Twitter is taking another step toward becoming more accessible. On Tuesday, the company began rolling out automatic captions for videos. The feature is available on Android, iOS and its web client. On mobile, you’ll see captions appear automatically when you start watching a muted video. You can configure them to stay on even after you increase the volume on your device through the accessibility settings on your phone.
One thing to note is that only videos uploaded from today forward will include automatically generated captions. As The Verge points out, there’s also no way to report inaccurate captions currently. However, a Twitter spokesperson told the outlet it’s “always looking at ways to improve our accessibility features.”
The introduction of automatic video captions is a step forward for Twitter. As recently as last year, accessibility advocates criticized the company for introducing a feature like audio tweets without supporting them with accessibility tools. In the aftermath of the incident, the company established two accessibility teams.
Where are video captions when you need them? They’re here now automatically on videos uploaded starting today.
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) December 14, 2021
Android & iOS: auto-captions will show on muted Tweet videos; keep them on when unmuted via your device’s accessibility settings
Web: use the “CC” button to turn on/off pic.twitter.com/IHJAI31IvX
