Even if a creator doesn’t turn on closed captions, TikTok will now enable viewers do so

TikTok is revamping a tool it first released in 2021 that had a lot of drawbacks to make it simpler for viewers to watch videos with automatically generated subtitles, the firm stated today.

In order to use the prior caption option, creators had to enable auto-generated captions on their video before posting, therefore whether or not captions were available dependent on the creator’s memory. Deaf and hard-of-hearing users frequently had to ask other users to switch on closed captions because if a creator neglected to activate captions, there was no way to add them after posting the post without deleting and beginning over. Along with creators, viewers now have the option to enable closed captioning thanks to this new upgrade.

Additionally, TikTok is launching a translation service that will let users translate text stickers, descriptions, and captions for videos into their native tongue. Previously, viewers had to utilise third-party translation tools to decipher the contents of a video that appeared in a different language.

The business claims in a blog post that “through these efforts, global information will become more accessible regardless of the language(s) you speak and where you are in the world.”

Initially, English, Portuguese, German, Indonesian, Italian, Korean, Mandarin, Spanish, and Turkish auto-captions and translations will be offered. According to TikTok, more users will be able to access the services “in the coming months.”