This would be a welcome addition for many social media managers. 

Instagram’s currently testing out a new ‘Closed Captions’ sticker for IG Stories, which generates automated captions for your Stories clips in a range of text formats.

As you can see in this example clip, posted by Matt Navarra, in its current form, once you add the Captions sticker to your video clip, you would then see a ‘Transcribing audio…’ prompt on your screen. You’d then be able to view the text from your video, which displays in time with your speech.

Instagram appears to be testing four text style options, including typewriter-esque block text, larger words for added emphasis and basic block letters.

Some users are now able to access the tool in their Instagram app, but when they go to post they get an ‘Internal only’ error message. Instagram has confirmed that the process is currently only in testing and is not supposed to be available to the public just yet.

The option is similar to the same tool that Instagram added to its separate Threads app late last year, which quickly saw Threads rise up the download charts. But it wasn’t because people wanted to send messages to their Instagram inner-circle – a large number of users downloaded Threads in order to make clips using the auto-captions feature, which they then uploaded to TikTok with the on-screen text.  

Given this, it seems like a no-brainer for Instagram to add the same functionality direct into Stories. Instagram’s been developing the option since at least August last year, while it also added automated captions for IGTV uploads back in September.

As noted, the tool could provide a range of new options for brands and creators, making it easier to reach a wider audience, and ensure that your Stories are able to be understood in sound on and sound off scenarios. As you can see in the example, however, the automated captions are not perfect, so you will need to review the text. It’s not clear yet whether Instagram will provide the capacity to edit the text within the interface.

Instagram hasn’t provided a timeline for a public release, but given the advanced nature of this prototype, you can likely expect to see it launched sometime soon.