TikTok Introduces Automatically Generated Subtitles And Captions Features

JAKARTA - TikTok now makes it easier for users to watch videos with auto-generated captions. The ByteDance-owned app announced today, updating a feature introduced in 2021 that has a number of flaws.

The previous caption feature required creators to enable auto-generated captions on their videos prior to posting, which means the availability of captions depends on whether the video creator remembers to click the button.

If an author forgets to enable captions, there's no way to add them after publishing a post without deleting and starting over, and deaf and hard of hearing users regularly have to ask someone else to enable closed captioning. This new update adds the ability for viewers to enable closed captioning in addition to the creators themselves.

TikTok also introduced a translation tool, which allows viewers to translate video captions, descriptions, and text stickers into the language of their choice. Previously, if a video in another language appeared, the user had to use an external translation tool to put the content of the clip together.

"Through this effort, global content will become more accessible regardless of the language you speak and where you are in the world," the company wrote in a blog post, also quoted by The Verge.

Auto captions and subtitles will initially be available in English, Portuguese, German, Indonesian, Italian, Korean, Chinese, Spanish and Turkish. TikTok says the feature will expand to more users "in the coming months."