Home Internet, Software & Apps Siri will soon talk in Hindi with iOS 18; more India-specific features announced
Siri will soon talk in Hindi with iOS 18; more India-specific features announced
Here's how iOS 18 will enhance the iPhone experience for customers in India.
Highlights
- With iOS 18, Indian users are getting support for a new multilingual keyboard, which can automatically switch to a regional language based on your conversation.
- Siri and Translate apps are also gaining support for Hindi. The voice assistant will talk in an Indian language for the first time.
- Other features include support for regional alphabets and numerals in lock screen clocks and contact posters.
Apple unveiled its upcoming iOS 18 software update at WWDC 2024 last month. It is one of the biggest updates to the iPhone software, thanks to the introduction of Apple Intelligence. The California-based company is doubling down on enhancing the iPhone experience for its users in India, too. It has revealed a set of much-awaited features that Indian consumers will get with the upcoming OS, and we've listed them below.
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iOS 18 to get support for more Indian languages system-wide
With India having multiple regional languages and dialects, it always takes time for international brands to implement support for most of them. Apple is increasing the number of languages it supports on the iOS keyboard and has also introduced new features in first-party apps for Indian users.
- Siri will now be able to talk back to users in Hindi. Earlier, the voice assistant could understand Hinglish, but now it can also respond to users in the same language. Further, it has gained multilingual support for an additional 9 languages, so now you can mix English with Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil & Telugu to give commands to Siri.
- The Translate app on iPhone has added support for Hindi. This translation capability can also be accessed system-wide in apps like Safari and through Siri.
- Lock Screen Clock and Contact Poster features on iOS 18 have added support for multiple regional alphabets and numerals for better customization.
- Live Voicemail transcription can now understand Indian English accents.
- One of the biggest additions to iOS 18 is a new multilingual keyboard. Indian users can now set up two additional regional languages besides English. The keyboard supports advanced transliteration and automatically switches to the relevant keyboard based on the app and conversation. The multilingual keyboard also supports QuickPath and Emoji Prediction. The support for this feature is currently limited to English, Bangla, Gujarati, Hindi, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil, and Telugu.
- iPhone Keyboard on iOS 18 also supports alphabetical keyboard layouts for 11 languages: Bangla, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. There's also support for enhanced language search that will allow users to search for words regardless of the difference in spelling.
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iOS 18 also provides support for dual SIM control through the control centre. Move to iOS will also get a major update to improve speeds and reliability. iPhone users in India will be able to access these features with the launch of iOS 18 this fall. Developer beta is already available, and public beta testing is expected to start this month. iOS 18 will be available on iPhone XR and later (including iPhone SE 2nd Gen and iPhone SE 5G).