how to make text to speech louder on tiktok

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How to use text-to-speech on TikTok

TikTok's text-to-speech is an accessibility feature that lets you put a voice to your videos' on-screen text. If added to your videos, text-to-speech automatically reads selected lines of text from your video out loud. For visually impaired TikTok users, the text-to-speech feature means that they can watch these videos and they won't miss out on what's said by the on-screen text. When reading the text is not possible or is difficult, text-to-speech lets people hear it as well.

If you want to be able to add text-to-speech to your own TikTok videos, we can show you how. Keep reading to learn how to use text-to-speech on TikTok in just a few minutes.

What You Need

The TikTok mobile app

A video you want to post

How do I use TikTok text-to-speech?

Adding text-to-speech to a TikTok video isn't as complicated as it sounds and only requires a few minutes of your time. You'll need to use the TikTok mobile app to follow these steps.

Here's how to do it:

Step 1: Open the TikTok mobile app and select the Plus sign icon at the bottom of your screen.

Step 2: On the next screen, you'll be given the option to either film a video using the TikTok app or upload an existing video. Pick either option and go to step 3.

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Step 3: At this point, you should be looking at the video's editing screen. This screen has a lot of editing options to choose from (these are the white icons on the right side of your screen). From these options, choose the Text icon in the top right corner of your screen.

Step 4: On the next screen, type in the text that you want to add to your TikTok video and choose your text formatting options.

Step 5: Select the lines of text you want to hear read out loud and then select the text-to-speech icon, which looks like the outline of a person's head with sound waves coming from it.

Step 6: On the Text-to-speech window, choose the type of voice you want to read your text out loud by selecting a voice and then selecting the circle next to the phrase Apply [name of voice option] to the following text-to-speech . Then select Done in the top right corner.

Step 7: Back on the text input screen, select Done again in the top right corner.

Then select Next to finish publishing your TikTok video.

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Everything You Need to Know About TikTok's Text-to-Speech Feature

Here's what you should know about TikTok's Text-to-Speech feature and how to use it in your videos.

After spending hours and hours scrolling through TikTok, and enjoying anything from amazing dance routines and elaborate skits to life hacks, you may get the urge to post your first TikTok video.

Now that you’re seriously considering your path as a TikTok creator, why not get familiar with the newest trends? We’d like to introduce you to a fun and useful feature the app has to offer: Text-to-Speech.

What is the TikTok Text-to-Speech Option?

We’ll start with a short explanation about the feature. Simply put, TikTok Text-to-Speech allows you to turn any piece of text you put on top of your video into a Siri-sounding voice. This means that anything you type will be read out loud in a robotic tone, without the need for you to narrate.

There are several reasons you might choose to use this option. First, it’s a great alternative for people who don’t want to or can't use their own voice in videos. Maybe you're shy or you just want to keep an air of anonymity. Or you may have a speech impediment, or communicate non-verbally or non-vocally. Either way, this feature offers you an alternative way to narrative to viewers.

Read more:  TikTok Adds Automatic Captions in Bid to Improve Accessibility

But there are also several benefits this feature provides to your audience. Some of them might struggle to read, may have poor eye-sight, or are blind. Using Text-to-Speech will ensure that they can still interact with your content.

Making your videos more accessible means you’ll get more engagement, which is a win-win situation. Finally, many TikTokers use the Text-to-Speech option for dramatic or comedic effects.

When you use someone else’s voice to add narration, you can create a whole new character, which reacts to what’s happening on screen. In many situations, the robotic tone, and the way it reads the words out, just slightly wrong, can make the video a roaring success.

There is an entire trend on TikTok that revolves around this robotic voice acting out group text conversations between friends. The possibilities to get creative with this effect are endless.

How to Use TikTok Text-to-Speech

If we’ve sold you on this feature and you’re ready to put it to use, you’d be happy to hear that it’s quite simple.

To start, launch the app on your phone and follow these steps:

• Press the + button at the bottom of the screen to create a new video.
• Record a video as you normally would.
• Press the red tick once you’re finished.
• On the next screen, press the Text button at the bottom and type in the text you want to be read out loud. Make sure that the text is not too long. If it takes more time to say it than the length of your video, it will be cut in the middle.
• Drag the text box to where you want it to appear on the screen.
• To turn the Text-to-Speech option on, tap on the text box and choose it from the pop-up menu.

That’s it, your video now has a robot voice talking over it. You can add the feature several times in the same video, with different text boxes.

In addition, you can follow this step-by-step guide on  how to add text to a TikTok video  to discover other options that are available for text. For instance, you can change the fonts, designs, and duration, to make it appear over just one specific portion of the video.

If you want to remove the original sound from the recording so that the Siri narration is the only thing left, tap the Sound button at the bottom left. Then tap Volume .

You can set the original volume to anything between 100% to 0%. You can also choose to add a popular sound from the TikTok library in the Added Sound screen, to help your video perform better.

Why Your Text-to-Speech Voice Is Either Male or Female

Perhaps you already noticed that when you use the Text-to-Speech feature you get a voice that is different from what you’ve seen in other videos. There are two voices available—a male one and a female one. Unfortunately, we don’t get to pick the one we like better.

The theory is that the voice you get is determined by your geography. So if you live in the US, you get a female voice, and if you live in UK or Europe, you get a male one. We’re not quite sure what’s happening in other parts of the world.

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If you are not that happy with the voice that’s in your region, the only way to change it is with third-party tools. Some creators suggest that you record the video with the automatic voice, then export it to an editing app with a voice modifier, such as Voicemod Clip .

Other TikTokers propose that you initially record the video without the voice. Then, you can type the text in a text-to-speech website, such as TTSMP3.com .

After you download the MP3 for the text-to-speech, you need to add it to your video in editing software and upload the new file to TikTok to add the text in the correct places.

These suggestions are time-consuming and not that easy, so if you don’t care that much about the voice, we suggest you just stick to what you get through the app. However, it’s always nice to have options.

The Text-to-Speech Feature Is Just the Tip Of the Iceberg

If you like this feature and the trends that grew thanks to it, you’d probably like to explore other TikTok phenomena.

Luckily, the app has so much more to offer, from filters and effects to a variety of challenges.

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How to Use Text-to-Speech in TikTok

Dave Johnson Dave Johnson is a dedicated writer with a strong focus on the ever-evolving social media landscape. Leveraging his comprehensive understanding of these platforms, he breaks down the complexities of social media apps to provide engaging and insightful content. Read more June 5, 2022

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TikTok has experienced a popularity surge in the past couple of years. At first, it was just an app with a lot of dancing and lip-syncing to music. However, nowadays, it’s a platform with many different types of content and content creators. One of the reasons for this boom is the app’s vast, regularly updated editing features like Text-to-Speech.

Instead of just overlaying text in your carefully created video and having your viewers read and watch, text can now be read aloud by a few automatic voice options. In this way, the TikTok video is the center of your viewer’s attention and adds a more organized look to your content.

However, the TikTok editing features like Text-to-Speech can be challenging to use, especially for beginners. Keep reading to learn how to use this feature on different devices and find answers to common questions like changing the voice type.

How to Use Text-to-Speech in TikTok on an Android Device

TikTok features are the same regardless of whether you use an Android or iPhone. However, sounds, filters, and even editing features can be different depending on the region of the world you live in. Usually, new features are only available in the U.S. But since May 2021, TikTok has included the Text-to-Speech feature with a couple of different voices for all users worldwide.

To use the feature, record your video as usual and follow these steps to add Text-to-Speech:

• Save the video.

Additionally, you can change between the four different voices the platform offers, and you can also change the volume of the voices. These options help ensure that your background music and the voice of the Text-to-Speech are at the desired volume.

How to Use Text-to-Speech in TikTok on an iPhone

As said before, there are no significant differences between using TikTok on an iPhone and an Android phone. So, the steps to add the Text-to-Speech feature are the same. Record a video on the platform as you normally would and then follow these steps to add the feature:

• Finish editing your video and select “Save.”

iPhone users do have another option when it comes to this feature. There is a way to add the Siri voice to read your text. To do so, the steps are:

• Open the Recording tool and start recording.

• Go to TikTok and upload the recording.

