Twitter is fixing the strange behavior of captions wherein they simply disappear if the user decides they want to listen to the audio. The micro-blogging network is handing over the control to keep the Closed Captions on or off with a simple button.
Twitter added Closed Captions (subtitles) to the majority of videos that are available on the platform back in December 2021. The platform, however, didn"t allow the subtitles to work alongside the audio. In other words, if the user decides to listen to the audio, the subtitles would disappear.
The automatic captions show only when people adjust accessibility settings on their phones. Although the platform allowed more people to engage with video content uploaded on Twitter, it didn’t help that the captions automatically shut off when users unmute the audio.
Video captions or no captions, it’s now easier to choose for some of you on iOS, and soon on Android.
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) April 22, 2022
On videos that have captions available, we’re testing the option to turn captions off/on with a new “CC” button. pic.twitter.com/Q2Q2Wmr78U
Twitter has begun testing a “CC” button that should eventually appear on top of each video. Users can choose to activate closed captions alongside the audio or keep them off. Users can effectively turn off both the audio as well as the captions if they desire.
Twitter has indicated that the CC button is already available for some iOS users and the feature should arrive for Android users “soon”. The CC button is available for everyone, unlike the “Edit” button, which could become available for Twitter Blue subscribers.
Offering the CC button gives everyone, not just the hearing or visually impaired, the ability to better understand what’s happening in the videos uploaded on the platform. The simple yet important feature arrived just two weeks after Twitter added the ALT badge for images to help the visually impaired. Twitter users who upload images have the ability to add detailed descriptions using the ALT badge, which will appear for those who access the image.
With these refinements, Twitter has significantly improved and simplified multimedia consumption. These refinements seem to be the direct result of Twitter assembling a dedicated accessibility team in 2020.