TikTok Expands Accessibility With AI ALT Text

TikTok has announced a significant expansion of its accessibility offerings, introducing AI-generated ALT text for photos, a new high-contrast mode, and support for device-level bold text preferences.

These updates are designed to enhance the app's usability for individuals with visual impairments and broader accessibility needs.

The newly introduced AI-generated ALT text aims to improve the experience for screen reader users by automatically providing spoken descriptions of images when creators do not manually input them.

This innovation follows similar developments by platforms such as Instagram, which has used AI-generated ALT text since 2018.

Alongside this, TikTok has unveiled a high-contrast mode, accessible via the app’s accessibility settings.

This feature heightens the foreground colour of text, icons, and interface elements, catering to users with low vision or those who experience difficulty with low-contrast visuals.

In addition, TikTok now honours a device's system-wide bold text setting. When enabled, this option automatically renders all in-app text in bold, improving readability for users who prefer or depend on enhanced font clarity.

These enhancements join TikTok’s growing suite of inclusive tools, which already includes auto-captioning, dark mode, text-to-speech functionality, and scalable text size adjustments.