How to Use Text-to-Speech in TikTok on an iPad

Using TikTok on an iPad is more convenient for some users than using a phone because of the bigger screen. Some users will find editing videos easier on an iPad, too. However, adding the Text-to-Speech feature is the same as adding it to an iPhone:

• After you’ve finished editing your video, select “Save.”

You can also add the Siri voice to your TikTok the same way you would on an iPhone.

• Type out the text you wish to appear in your TikTok video.
• Start recording with the Recording tool.

• Stop the recording when Siri finishes reading the text.
• Upload your recording to TikTok.

How to Use SpongeBob Text-to-Speech on TikTok

Whether you are filming a TikTok about SpongeBob or just want to make a funny TikTok, you may wish your TikTok voiceover to sound like SpongeBob. Even though this can’t be done directly in the TikTok app, you can do it with the help of your internet browser.

• You can now share it to TikTok or an editing app to tweak it before uploading it to TikTok.

Additional FAQ

How do i change the text-to-speech voice on tiktok.

If you want to choose among the voices, TikTok already has for you, first make sure that your app is up to date. Once you’ve ensured your app is current, follow these steps:

1. Create a TikTok video.

2. Go to the bottom of the screen and choose “Text,” then input the text you want to convert to speech.

3. Hold down the text box until the words “Text-to-Speech” appear.

4. Select your preferred voice.

Why Is My Text-to-Speech Not Working?

If your Text-to-Speech is not working, the reason could be that your app is not updated. In earlier versions of the app, the feature was not available for every country. Go to the Google Play Store on Android or the App Store on iOS devices to update your app. Search for “TikTok,” and tap on “Update” if the option is available in its official Store entry.

If updating doesn’t solve the problem, you can try to reinstall the app. To do so, hold the TikTok icon and tap on “Delete.” Then, go again to the Google Play Store on Android or the App Store on iOS devices to install TikTok again.

A third solution is to update your phone. If your phone’s operating system is not updated, it can cause compatibility issues with different apps, and some features may not work correctly.

The Time Is Ticking Up

Adding different voices and adjusting them to your liking allows you to tap into your creative potential. Keep in mind that you need to change the duration of the text. Otherwise, it will stay on the screen even after it has been read out loud.

Have you used the Text-to-Speech feature? Do you prefer videos with text-to-Speech or without it? Do you think it was an impactful addition to the TikTok editing mode? Share your thought in the comment section below!

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How to do text-to-speech on TikTok, with 10 brilliant examples

• November 5, 2021

Jeff Phungglan

While text-to-speech is certainly not new technology, TikTok is one of the only social media platforms to include it as a native feature. Instagram does auto-captions if someone is speaking in a video, but that’s a different feature altogether. The text-to-speech feature on TikTok is a great tool to make your content more inclusive for more people to enjoy.

How to add text-to-speech on TikTok

TikTok has made text-to-speech a native feature on the app. So it’s incredibly simple to add text-to-speech to any of your videos. All you need to do is follow these steps: 

• Record your video on TikTok.
• Tap Text to add your text .
• Type in your caption and tap Done.
• Tap on the text again and select Text-to-Speech.

That’s all there is to it. Now you should hear your text read aloud as you preview your video.

How to choose the TikTok text-to-speech voice

Admittedly, the default voice may not be for you. It might not fit the vibe of your video. Well, good news — TikTok now offers a variety of voices. You have options and can pick the one that best fits. Here’s how you preview and change the text-to-speech voice:

• Using the TikTok app, record or upload your video.
• Type in your caption and tap the Speech icon.
• Select one of the voice options.

Who is the voice of TikTok text-to-speech?

The original voice of TikTok’s text-to-speech feature is assumed to be a voice actor named Bev Standing. But, as you just read, TikTok has since updated the feature and now has a range of voices.

Why did TikTok change the voice?

TikTok had to change the voice after a lawsuit from Bev Standing. She claimed that she had done some recording for an internal translation feature at TikTok’s parent company, but her voice was never supposed to be used in the app.

The 10 best examples of TikTok text-to-speech videos

As we mentioned earlier, adding text-to-speech in videos is a great way to make them more accessible to a broader audience. But it can also be used as a creative tool to help make your video more entertaining. 

1. Mispronunciations

@grandeicedlatte i wonder if she can cook too #fyp #foryou #texttospeech ♬ Drunken Sailor – Parry Music

Nothing adds a bit of comedy to your videos like a robot mispronouncing simple words. This is something that TikTok is continually working to improve, so enjoy these while you can.

2. Changing inflection

@libbyburghardt7 Did I really just spend the last 45 minutes trying to come up with words for this? I absolutely did. #fyp #foryoupage #texttospeech ♬ original sound – Libby Burghardt

Grab your headphones. There are a few words in this video you might not want to hear if you’re in public or if there are little ears around. But what makes this video great is how the text-to-speech changes the inflection each time it says the word.

3. Confusing words for compound elements

@stockysamdale Sodium chloride ?? #fyp #texttospeech ♬ original sound – hammy

While text-to-speech may not be perfect, its imperfections can make your viewer smile. In this video, the feature confuses the word “No” for the compound element nitrogen monoxide. 

4. Stacking captions

@ma.safsln Can’t believe this my life? #pain #fyp #foryou #CancelTheNoise #texttospeech #ComfortFood #sendhelp #imsad #due1159 ♬ sparks – ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

Overlaying captions and sounds on top of each other is an excellent way to add intensity or the feeling of external pressures to your videos.

5. Personify pets and other objects

@alyssamgaby just a girl and her ESA #catsoftiktok #esa #cat #texttospeech ♬ original sound – Alyssa Gafford-Gaby

Any pet owner would gladly admit to talking in a funny voice while pretending to be their pet. Now, you can use your pets or inanimate objects in your videos and give them a voice with text-to-speech.

6. Internal monologue

@aarontanktok These holidays have me needing a vacation. Anyone else? #cake #bakery #fyp #food #cakedeorating #cakevideo #voice #voiceover #texttospeech #storytime ♬ original sound – Aaron

Similar to the last video, the text-to-speech voice can be used to give a voice to what you’re thinking while you’re doing something else. This video is a perfect example, showing someone making a cake and the hundreds of thoughts they have while doing it.

7. Adding commentary

@blushingbb_slimes Add up the digits of ur battery % — thats how many romantic relationships u’ll have in ur lifetime! ? #texttospeech #asmr #butter #oddlysatisfying ♬ Butter – 방탄소년단 (BTS)

This video does a great job using the text-to-speech feature to add commentary by rating each sound. It’s nice because the voice is distinct, but it remains a secondary feature so the viewers can get back to the sounds the creator is capturing.

8. Impersonating celebrities

@zakk_james This text to speech feature has a mind of its own ? #kanyewest #kanye #kanyetok #texttospeech #foryou #discoverme ♬ original sound – Zakk_James

This video is from a music producer who used a special voice on the text-to-speech filter to create a song as Kanye West. After watching this video, it’s hard not to miss the old Kanye.

9. Narration

@teri_sam Painting my friends controller purple ? #xboxone #xboxonecontroller #painting #purple #texttospeech #fyp #foryoupage ♬ Iko Iko (My Bestie) (feat. Small Jam) – Justin Wellington

If you’re doing an instructional video, sometimes it’s nice to have the text-to-speech feature narrate what you’re doing. 

10. Recreating a conversation

@scoopslincoln i like bear claws? #scoopslincoln #fyp #foryou #texttospeech ♬ original sound – SCOOPS Lincoln

You can also use the text-to-speech feature to create a scene or re-tell a conversation you had, utilizing a voice other than your own.

There are a lot of great ways to use text-to-speech on TikTok. And it’s a perfect example of a feature created with one purpose — accessibility — that has been transformed into something more ever since the community started using it. If you feel inspired by the feature, it’s just one more tool you can use to rethink how you make your videos.

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How to do text-to-speech on TikTok and have words read aloud in your videos

• You can use the text-to-speech voice on TikTok by giving your video text, tapping on the text, and selecting "Text-to-speech."
• The text still has to appear in the TikTok at some point, but you can shrink and move it so it's out of the way.
• You can't exactly control how TikTok's text-to-speech voice sounds, but you can use punctuation to change it.

TikTok's text-to-speech voice is one of the platform's biggest stars. It appears in popular videos all over the app, and when TikTok introduced a new voice earlier this year, users were furious at the change .

