

After updating to this versions, there is for example no German quality voice left ("Anna" has gone). The Eloquence voice are far away from being usable. And installed quality voices are not listed at all in Safari.

@Apple, please fix this issue, cause it's related to many WebApps.

PS: Chrome and Edge are listing all Voices which are installed on macOS. Only Safari does not.

2