Many blind and partially sighted people rely on VoiceOver on iPhone and iPad. VoiceOver speaks text on the screen so that visually impaired users can still operate their device. It is nice that the voice speaks in the same language as the user and for years this went well for Belgian users thanks to the Ellen voice. But in iOS 15.4 this voice is no longer available as a VoiceOver voice for unclear reasons.
Flemish VoiceOver voice Ellen disappeared
Since the release of iOS 15.4 earlier this week, we have received several complaints from Belgian users at the iCulture editors. Who goes to VoiceOver's voice settings from Settings > Accessibility > VoiceOver > Speech > Voice, see there in iOS 15.4 still under the heading Dutch (Belgium) the voice Ellen. If the voice has not yet been downloaded, a cloud will appear here. After tapping this, the voice will be downloaded. Unfortunately, it's not possible to eventually set up the voice for use with VoiceOver, even if the iPhone's region is Belgium. state.
Belgian users are therefore dependent on the Dutch voices of Siri, Xander and Claire. Although these voices can also pronounce the texts well, this can be inconvenient for Belgian users due to the sometimes deviating pronunciation and the Flemish accent. Especially if you depend on VoiceOver to operate your iPhone. Strangely enough, the voice is still available in macOS Monterey 12.3.
In the meantime, iCulture reader Marjolijn has started a petition, which at the time of writing has been signed 125 times. In the petition, users are calling on Apple to bring the voice back as soon as possible. If you want to sign it yourself, you can do so via this page.
Flemish Siri voice has already disappeared
Shortly after the release of iOS 15, it turned out that the Flemish Siri voice, which was the same as the Ellen VoiceOver voice, was suddenly no longer available. This seemed to be a conscious action by Apple, because the Flemish Siri voice can no longer be found as an option in iOS and iPadOS. In recent months we have received several complaints from Belgian users. iCulture reader Pascal contacted Apple support about this issue, where he was told that the Dutch (Belgium) voice had been removed from iOS and had therefore been deliberately replaced by Dutch (Netherlands).
Why is the Flemish Siri and VoiceOver voice gone?
The big question is why Apple has removed the Belgian-Dutch Siri and VoiceOver voice. Although Siri really seems to be a deliberate action, we suspect that VoiceOver is a bug. For example, the voice can still be seen in the interface of the iPhone and iPad, but the selection no longer works properly. The fact that the voice is still available on the Mac also suggests that there is a bug in the software.
Unfortunately, at this point we can only speculate as to why Apple made these changes to the Belgian-Dutch Siri and VoiceOver voice. It is possible that this has something to do with the upcoming release of the HomePod mini in the Netherlands and Belgium. Apple may have tinkered behind the scenes with the Dutch Siri voice, so that it better understands what you say on the HomePod. Presumably, Apple did not have the time or the resources to make these same adjustments to the Belgian voice, so they decided to remove the Flemish Siri voice altogether. Now the release of the HomePod mini in the Netherlands and Belgium is coming, the software will be all set to support the speaker. Apple may also have accidentally deactivated the Flemish VoiceOver voice.
Should there be a software update that will solve this problem soon, you will of course read it on iCulture.