If you want to use text-to-speech on TikTok, all you have to do is record a video. There are no extra downloads required.

How to do text-to-speech on TikTok

1. Open TikTok and record a video. It can be any length, and include anything you like.

2. When you're done recording, head to the editing screen and tap Text at the bottom.

3. Type out your text in any color or style, and then tap Done in the top-right.

4. Tap the text you've written out, and then select Text-to-speech .

Your text will be processed, and then be read aloud. If you're happy with it, just save the video and post like normal. You can also try adding punctuation to the text (periods, ellipses, etc.) to see how it changes the voice's inflection.

By default, your text will appear throughout the entire video, and the text-to-speech voice will appear right at the start. If you'd like to change this, tap the text again and select Set duration to choose when you'd like the text — and text-to-speech voice — to appear in your video.

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• How to use TikTok’s Text-to-Speech feature

It’s just as fun to see what words it can’t pronounce

By Kaitlin Hatton , audience manager with over five years of experience in media, with a focus on e-commerce, social media, and SEO.

Share this story

TikTok’s Text-to-Speech is both a great accessibility feature for people with visual and reading impairments and a tool to create enjoyable content. While Text-to-Speech is available on devices like tablets or phones via the operating system, it’s relatively forward-thinking for a social app like TikTok to make it available within the app. Other platforms like Twitter and Facebook don’t make use of this feature. Instagram does auto-caption stories but only if someone is already speaking in the video. 

The feature doesn’t come without controversy, however. TikTok changed the original voice after the actor filed a lawsuit claiming she had never agreed to be featured in the app. The new voice is less of a monotone than the original and seems to be just as popular. Creators use it to narrate their videos, as an accessibility tool, and to have a little fun by seeing what words the bot can (or cannot) pronounce.  

If this is something you’re interested in, here’s how to set it up:  

• Record your video.
• When you’ve finished recording, press the Text button at the bottom of the screen.
• Type what you want to say and press elsewhere on the screen to finish the text.
• Press and hold the text you just typed out.
• Select “Text-to-Speech.” 

Here’s an example of what TikTok’s Text-to-Speech feature sounds like:

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How to Use Text to Speech on TikTok - A Complete Guide

Shanoon Cox

Feb 19, 2024• Proven solutions

Ever since its arrival, TikTok has been a dominant force in the world of social media. A mix of lip sync videos, music, and micro-video content, TikTok is extremely popular with Gen Z. Over the years, TikTok has continued to enhance the user experience by adding new features, effects, and guidelines.

Text-to-speech is one of the newest features to be added to the popular platform and it provides an additional way to add something innovative to the video uploads. Announced in December 2020, text to speech on TikTok lets creators put their text over their videos and have a Siri-like voice read it out loud.

TikTok’s text-to-speech feature was added to make the platform accessible to more people by providing an easy way for text to be heard as well as read. Consequently, using this option in video creation is one way that content creators can ensure their videos appeal to a larger number of viewers, while also offering a more comprehensive experience in general.

Since its launch, the feature has been going viral. Many find the automated voice to be a selling point in itself and something that adds a different element to the content. Also, it is a great way to get a message across without actually speaking during the video. No matter the reason it is used, the fact that many are turning to text-to-speech makes it a great addition to TikTok.

Wondering how to get the text to speech on TikTok for your next video? Here’s a detailed insight into this new feature.

Part 1: What is the Text-To-Speech Feature On TikTok?

Part 2: what happened to tiktok text-to-speech, part 3: how to use text-to-speech on tiktok, part 4: how to customize the text-to-speech voice on tiktok.

In December 2020, TikTok began rolling out a new text-to-speech feature that automatically turns text into a voiceover as users watch videos that have the feature enabled. The popular social media platform included the new option as an accessibility feature for users with impaired vision, a growing trend for apps integrating voice technology.

Simply put, text to speech on TikTok allows video content creators to convert any piece of text they put on top of their video into a Siri-sounding voice. This means that whatever you type will be read out loud in a robotic tone, eliminating the need for you to narrate. It is a useful way to explain your videos to add context, describe what’s happening, or serve the purpose you see fit.

Source: dexerto.com

There are numerous reasons why you might decide to use this option. Firstly, it’s a great alternative for users who can’t or don’t want to use their own voice in videos. Perhaps you’re shy or just wish to keep an air of anonymity. Or, you might have a speech impediment, or communicate non-vocally or non-verbally. Either way, this feature offers a great alternative way to narrate to viewers.

Also, there are several benefits this feature provides to the audience. Some of your viewers may have poor eye-sight, might struggle to read, or are blind. Using text to speech on TikTok will help you make sure that they can still interact with your video.

Making your video more accessible means that you will get better engagement, which is a win-win situation for you. Lastly, many TikTokers use the text-to-speech option for comedic or dramatic effects.

Recently, TikTok changed the voice on its text-to-speech feature to a new, more energetic, and upbeat voice. This is because of a lawsuit filed by professional voice actor Beverley Standing against ByteDance – the parent company of TikTok. Standing had sued ByteDance in mid-May for using her voice in the text-to-speech setting without her permission.

The lawsuit of the voice actor states that she was hired to work in 2018 for the state-backed Chinese Institute Of Acoustics research body to use in translations and that TikTok has used them without paying her and it has caused damage. She said she hadn’t authorized the use of her voice beyond the use for translations.

The lawsuit concerns the English-language voice used in North America. TikTok videos made prior to the change still feature the old tone. Although TikTok is yet to comment on the new voice or Standing’s lawsuit, the timing of the changes is very suggestive.

Are you puzzled about how to get text to speech on TikTok? Check out the step-by-step guide below without any further ado!

Step 1 : Update Your TikTok to The Latest Version

First things first, ensure your TikTok is updated to the latest version so that you have the TikTok text-to-speech function. Many people have the natural human tendency to push updates as far as technologically possible. But, if you are perplexed about how to do text to speech on TikTok, ensure you have the latest version of this social media app before anything else.

Step 2 : Start Recording a Video

Take into account what you wish to say beforehand and have a rough idea of how quickly you want it to be read as the text to speech entry can be as long as your video. After you have the video recording you want to add the text over, press the checkmark on the lower right-hand corner of your app’s screen.

Step 3 : Enter Your Text

Next, tap the text icon at the bottom of your screen and type the text you’d like to be read aloud. Ensure you keep in mind the length. Once you have entered the text, tap ‘ Done ’ in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. This will insert a customizable text box over your video.

Step 4 : Tap On the Text, Choose Text-To-Speech

When it comes to using text to speech on TikTok, this is another crucial step. Once you enter the text into the TikTok video, tap the Textbox and you will have three options: Text-to-Speech, Set Duration, and Edit. Select Text-to-Speech and the inbuilt text-to-speech AI of TikTok will read your text over the video.

Step 5 : Save the Video Locally

It is here that you will venture outside TikTok to change the text-to-speech voice. Once your video is ready in every other way, consider saving it locally on your device and not post it for everyone to see. Ensure the “ Save to Device ” option is active and you can post it privately.

Step 6 : Download A Video Editor with Voice Modifiers

Next, you have to download a video editor – ideally for your smartphone – with voice modifiers. Adding ‘video’ into the search keywords alongside ‘Voice Modifier’ or ‘Voice Changer’ will bring up a list of options. Remember; many voice changers or free editors will either block the option to save edited videos onto the device behind a paywall or leave a watermark.

Step 7 : Edit the Video and Resave

Once you have chosen your video editor, launch it and import your saved TikTok video. Here, you can edit the audio just like any other video, and voice modifiers can be applied if the video editing tool you choose has them. Apply different effects you’d like and resave your new and modified TikTok video to your device.

Step 8 : Upload as A New Video to TikTok

Open the TikTok app and upload the new, edited TikTok as a singular video directly, without any further edits. You will get a TikTok video with a customized text-to-speech voice for all intents and purposes.

Filmora is the powerful and easy-to-use video editing software that lets content creators empower the story and be amazed at results, no matter the skill level. It enables users to create stunning videos effortlessly using a range of editing tools. Filmora offers users a range of video effects like filters, animated elements, graphic overlays, etc.

