Instagram is a “visual” platform, but it wants people with visual impairments to be able to enjoy it as well. To help them, it’s introducing two new improvements to make it easier for them to do so.
With over 285 million visually impaired people in the world, Instagram wants to make sure they can “benefit from a more accessible” platform. So, this week it’s introducing two new related features:
The first is automatic alternative text that allows visually impaired users to listen to descriptions of photos through their screen readers when using Feed, Explore, and Profile. In the announcement for the feature, Instagram says that it “uses object recognition technology to generate a description of photos for screen readers so [users] can hear a list of items that photos may contain as [they] browse the app.”
The second is a custom alternative text so that users can provide richer descriptions of photos when they upload them. Similar to the automatic alternative text, people using screen readers will be able to hear this custom alternative in these images and not the automatic alternative.
Facebook has been developing this technology for some time, so it’s quite surprising that Instagram – the “visual” platform is only now getting around to doing so.
You might also like
More from Instagram
Instagram’s New Twitter Competitor Revealed
Instagram's rumored text-based Twitter competitor still does not have a name, but now we know what it might look like. The …
You Can Now Add Songs To Your Instagram Photo Carousels
Instagram says it is testing a new feature that lets users add songs to the photo carousels they share on …
Instagram Now Lets You Add Up To 5 ‘Links In Bio’
Instagram is rolling out a new feature for adding up to 5 'links in bio' - a feature doomed to …
Instagram Collaborative Collections Are The New Way To Save And Share Content With Your Friends
Instagram is introducing a new 'Save posts with friends' that lets you create a collaborative collection for you and your …
Instagram Is Testing A ‘Top 3’ Sticker To Boost Engagement
According to reports, Instagram is testing a new Top 3 sticker for Stories, allowing users to highlight favorite accounts, places, …
Instagram Is Pulling The Plug On Live Shopping
Meta announced it will move away from live shopping on Instagram, removing the ability for users to tag products in …
How To Create Instagram Notes (And Delete Them!)
Instagram Notes are a new feature launched by Instagram that allows users to share posts containing only text and Emojis. Instagram …