TikTok’s Text-to-Speech feature is both a great accessibility feature for people with visual and reading impairments, and a tool for creating entertaining content. While Text-to-Speech is available via the operating system on devices like tablets or phones, it’s relatively forward-thinking for a social app like TikTok to make it available within the app. Other platforms such as Twitter and Facebook do not use this feature. Instagram automatically captions stories, but only if someone is already speaking in the video.
That said, the feature doesn’t come without controversy. TikTok changed the original voice after the player filed a lawsuit claiming that he never agreed to take part in the app. The new sound looks less monotonous than the original and just as popular. Creators use their videos as an accessibility tool to narrate and have some fun seeing what words the bot can pronounce (or can’t).
If this is something you’re interested in, here’s how to set it up:
- Save your video.
- When you’re done recording, press the Text button at the bottom of the screen.
- Type what you want to say and press elsewhere on the screen to end the text.
- Press and hold the text you just typed.
- Select “Text-to-Speech”.
Here is an example of how TikTok’s Text-to-Speech feature sounds:
@blushingbb_slimes The color of your top + the last thing you ate = our next new slime! ✨ What is it? #speech text #satisfy #fypシ #good4u #oddlysatisfying #for you #oliviarodrigo