Some of the key audio editing features of Wondershare Filmora are:

• Add background music
• Audio ducking
• Music beat detection
• Trim audio clips
• Adjust audio
• Split audio
• Fade audio in or out
• Adjust audio volume
• Adjust audio speed

Do you not like the in-built text-to-speech voice? Here’re a few useful tips on how to change the text to speech voice on TikTok:

• Head to the website Uberduck.ai
• Type your desired text into the “speech to synthesize” box
• Select a voice
• Download it as an MP3 file
• Upload the MP3 file to any video editing tool you have and let the video align
• Save and upload this video to TikTok.

Also, other text-to-speech websites like voicegenerator.io and tts.mp3.com are available too.

Conclusion:

The text-to-speech on TikTok is one of the longest-running trends on this platform. The possibilities to get innovative with this effect are endless.

When it comes to using this feature on your content, the ultimate thing you will require is a video editor since the inbuilt text to speech isn’t adjustable as per your voice or text. And, if you are on the lookout for the best video editor, Filmora can be the best companion.

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How to use text to speech on TikTok

If you’ve been watching enough TikToks, you’ve undoubtedly seen videos where a cheerful AI voice reads its text to you. It’s a actually helpful accessibility feature for people with visual impairments, meant to let them watch TikToks without struggling with reading. Here’s how to use text-to-speech on TikTok and choose which speech bot you want to narrate your videos.

QUICK ANSWER

To use text-to-speech on TikTok, tap on Text while editing your video and type your caption, and then tap the Text-to-speech icon. For more voices option on CapCut, select Create , tap on Text , tap on Add text , select Text to speech , tap on English , and export the video.

JUMP TO KEY SECTIONS

• How to do text-to-speech on Tiktok
• How to use CapCut for more text-to speech voices

How to do text-to-speech

To implement text-to-speech on your next TikTok, record or upload a video as usual until you arrive at the editing stage.

• Select the “ Aa ” icon to add text to your video.
• Type in the message you want the AI to read aloud, tap on the text, and then select Text-to-speech option.
• Tap on a checkmark to post on TikTok.

Currently, only a female voice is available for text-to-speech on TikTok, but no worries. Here is how you can add more text-to-speech  voices to your video by using CapCut.

How to use CapCut for more text-to-speech voices

There are planty of free text-to-speech voices available on Capcut. Before adding more voices, ensure that you have the app on your phone or visit https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lemon.lvoverseas&hl=en&gl=US to download and sign in to the app.

• On Capcut, tap on Create and choose the video that you want.
• Select Text with the T icon.
• Tap on Add text with A+  icon and type your text.

• Select Text to speech option.
• In Select Voice, tap on English feature and choose the voice that you like.
• Tap on the export icon on the top right of your screen and select Share to TikTok .

Since TikTok and CapCut are owned by ByteDance, users are encoraged to use CapCut for more editing features. According to a report from Time Magazine, ByteDance has promoted CapCut on TikTok with the statement, “Everyone can be a creator by using CapCut. Start creating your cool video today.”

There is only a female voice available on TikTok but you can use Capcut to add more voices for free

In May 2021, TikTok changed the default voice in North America. The original voice actor, Beverly Standing, sued ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, for using her voice without permission.

Ensure that you have the latest version of the TikTok app installed. Older versions don’t have all the text-to-speech features.

Here’s How To Do Text-To-Speech On TikTok

Storytime in comments.

TikTok has become a rising platform for creators to share their voices online. But few voices on TikTok are as recognizable as its default text-to-speech bot known as “Jessie.” Having debuted in May 2021 as a revamp on the prior default voice, Jessie has become the official narrator of countless viral videos. If you’ve been noticing her peppy candor on videos, or the voices of her fellow preset text-to-speech bots Joey, Eddie, Chris, Alex, and Scream, you might be wondering how to use the TikTok text-to-speech feature.

One of the greatest benefits of TikTok’s text-to-speech is that it enhances the accessibility of the app for people with visual impairments , so that they can watch TikToks without needing to read any text on the screen. It has already become somewhat standard for creators to provide closed captioning on their videos for deaf, Deaf, or hard of hearing users, which has since been facilitated by TikTok’s auto-captioning feature. So, using text-to-speech can go hand-in-hand with using closed captions, by simply turning on the text-to-speech feature when you offer closed captions on a video. It’s an easy way of making TikTok an easier place for everyone to enjoy.

If you’ve been wanting to implement the feature on your own videos, here’s a step-by-step guide on how to use TikTok’s text-to-speech feature.

View on TikTok

How To Use TikTok’s Text-to-Speech Feature

To use text-to-speech on your next TikTok video, shoot the TikTok as you normally would on the app by hitting the plus sign in the middle of your bottom tab on the app. Choose between 15 seconds, 30 seconds, or 3 minutes as your time limit on the video, then shoot the video as you normally would. Once you’re done, click the red check mark in the bottom right of your screen to edit your footage.

Next, add whatever text you’re planning to use on your TikTok. To do this, click the “Aa” icon on the bottom of your screen, and type whatever message you wish. You can also format the appearance of your text, where it will appear on the screen, and at what point of the video it will appear with “Set duration.” (While you can add closed captions manually or automatically on TikTok, it’s not ideal to add text-to-speech to any captions that you’re already saying out loud in the video - as the text-to-speech voice will just talk over yours.)

Once you have your text written out, you can add text-to-speech in one of two ways. While you’re still editing your text, you can select text-to-speech with the third icon from the left that looks like a talking head. If you’ve already added your text to the video, you can choose to add text-to-speech by clicking on the text and selecting the talking head icon.

From here, you’ll be prompted to choose from TikTok’s preset selection of voices. Jessie is the default voice with an American accent, and Joey and Alex also speak in American accents. Eddie and Chris speak in Australian accents, and Scream speaks like Ghostface from Scream . Choose your favorite voice, and, voila. Your text will be immediately read by the TikTok text-to-speech bot. (Though, there’s no guarantee that the bot will know how to pronounce all of your text — as TikTokers have found with some hilarious faux pas .)

How to create engaging videos using TikTok text to speech

TikTok is a global sensation that has transformed the digital landscape. This dynamic platform is not just for entertainment; it has become an indispensable tool for businesses and creators alike. For businesses, TikTok offers unparalleled access to a massive audience, providing a stage to showcase products and services like never before. If you are an independent creator, you have a boundless playground to express your unique talents, captivating the hearts and minds of a global community. With the right content on TikTok, businesses can flourish and reach new heights. 

More recently, TikTok introduced a new yet remarkable feature text to speech to make the app more accessible to people, content more inclusive, and provide an easy way for text captions to be heard as well as read.

Table of Contents

What is the text to speech feature on tiktok, accessibility and attention, new niche and inclusive experience, ensure you have the latest tiktok version, record a video.

• Tap text-to-speech icon
• How to do text-to-speech on TikTok on Android

How to Use text to speech in TikTok on an iPhone

Internal monologue, playing with the robot, adding intensity, build voices that fit your character through murf text to speech, how to include text to speech voices on tiktok using murf, how do i change the voice on tiktok text to speech, why did tiktok change the text to speech voice.

In essence, TikTok's latest text to speech feature enables users to put a voice to their videos' on-screen text. In other words, if you upload a video on TikTok and add text to it, the application's in-built AI-powered voice will automatically read the text out loud.

This opens a world of possibilities for video content creators, who are either unwilling to use their voice or suffer from some sort of speech impediment, or just want to keep their videos anonymous. Tiktok initially came up with this accessibility feature of integrating voice technology into its platform to allow visually impaired individuals to experience a TikTok video by hearing the text even if they cannot see or read what's on screen.

The text to speech feature also comes in handy while creating explainer videos on TikTok. For example, a food blogger can teach their audience about plating a dish creatively using TikTok TTS. Simply upload text supporting your video, and the in-built AI voice will read the text out loud creating a voiceover for your video.

Why do TikTokers use Text to Speech?

In addition to making content more inclusive and accessible for viewers, text to speech voices on TikTok offer other perks that include improving the user experience, enabling creators to create unique content, and more. Let's see the benefits of using TikTok in detail.

The text to speech feature on TikTok not only allows creators to create content in a wide range of languages and accents but also enables them to make the content more entertaining and intriguing using different voice effects. This results in creators being able to cater to a wider audience and make their content more convenient and entertaining for everyone to consume.

