Many popular videos have closed captions to help make these videos fully accessible to everyone.
While adding captions won’t make you an overnight TikTok celebrity, adding closed captioning to your TikTok video can really help with growing your user base.
Whether making your content available to TikTok users with visual or hearing impairments, or users who watch TikTok videos with low or muted sound, a fully captioned TikTok video can be a great idea.
So how do you add closed captions? Luckily there is an option in the TikTok app that makes this process very easy.
How to Add Captions to a TikTok video
To add closed captioning to your TikTok videos :
STEP 1
Record a new video. Tap the red checkmark when you are done recording
STEP 2
On the right-hand side of the screen tap the Captions icon
STEP 3
Wait for the player to analyze the video content and transcribe the dialogue.
STEP 4
Watch the finished video where captions will appear in the video.
STEP 5
Tap Save in the upper right corner and Post your captioned video.
To add captions to a video you’ve already recorded:
STEP 1
Select a saved file from your camera roll or from your TikTok profile.
STEP 2
Follow the steps for a new video above to add closed captions.
Manually Adding Captions in TikTok
If the automatic subtitle generator doesn’t work, or you are unhappy with the captions, you may have to add subtitles to your video in TikTok manually.
You can edit captions by tapping the pen icon on the right side of the captions box and typing what you want your viewers to see.
Other Options for Text in TikTok Videos
Sometimes you may want to include text to explain or mention something you didn’t say in the video.
Many TikTok users will even use this as a part of the video itself, often pointing to where the text appears.
These visual cues can really make your video stand out.
There are a number of options in TikTok to create a text box or overlay text on your TikTok video
To do a text overlay:
STEP 1
Record a video. Tap the red checkmark when you finish recording.
STEP 2
Tap the text button at the bottom of the screen.
STEP 3
Choose a font style, text alignment, and color.
STEP 4
Type what you want to appear in the video.
STEP 5
Tap Next in the bottom right corner of the TikTok screen.
STEP 6
Tap Post to upload.
Sometimes you will see TikTok clips where the video has interactive text objects that appear on the screen.
These may be a box with text in it or a thought bubble. Either way, these are a fun way to add some depth to your TikTok video.
To add a text box:
STEP 1
In the record screen, tap the Effects icon in the bottom left.
STEP 2
Use the slider located directly at the top of the menu to find Green Screen.
STEP 3
Scroll down until you find an icon that looks like a thought bubble.
STEP 4
Tapping that icon will make a thought bubble appear above your head.
STEP 5
You can now place text or pictures into that thought bubble to personalize your video.
This is just one example of the cool effects you can use to personalize your TikTok videos.
Play around with them and see what interesting things you can make!
Third-Party Apps for Adding Subtitles
While most users find these options good enough for their TikTok content, if the accessibility features in the TikTok app are not enough for you there are other options for video creators to do more with their videos.
These third-party apps usually have more options for font style, positioning, and effects that many popular TikTok creators find useful.
Here are a few of the best apps to add closed captioning to your videos:
CapCut
CapCut (previously named ViaMaker) is a free editing tool available on Android or iPhone.
This software has more to offer than just closed captions. You can edit videos, add cool effects and overlays, as well a library of music to choose from.
Beecut
BeeCut is a free simple editing tool designed for beginners. With an easy-to-use interface that won’t overcomplicate your editing process.
Zoomerang
Zoomerang is a free editing tool with subscription options to unlock more tools and variety. Personalize your videos for any social media platform.