Instagram Stories Gets Auto Caption Support with a New Sticker

BY Mahit Huilgol

Published 4 May 2021

Instagram has announced a new auto transcribing feature for Stories. The transcribing feature is called caption stickers and will automatically transcribe speech in Instagram stories. Currently, the sticker is available in “English” and for “English-speaking countries.” It is expected to roll out for other languages and countries soon.

Instagram already offers an automatic transcribing feature for IGTV and Threads app. Now it is being added to Stories and Instagram Reels. The transcribing feature will help people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Furthermore, it will also help viewers who are not well versed with English or want to watch Stories without the audio.

The Text feature for Stories is a great way to express oneself. We can use different fonts, style colors, and much more. Similarly, Instagram will let you adjust the style, color, and other parameters of transcribed audio. You can also improve visibility by using a contrast color sticker in the background.

Typically auto transcribing features are not very accurate, especially when it comes to punctuations and region-specific words. Thankfully, you can edit the text, add punctuations and make changes to individual words. We only wished Instagram had offered a tool to help make text stand out.

A quick recap, Instagram recently announced multiple ways of managing like counts, new audio features for messenger rooms, and more.

Our Take

Instagram is not the first one to add auto-captioning. Messaging platforms like Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams already offer video calling with automatic transcribing. Even TikTok launched automatic captions for English and Japanese speakers. Clips app on iOS offers an auto-captioning feature in various languages.

[via TheVerge]