TikTok's voice over video helps people that want to tell a story through their video or explain a 'how-to' video or a tutorial without having to actually speak through the video. It serves as a great way to get a message across without manually recording it. 

Using TikTok's voiceover option when creating a video helps content creators easily ensure their videos appeal to a greater number of viewers, while also providing a more inclusive experience in general.

Creative Story Telling

Gaining popularity on TikTok rests primarily on a content creator's ability to captivate their audience. TikTok text to speech voices help them do just that. Content creators use them to add narration, dialogues, and sound effects to their TikToks to create compelling storylines for their content. 

Brands that market via this platform also use Tiktok's text to speech voice generator to add a touch of panache to their product videos. 

Language Barriers

TikTok is a global platform, and creating content only in one specific language limits one’s reach. Text to speech on TikTok   allows content creators to create captivating content in multiple languages , giving them the ability to make the world their audience. 

The icing on the cake with text to voice generator technology is that content creators can use the use same content and translate the output voice into multiple languages. 

Types of TikTok Videos You Can Create with Text to Speech Voice

Text to speech technology allows you a universe of options when it comes to TikTok videos. For example:

Narrative Videos

You can use text to speech to narrate a story, providing a voiceover for your video's plot or characters. Text to speech today also allows you to add a touch of suspense, drama, or humor using a plethora of voices and the option to alter its parameters. 

Voiceovers for Animals and Objects

Pet voices and funny memes are some of the most popular TikTok content out there. Text to speech technology lets you bring animals and other inanimate objects to life by adding a voice to the characters.

Historical Retellings

Documentary-style videos are a great way to learn about famous events of the past. Adding voiceovers with text to speech technology is a great way to narrate historical events or famous speeches that were recorded before the invention of sound recording in video cameras. 

Character Dialogues

Taking on the role of specific characters in the TikTok realm has garnered many content creators immense fame. While many may have the acting skills, they may not have the voice to match them.

Text to speech generators are a great way to generate character dialogs to bring your online personas to life. 

How to Use text to speech On TikTok?

Contemplating on using TikTok text to speech but not sure how to get started? Here is a step-by-step guide that you may find handy!

The text to speech feature is only available in the latest version of the TikTok app. So, ensure your app is updated to the current version. If you have deferred updating your app, now is the time to get it updated.

If you're recording a TikTok video for the first time, create a storyboard of what you want to say in the video. This will also give you an idea of how long it will take for the text to speech voice to read the text aloud. The maximum length can be as long as the duration of the video. Once you have recorded the video, upload it to the app.

Enter the text that you want the AI voice to read aloud in the text box and click on the speech icon to convert it to voice. You will see a customizable box on your video.

Tap text to speech icon

Select the text to speech option, set the duration, and edit. That's all, TikTok's in-built AI voice will read the text you just entered out loud.

Use the TTS feature on TikTok to make your video more engaging and fun for your viewers and supporters.

How to do text to speech on TikTok on Android

While TikTok offers the same features on Android and iPhone systems, there are certain features and filters that may vary depending on the geographic region.

Here’s how to use text to speech on TikTok on an Android system:

Step 1: Open the TikTok app on your Android phone and add text by tapping “Text” on the right side of the screen.

Step 2: Type in your text and save it.

Step 3: Select the text and click on the text to speech option in the pop-up menu.

Step 4: You can also adjust the duration the text will appear on the screen by selecting the 'set duration' function in the pop-up menu.

Step 5: Save the video.

Additionally, users can also change between the four different AI voices the platform offers, as well as change the volume of the voices. These options help ensure that your background music and the voice of the Text to Speech are at the desired volume.

Here's a quick guide to get you started on the text to speech feature in TikTok on an iOS device:

Step 1: Record a video on the platform. Tap on and hold the text on your screen.

Step 2: A pop-up menu with three options will appear: “Text to Speech,” “Set Duration,” and “Edit.” Select the 'text to speech' option.

Step 3: Finish editing your video and save it.

Step 4: iPhone users can also add the Siri voice to read your text. To do so, open 'settings' on your iPhone, go to 'accessibility,' select 'spoken content,' turn on 'speak selection.'

Step 5: Open the Notes app and type the text you want to use in your TikTok video.

Step 6: Open the 'Recording tool' and start recording. Go to “Notes” again and select the text you’ve written down.

Step 7: Tap on the “Speak” feature and hear Siri read the text out loud. Stop recording when she’s done.

Step 8: Finally, upload the recording on TikTok.

How Text to Speech Can Improve Your TikTok Videos

With text to speech, you can bring your TikTok videos to life by adding professional-quality narration. Whether it's a travel vlog , a product showcase, or a storytelling session, TTS empowers you to create a seamless and engaging narrative that captures your viewers' attention from start to finish. All you need to do is upload your script or text to the tool and choose the in-built AI voice.

 Whether you're doing a travel vlog, a product showcase, or a storytelling session, TikTok TTS helps you craft a compelling story that keeps your viewers interested from beginning to end.

TikTok has become a hub for sharing knowledge and tutorials, and TTS can take your tutorial videos to the next level. Text to speech can elevate your eLearning videos to the next level without having to record the voiceovers yourself. You can also change the voiceovers speed and volume to fine-tune the narration further. This makes it possible for users to clearly and precisely present step-by-step directions and explanations, ensuring the tutorial films are educational and simple for the audience to follow.

Text to speech enables users to look into the emotions and inner thoughts of the characters in TikTok videos. By leveraging different voice styles and accents, you can create distinct personalities and give life to them by adding dialogues that reflect the thoughts and feelings of your characters. Whether it's a humorous skit, a dramatic scenario, or a relatable moment, TTS improves the storytelling process, making the videos more immersive and interesting.

TTS's robotic voice option opens up exciting possibilities for playful and futuristic TikTok videos. Embrace the quirkiness and charm of robotic voices to create comedic sketches, sci-fi scenarios, or tech-related content. The ability to customize the voice's pitch and speed adds an extra layer of creativity, allowing you to experiment and create videos that stand out from the crowd.

With TikTok’s TTS, you can adjust the voice to match the setting and emotion of your content, whether you want to communicate excitement, tension, or urgency. By adjusting the voice's volume, pitch, and speed, users can create a sense of energy and evoke the desired emotional response from viewers.

Need to build a character that fits well into your story for your TikTok video? Murf, an AI voice generator allows you to create studio-quality voiceovers for your videos in minutes. Its AI voices can help create natural-sounding voiceovers for your TikTok without the need for expensive recording equipment.

You can also use the different custom features offered by Murf to add more depth to the character in your TikTok video. For example, by toning the pitch down using Murf's 'Pitch' feature, you can make the AI voice sound more deep and serious. Tap into your creative potential by adding different voices and adjusting them to your liking. 

Try Murf for Free

TikTok only offers four different AI-voice options for a user to choose from for their voiceover. But, if you want to add more alternatives, you can use Murf Studio to generate natural-sounding AI voices in the language and accent you desire.

Here is a step-by-step guide to help you create realistic voiceovers for your TikTok using Murf Studio:

Step 1: Open Murf Studio and enter your text.

Step 2: Select an AI voice from the 130+ male and female voices offered by the platform.

Step 3: Convert text to speech by rendering your script.

Step 4: You can also customize the voice by tweaking pitch, emphasis , speed, volume, and more.

Step 5: Download the rendered audio file and upload the mp3 audio file to any video editing tool and sync it with your TikTok video. 

Step 6: Open the TikTok app, click on the "+" and tap on 'Upload.'

Step 6: Upload the audio clip you want to use to TikTok using any third-party tool like InShot or BeeCut. 

Tada! In a few simple steps, you can now create custom voiceovers for your TikTok and make it more interesting.

Unleash your creativity with TikTok

TikTok text to speech not only makes the app more accessible but enables one to reach a broader audience and explore their creativity by enabling them to create engaging viral videos. For example, there’s a growing trend with robotic TTS voices talking in groups or making altered pronunciations to give a humorous tweak to videos. With your creativity, the possibilities can be endless!

TikTok has different AI-generated voice options that you can change in your text to speech. To do so, record your video, select the text at the bottom of the screen, and enter the text you want to convert to speech. Next, select text to speech and change the voice you want for your video.

