How To Use TikTok’s Text-To-Speech Feature

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Text-to-Speech on TikTok is an excellent accessibility function for persons with visual and reading disabilities, as well as a tool for creating entertaining content. While Text-to-Speech is available through the operating system on devices like tablets and phones, it’s unusual for a social app like TikTok to make it available within the app. This feature isn’t used by other sites like Twitter or Facebook. Instagram automatically captions stories, but only if someone is speaking in the video.

However, the feature is not without debate. After the actress filed a lawsuit alleging she had never been authorized to be featured in the app, TikTok altered the original voice. The new voice is less monotone and appears to be just as popular as the original. It’s used by creators to narrate their videos, as an accessibility tool, and for a little fun by seeing what words the bot can (or can’t) pronounce.

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Here’s how to get started if this is something you’re interested in:

1 Make a video of yourself.

2 When you’ve completed the recording, go to the bottom of the screen and press the Text button.

3 To finish the sentence, type what you want to say and then press anywhere else on the screen.

4 Hold down the key that corresponds to the text you just typed.

5 Choose “Text-to-Speech.”