Google Updates Search App for iOS With More Natural Sounding Voice

The voice assistants in our phones have always sounded somewhat robotic, but Google is taking steps to do away with that. The company rolled out a new voice for the Google Now / Search app on iOS and Android, and it sounds a lot more natural than the old version.

You’ll definitely still recognize it as a constructed voice, but the obviously robotic tics appear to be far less common.

Google’s goal with the updated voice was to put a heavier focus on intonation, making smoother rises and falls in its speech, while doing a better job of mirroring how a human would talk. The change is definitely noticeable. Google’s voice has always sounded a bit smoother than its competitors, and this update pushes it even further ahead.

Google’s Nat and Lo shot a sort of behind-the-scenes with the team tasked with improving Now’s voice:

Google Search for iOS is available as a free download from the App Store. The app requires any device running iOS 8.0 or later.

[via Engadget]