There was a lawsuit  after which TikTok had to change the text to speech voice. 

How to do text to speech on TikTok?

Text to speech on TikTok is a simple two-step process. First, tap the “Text" button on the video editing screen and enter your text. Once done, all you need to do is tap the “Speak" button, and you are done. 

How to do voice over on TikTok?

There are two ways to add a voiceover to your TikToks. The first is to record your voice when recording your video. Alternatively, you can add one to an existing video by selecting the voiceover option under the record button in the video editor. 

What are the benefits of using text to speech in TikTok videos?

Text to speech on TikTok videos lets content creators who are either shy, wish to stay anonymous, or have a disability create fantastic voiceovers for their TikToks. It also allows them to create videos in multiple languages to broaden the target audience. 

What customization options are available when using text to speech in TikTok?

TikTok allows you to customize the speed and the pitch of the AI-generated voices, along with the option to choose from a myriad of languages and accents. 

How can I use text to speech in languages other than English on TikTok?

You can use TTS platforms like Murf AI to create voiceovers in over 20 languages, download and then add them to your TikToks manually. 

How to add an AI voice to TikTok? To add a   text to speech AI voice to TikTok, simply tap the "Text" button on the video editing screen. Enter the text into the text box, then tap the "VoiceOver" button. You will see a list of voices at the bottom of the screen. Select one, and you are done. 

How to use text to speech on TikTok to create more engaging content?

You can use text to speech in your TikTok content in a number of ways to them more engaging. You could: 

Add engaging narrations to your videos

Add attention-grabbing sound effects.

Create new characters for your content. 

You should also read:

An in-depth guide on how to use Text to Speech on Discord

Create a Magical Audiobook Experience with AI Voices

Medical Text to Speech: Changing Healthcare for the Better

How to use text-to-speech on TikTok

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TikTok's text-to-speech feature allows creators to put text over their videos and have a Siri-like voice read it out loud.

It's a helpful way to annotate your videos to help describe what's happening, add context, or to serve whatever purpose you see fit. There's also no rule saying you can't use it just to make the text-to-speech voice say silly things.

Here's how you can easily add text-to-speech to your TikTok videos.

1. Open the TikTok app.

2. tap the "create" button at the bottom, as if you're making a new video..

3. Record your video, and hit the red checkmark when you're done.

4. at the bottom of the next screen, tap "text.".

5. Type in whatever text you want overlaid on your video.

6. Once you're done, tap the text on the video.

7. In the mini menu that pops up, select "Text-to-speech."

8. Done! Your video will now play with the text-to-speech feature enabled.

You can cancel it, edit the text, or adjust the duration of the text just by tapping the text again.

Once you're happy with your video, just click "Next," apply whatever hashtags you want, and post! You're now a TikTok text-to-speech master.

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Trending on Mashable

TikTok's Text-to-Speech Feature Brings the Laughs While Increasing Accessibility

PUBLISHED Dec. 15 2020, 7:11 p.m. ET

UPDATED Aug. 10 2021, 6:51 p.m. ET

Of all of the trends on TikTok , one of the longest-running ones is the text-to-speech audio effect. We've all had Siri (or another automated voice) read our text messages to us, and like most computer-generated things, it often comes with errors — which is what makes it so funny.

If you're looking to add a text-to-speech audio to your next TikTok, here's how to do it.

Here's how to do the text-to-speech effect on TikTok.

One of the timeless trends on TikTok includes the Siri text-to-speech audio. There are a variety of these videos on the app, but the general idea is that you give Siri (or another automated voice) text to read and make the text your audio. Many of these videos also include closed captions of the text being read (to increase accessibility, especially for hard of hearing and deaf users).

Sometimes the audio is telling the storytime tale a user wishes to share, or some users like to see how automated voices read specific words.

These text-to-speech programs also read emojis, and for some it's interesting to hear how a computer interprets many of our most-used emojis.

To do this effect for your own TikTok, there are a few ways you can create the audio. There are a variety of apps on the market that will easily create text-to-speech audio for you, though some do charge a small fee.

TikTok implemented a text-to-speech feature in the app to increase accessibility. All you have to do is type your desired text in a text box while editing your video and then select "text-to-speech." This automatically generates an audio from the text you type on the screen.

Of course it's not perfect — but that's what makes it funny!

@gasvroomvroom she can spell quesadilla but can’t say it right smh #fyp #tacobell ♬ original sound - ur mom

How to change the text-to-speech voice.

After the text-to-speech feature was implemented, ByteDance (the company behind TikTok) faced a lawsuit alleging that the voice actor behind the original audio, Beverly Standing, did not consent to the app using her voice. She sued the company, and shortly after the text-to-speech feature was given a different voice.

Unfortunately, many users aren't a fan of the new voice and are looking for ways to swap it out with a different voice.

There isn't a way in the video editing portion of TikTok to edit the audio for text-to-speech, but there are some workarounds if you're really looking to change the voice you use.

First, film your video in TikTok and edit it, using the regular text-to-speech voice. Download the edited video and upload it to another voice-modifying app to alter the voice of the text-to-speech. There are a variety of apps and online services you can pick. Re-upload your video and you're done!

@jimmymac_23 Tutorial how to change text to speech voice #tutorial ♬ original sound - Joshua Green

Here's how to add captions to a video.

One of the most important parts of this trend is to include captions on your video for the text you're using in your audio. This is important because when the text-to-speech audio reads something incorrectly, your viewers will need to know what the word actually is.

Again, there are a variety of apps you can use to do this, but there is a free way to add captions to your video right in the app's built-in video editor.

To add text, all you have to do is click the "text" button in the edit portion of posting your video and transcribe the audio. The video will continue playing in the background while you do this, so you might finish transcribing the audio at a different portion of the video than where it belongs.

Once you're done with your transcription, tap on the text and select "set duration." From here, you can choose for how long and where in the video the text appears.

You can also overlay text on top of each other, and have different text boxes set for different time durations. There is no limit to the number of text boxes you can put in a video, but just make sure they line up with when the text is read.

You can also use captions on other videos you create, which make them more accessible for other users on the app so they can also enjoy your content!

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TikTok Tips

How to Use Text to Speech on TikTok (Robot Voice Tutorial!)

Out of all the trends on TikTok, the text-to-speech audio effect might be the longest-running one. The feature allows an automated Siri-like voice to read out your text for you. If you're looking to add text-to-speech audio to your next TikTok, watch the video below.

Original Video: Youtube

Introduction

Hi, I'm Euan from Later, and today I'm going to walk you through how to use the super popular Text-to-Speech feature. But before we get started... You know the drill. Make sure to hit that subscribe button so that you can stay up-to-date on all the latest social media tips, hacks, and tutorials.

How to use Text-to-Speech on TikTok

Now, I'm sure you've seen the Text-to-Speech feature all over TikTok. It's the one that sounds a little like this: "Wow, I really love TikTok's Text to Speech feature." Here's how you can create the same effect on your videos.

Step One: Create a new video

Step one: Open up TikTok and hit the "Plus" icon at the bottom of your screen to create a new video. I'm just going to record a new video right now, so please ignore the silence. Okay, that's perfect.

Step Two: Add text to the video

Step two: Add some text to your video. This is what will become your automated voiceover, so type whatever you want to be said out loud. I'm going to write, "Thanks for checking out our YouTube channel". To turn the text into speech, long press it and then select "Text-to-Speech" when it pops up onscreen.

Once it's done processing, the voice will read the text out loud just like this: "Thanks for checking out our YouTube channel."

Step Three: Edit and post your video

If you need to edit your text, you'll need to reapply the Text-to-Speech function. When you're finished, just tap Next, fill out the description and other details for your video, and then post your video. And there you have it. It's that simple to add the Text-to-Speech feature to your videos on TikTok.

And if you're not following us on TikTok yet, give us a follow at Later.com . We post a ton of helpful videos and have a lot of fun there too. And feel free to drop your TikTok handles below so that everyone can check out your videos. 

And for another TikTok hack, check out our description below to learn how to schedule your TikTok videos with Later . Thank you all for watching, and I'll see you in the next video.

Related Resources

Later's tiktok scheduler & management tool.

