Instagram added two features to Reels yesterday: text-to-speech and voice effects. These features are popular already on TikTok, but now, creators can use them on Instagram too. This marks yet another effort from Instagram to keep up with TikTok when it comes to short-form video, as Instagram offers big reels bonuses to incentivize creators,
Text-to-speech is a necessary accessibility feature that helps blind and low-vision people understand written text. But videos with these robotic voices became so inexplicably popular on TikTok that the voice actor behind the feature sued the company since she hadn’t given it permission to use her recordings. After she filed her lawsuit, TikTok changed the voice behind the feature.
Creators often use text-to-speech voiceovers not so much for their accessibility benefits, but because it can be kind of funny to have a monotone, computerized voice narrating their content. The text-to-speech tool can be found within the text tool in the Reels camera. Once you record or upload a video, navigate to preview to add text. Once yo …
