Twitter Tests New Closed Caption Button to Switch on Captions in Video Clips

Twitter is making it easier to utilize closed captions in the app with the addition of a new ‘CC’ button on videos where captions are available.

As you can see in the above clip, you’ll soon see a new ‘CC’ option in the top right of the video player screen to switch on captions in certain clips.

The new button essentially serves a double purpose, in both enabling you to switch captions on (where possible) while also letting you know which clips actually have captions available.

Twitter’s been working to improve its accessibility options over the past year, which has also included upgrades to its alt-text description display (including a similar ‘ALT’ button on tweeted images where descriptions are available) and auto captions on video clips.

Which should mean that captions are available on every clip, right? So the ‘CC’ button should be present on all videos uploaded, not just those ‘where captions are available’.

I mean, captions certainly aren’t available as an option on all clips as yet, but eventually, with the combination of auto captions and the ‘CC’ button, there’ll be more capacity to view all Twitter videos with text accompaniment, improving accessibility, and enabling more users to engage with tweets.

It’s a good addition, which will no doubt come in handy for many users.

The new CC button is first being tested on iOS before making its way to Android.