The Top TikTok Trends to Try This Week

How to Get More Views on TikTok

Plan, schedule, and automatically publish your social media posts with later..

How To Do Text-To-Speech On TikTok

If you want to know how to use TikTok's popular text-to-speech feature, read on for an easy step-by-step guide.

TikTok is one of the most popular social media platforms , having launched in 2016 and already boasting over 1 billion users, it’s a newcomer that’s clearly here to stay.

It’s not hard to see why TikTok’s short-form videos are taking the world by storm!

The platform is loved by viewers and creators alike and offers a wide range of absolutely awesome video editing tools and features that make it easy to share fun, snackable content with the world.

One of TikTok’s most notable features is the “TikTok voice”; the computerized text-to-speech voice that provides narration to some popular TikTok videos.

We’re here to teach you more about this feature and how to use it to create your very own viral videos.

• What is Text-to-Speech on TikTok? 🤷‍♀️
• How to Do Text-to-Speech on TikTok 👩‍🏫

How To Delete Text-to-Speech On TikTok 🕵️‍♀️

Important disclosure: we're proud affiliates of some tools mentioned in this guide. If you click an affiliate link and subsequently make a purchase, we will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you (you pay nothing extra). For more information, read our affiliate disclosure .

What Is Text-To-Speech On TikTok? 🤷‍♀️

The app's text-to-speech functionality was first launched in 2020 with the goal of allowing creators to add their own or computer-generated voices to their videos.

It is a great accessibility feature that allows creators to put a voice to their on-screen text.

The computerized voice automatically reads the selected lines of text from your video out loud, making your content easily accessible to everyone.

The face behind the famous TikTok voice revealed her identity not so long ago. If you're curious, here she is...

TikTok’s text-to-speech feature is the first of its kind for a social media app.

How To Do Text-To-Speech On TikTok 👩‍🏫

Now that we know a bit more about the feature, let’s get ready to add text-to-speech to your own content!

1. Open the TikTok app and upload or record your video .

2. On the editing screen, tap the Text option in the right-hand menu.

3. Type your caption and tap Done .

4. Back on the editing screen, tap the text and select Text-to-speech .

5. Your text will now be vocalized! Continue as per usual to post your video.

Don't forget to add popular hashtags to make your content more discoverable.

It's an extremely simple process but just make sure you proofread your captions before posting or you could end up with some strange text-to-speech on your video!

If you’ve added text-to-speech to your video and decide you rather want to remove it, you can do this before you post your video.

1. On the editing screen, tap the text and select Cancel .

2. The text-to-speech has now been removed - easy as that!

Text-to-speech may sound like a complicated feature, but as you can see, it’s super easy to do.

If you enjoyed this step-by-step guide , feel free to check out our other TikTok tutorials .

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Why the House voted to ban TikTok and what could come next

Deirdre Walsh

Bobby Allyn

The House passed a bill Wednesday that would require ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, to sell the app or face a ban on U.S. devices. The legislation's fate is unclear in the Senate. Dan Kitwood/Getty Images hide caption

The House passed a bill Wednesday that would require ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, to sell the app or face a ban on U.S. devices. The legislation's fate is unclear in the Senate.

The House voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to approve a bipartisan bill that would require ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, to sell the social media app or face a ban on all U.S. devices. The vote was 352-65.

The legislation's fate is unclear in the Senate. The top two lawmakers on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla, and Mark Warner, D-Va., released a joint statement praising the House bill and urging Senate action but the timeline is unclear. Several lawmakers have suggested the Senate should hold hearings on the legislation before moving forward.

Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., who chairs the House Select Committee on China and is the lead GOP sponsor of the bipartisan bill, maintains that the bill does not amount to a ban of the video-sharing app.

"What we're after is, it's not a ban, it's a forced separation," Gallagher told NPR. "The TikTok user experience can continue and improve so long as ByteDance doesn't own the company."

In practice, however, the bill would ban TikTok in the United States. Both the company and China, historically, have refused to consider divestiture.

TikTok has said the banning of a social media platform would amount to a violation of the free speech rights of millions of Americans.

Gallagher says classified and unclassified national security assessments show that the app is a threat to user privacy and that it's been used to target journalists and interfere in elections. Top officials from intelligence and national security agencies conducted a classified briefing on their analysis for all House members on Tuesday. Classified information is not made public, in part, because it deals with matters of national security.

However, officials have not offered public evidence of the Chinese Communist Party using the app for surveillance or propaganda purposes, though experts say it is theoretically possible that Beijing could use TikTok to push its agenda.

FBI Director Christopher Wray has also publicly testified about his concerns about the app, including during an appearance last week at a Senate hearing on worldwide threats to U.S. security. In that testimony, Wray told members of the Senate Intelligence Committee that the Chinese government could use the app to control software on millions of devices, among other concerns.

"We're not sure that we would see many of the outward signs of it happening if it was happening," Wray said.

The bipartisan measure was unanimously approved last week by the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

House Speaker is forced to skirt his own party to pass bills

Lobbying campaign flooded offices on capitol hill with calls.

Gallagher says the lobbying campaign that TikTok launched — with push notices using location information to connect users by phone to their member of Congress — proves why the bill is needed.

"You had member offices being deluged with calls, you know, teenagers crying and one threatening suicide and one impersonating one of my colleague's sons," he said. "That, to me, demonstrates how the platform could be weaponized in the future."

The bipartisan bill, dubbed the "Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act," blocks any app store or webhosting services in the U.S. for ByteDance-controlled applications, including TikTok, unless the app severs ties to ByteDance, under a designation that it's subject to the control of a foreign adversary. The bill gives ByteDance up to six months to divest, and if it doesn't do that it would no longer be available in app stores in the U.S.

The bill also sets up a process for the president to address any future threats from any foreign-owned apps if they are deemed a national security risk. It also creates a system for users to download their own data and switch to an alternate platform.

Opponents cite freedom of speech and the economic impact of a ban

At 27 years old, Florida Democratic Rep. Maxwell Frost is the youngest member of Congress, and he opposes the bill.

"I think that it is a violation of people's First Amendment rights," he said. "TikTok is a place for people to express ideas. I have many small businesses in my district and content creators in my district, and I think it's going to drastically impact them too."

He and other opponents say the bill is being rushed through and that many lawmakers don't grasp the impact it could have.

TikTok declined an interview with NPR. In a statement, a spokesperson said: "The government is attempting to strip 170 million Americans of their Constitutional right to free expression. This will damage millions of businesses, deny artists an audience, and destroy the livelihoods of countless creators across the country."

Advocacy groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, have called the bill "censorship plain and simple," arguing that "jeopardizing access to the platform jeopardizes access to free expression."

Illinois Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi is the ranking Democrat on the House Select Committee on China and helped write the bill. He pushed back on the company's argument, telling NPR, "There's no First Amendment right to espionage, there's no First Amendment right to harm our national security."

The company stresses that it has established a data firewall by partnering with Austin-based software company Oracle. Dubbed "Project Texas," the new system routes all U.S. user traffic to Oracle, which now also controls the servers storing Americans' TikTok data. Still, the plan has not received the blessing from officials in Washington, who have said it falls short of a full breakup with ByteDance.

But Krishnamoorthi says he and other lawmakers reviewed the efforts and says the company's claims about its safeguards were false. "Whether it was TikTok saying that 'oh, American user data is not going to be accessible to anyone in China.' Again, wrong. That was also proven false. And then they said that American user data is not going to be used to target anybody again. Wrong. That was false."

Even opponents of the bill expected it to easily clear the House, so TikTok is focused on blocking action in the Senate. According to a source familiar with the effort, CEO Shou Zi Chew was in Washington this week and on Capitol Hill to discuss the bill with lawmakers.

Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley backs the House bill. He says he's frustrated that Congress has failed to move tech legislation and argues TikTok is different from other apps. "The really only reason to ban it — it is a major national security concern — and that makes it very different from Google and Meta and the others who do all kinds of bad stuff but they are not effective subsidiaries of a hostile foreign government."

Presidential campaign politics could impact path for bill

Former President Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, proposed a ban in 2020 when he was in the White House. But he does not support the House bill.

When he served as president he vowed to ban the social media app. Trump explained his new opposition in an interview with CNBC on Monday, saying that despite the possible security risk, he opposed a ban because it meant users would move to another platform that he considered more dangerous.

