TikTok Adds Voice Comments, Polls and Richer Photo Replies

TikTok is expanding its comment features with voice comments, polls, photo carousels and Live Photo replies as the platform looks to encourage more interaction around individual posts.

The changes give users more ways to respond beyond text and single-image comments. TikTok is also bringing some features commonly associated with messaging and social communication into its comment sections.

Voice comments allow users to record audio messages of up to one minute directly in the comment field. The feature is rolling out globally over the next month to users aged 18 and older. TikTok said voice comments will be subject to the same Community Guidelines as other content, with automated and human moderation systems used to identify policy violations. Speech-to-text transcription will form part of that moderation process.

Creators can also now add polls when commenting on their own videos. The feature is being made available globally, allowing creators to offer up to five choices and set a timeframe for voting. The results can be viewed within the comment section.

TikTok is also increasing the amount of visual content that can be included in comments. Users will be able to post up to nine photos in a single carousel comment, compared with the previous limit of one image at a time. Photo carousel comments are rolling out globally over the next month. Live Photo comments are already available globally and add a short motion element to images posted in comments.