Instagram now offers text-to-speech (and voice effects) to its TikTok competitor Reels. These are features TikTok has been using for a while. TikTok's robotic voice-overs became so common that Bev Standing, a voice actor, sued the company in May for not being allowed to use her voice. TikTok settled with Standing in September. This agreement included a license agreement.
It's popular among TikTok creators but text-to-speech, which allows blind people or those with low vision to hear spoken text versions of written text, is more widely used.
Open the Instagram app, select the Reels camera and record or upload a video. Then, use the text tool to add text to your video. To access the three-dot menu tap the text bubble. Select "text-to speech" and then select the voice option. Post the reel as usual.
You can add voice effects to your reel by tapping the music note. After recording, you can open the audio mixer and tap "effects". Select the voice effect that you wish to use. There are three options: "helium", "giant," or "robot."
Reels was launched in 2020 and is meant to compete with the immensely popular TikTok. In July, Instagram launched a bonus program to creators as part of parent company Facebook's (now Meta). It offered creators with high followinger counts up to $35,000 in bonuses to make Reels.
TikTok's text-to speech feature has been enhanced with special character voices. On Friday, it introduced text to-speech voices of Disney characters like Stitch, Chewbacca and Rocket Raccoon.