"There's a lot of good and there's a lot of bad with TikTok. But the thing I don't like is that without TikTok, you can make Facebook bigger and I consider Facebook to be an enemy of the people along with a lot of the media," he said.

President Biden's campaign posts regularly on TikTok, but the White House has said if a bill is sent to his desk he'll sign it .

If a law is enacted, the fight might not end there: TikTok has mounted legal challenges against other efforts to ban the app, and courts have sided with its argument that blocking TikTok violates users' First Amendment rights.

NPR's Claudia Grisales contributed to this report.

Argument: The Case Against TikTok Is Thin at Best

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The Case Against TikTok Is Thin at Best

There are real issues—but they go far beyond one app..

• United States

The U.S. Congress hasn’t passed a budget on time since 1996, and many members spend more time preening and posturing than legislating. Yet at the beginning of the month, the Energy and Commerce Committee of the House of Representatives voted 50-0 on a bill that would have de facto given the president the authority to force ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, to divest its control of U.S. operations or face a ban of the app. The full House passed the bill less than a week later by a margin of 352-65.

But that speed should give us pause. The question of what to do about TikTok depends on what TikTok is actually doing. And the evidence of clear and present danger just isn’t there yet. As things stand, banning TikTok is not just bad policy; it’s hollow as well. It won’t make the United States safer, and it will allow those in government—both in the national security bureaucracy and in Congress—to pretend that it is doing something without doing much at all to address the real issues of data, privacy, and foreign influence.

The main national security argument for forcing TikTok to sell to a U.S. owner or face an effective ban is that Chinese laws require ByteDance to turn over user data to the Chinese government if requested. That leads to fears that user data could provide a way for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to perform massive surveillance of Americans, and that the party could (and may already) use the algorithms that power TikTok’s feed to manipulate public opinion in the United States to the detriment of U.S. democracy and civil society, and hence tilt the nascent China-U.S. cold war in China’s favor.

Each of these cases rest on very thin reeds. And what’s more, almost all of the threats cited are about what TikTok could potentially do, and not about what it has been or is doing.

First, yes, Chinese law does obligate companies to turn over data. Arguably, though, every government can commandeer user data through whatever laws empower either domestic police or foreign intelligence gathering (in the United States, that would include the FBI for domestic issues, and the CIA and National Security Agency for foreign intelligence, though the lines blur at times). But in the United States, companies can often resist initial demands to turn over data, although courts can compel them. No such recourse exists in China.

And yes, ByteDance has by necessity genuflected toward the CCP, a stance that it and any other Chinese company has no choice but to take. TikTok has countered that its data is not housed on servers accessible to the CCP, but rather on Oracle servers in the United States, though it has also said that some data provided by content creators is stored in China.

But as for the concern articulated by White House national security spokesman John Kirby “about data security and what ByteDance and what the Chinese Communist Party could do with the information that they can glean off of Americans’ use of the application,” that is, well, a bit much. In essence, the issue should not be that TikTok is obligated to hand over data to the CCP; it should be whether any of that data is really private anyway, and whether it could be obtained by the CCP regardless of if ByteDance turned it over willingly or not.

User data is constantly harvested by apps of all kinds, from social media platforms to financial institutions. That data has some protections for sure, and most of it is anonymized. But as anyone in the ecosystem of data mining knows, enough user data can render those anonymity protections almost useless, and there is, to say the least, a robust private market for that data. Monetizing user data is the business model for countless tech companies, and one of the easiest ways is to sell it to other people.

And as a recent Wall Street Journal report so clearly demonstrated, so much data is collected by private companies—and collected so effectively—that government agencies often buy from them on the sly rather than spending the money to collect and collate it themselves.

It all goes back to what early internet tech titan Scott McNally said in the early days of the IT revolution: “You have no privacy. Get over it.” Consumer data has some of the least comprehensive privacy protections in the world, whether it’s gathered through Facebook, TikTok, Amazon, Snapchat, Walmart, or on and on. Even benefits and financial data—or at least, in anonymized form that can often trace back to specific individuals—is more easily obtainable than most of us would like to think.

The idea that TikTok user data is somehow uniquely susceptible to being hoovered by the Chinese government flies in the face of the reality that most of our data is hooverable by both private companies and governments. TikTok is not unique in that.

Hence, banning TikTok or forcing its divestiture won’t make it significantly more difficult for China’s spy agencies to obtain that data if they want it, either via buying it from private companies or collecting it themselves. Yes, it might make it harder as in more time-consuming or expensive, but not sufficiently more time-consuming or expensive to create real friction.

And it would not make U.S. user data meaningfully more secure; if the CCP were a private company with limited resources, then raising time and cost just might be a security buffer for U.S. data. But the CCP runs a government, and if it wants to obtain the data by fair means or foul, it can. This bill won’t alter that equation.

In short, if the concern is spying and the security of the kind of consumer data that can be gathered from those using the TikTok app, then there would need to be far more aggressive legislation of all social media and data companies to even begin to move that needle.

Yes, some believe that the presence of the TikTok app on your phone is akin to Chinese spyware that could covertly activate your camera, snatch your email, and even access encrypted WhatsApp and iMessage communications. None of that has been proven, and those who have sat in on classified briefings to lawmakers have not testified that such concerns have been validated by any U.S. intelligence agency, though all of those agencies have banned TikTok from their personnel’s phones.

Is such spyware via the app technologically possible? Probably, but that then goes back to the issue that if TikTok could do that, so could countless other apps. Data is easy to copy and sell, whoever collects it originally.

The other issue is whether the Chinese Communist Party could direct ByteDance to manipulate the feed algorithms to then either sow chaos in U.S. public opinion or engineer outcomes and decisions favorable to China at the United States’ expense.

The usual benchmark for that concern is the belief that Russia took advantage of social media to muddy the waters of the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and hence TikTok could do so in the future even more effectively. But that assumes a) that in the worlds of pet videos and cooking videos and comics and dating and essentially everything, algorithms could effectively force a binary or specific outcome and b) that it is relatively simple to engineer specific outcomes.

The concern is also that information can be effectively censored for political ends, or that some ideas or videos can be buried by the algorithms. The skew of anti-Israeli and pro-Palestinian content on TikTok has been offered by congressional Republicans as one proof point , but it has been clear on deeper analysis that the skew of that content closely follows attitudes among the largely younger demographic that uses the app.

There has been some evidence that before 2020, TikTok did reduce the visibility of anti-CCP videos, but since the explosion in usage, that pattern has been less evident. With so many users, it is actually quite difficult to bury content that people want to see.

Others have floated the idea that while the algorithms aren’t yet sophisticated enough to effectively manipulate public attitudes and behavior in some Manchurian Candidate style of mass brainwashing, that is because these tools are still relatively primitive compared to what they will be in an artificial intelligence-fueled data world coming soon. Hence, we need to cut off TikTok from the Chinese threat now, while the capabilities are still nascent.

If that happens, Americans will need far more domestic protections, law and technologies to guard against a myriad of possible threats to privacy, democracy, and security that changing ownership of TikTok will do nothing to ameliorate.

Banning TikTok will not make us safer from any of these challenges. In fact, in the guise of claiming to make us safer, this bill will do the opposite. It will be used by proponents as a demonstration that steps are being taken to guard against the misuse of data by foreign actors without actually impeding the ability of foreign or domestic actors to misuse that data. There are real issues of how our personal data is used, who collects it, where it is stored, and how it is bought and sold.

There are dangerous shoals as China and the United States attempt to navigate profound differences in values and governmental systems. The determination of the CCP to stay in power and eliminate any opposition means that its approach to speech and democracy will remain antithetical to the West. But one of the remaining strengths of the United States is that it is an open society, where ideas flow freely and are not easily controlled.

TikTok is one of several platforms where ideas flow—maybe not in complete anarchic freedom, but certainly they do flow. That’s also why the app is not available in China. Removing it in the name of security may feel like a positive step in a dangerous time. In truth, it is a hollow gesture that sacrifices openness for the illusion of action.

Zachary Karabell  is the author of Inside Money: Brown Brothers Harriman and the American Way of Power . He is the founder of the Progress Network at New America and president of River Twice Research and River Twice Capital.

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