Over the past several years, Instagram has added several accessibility features and tools for creators to make their images easier to see for users with visual impairments and print disabilities, with new features being added frequently. Many of my friends with low vision love using Instagram because they can hold mobile devices close to their face, zoom in on images and videos with pinch-to-zoom, and view a diverse range of profiles from friends to brands and educational accounts. Here are my favorite tips for how to make your Instagram feed accessible for visual impairment, inclusive of blind, low vision, and neurological visual impairment.
Instagram accessibility features to enable for visual impairment
Instagram users with low vision or that are sensitive to bright or flashing lights can enable the following features to improve Instagram accessibility from a visual standpoint:
Use Instagram with dark mode
Dark mode (sometimes called dark theme or night mode) is a display setting for user interfaces that displays a light-colored text against a dark-colored background. This is different from the default “light mode”, which displays dark-colored text against a light-colored background. Dark mode color palettes typically consist of white or light grey text, icons, and user interface elements displayed on a dark gray, dark blue, or black background. Dark mode is often promoted as a solution for minimizing eye fatigue from looking at screens or for making content easier to read.
Dark mode can be enabled as a system-wide setting, or configured within the Instagram app by doing the following:
- In the Instagram app for Android, open Settings > Theme > Dark
- To switch Instagram to dark mode for iPhone or iOS, enable the Dark Mode toggle in Control Center, and select the toggle to turn on Dark Mode across all applications.
- When using the web application, navigate to https://www.instagram.com/?themedark
Turn off auto-play
Auto-play prevents gifs, stickers, and videos from playing automatically, which can be helpful for avoiding bright, flickering, or flashing lights, as well as fast moving videos that can trigger vertigo.
To turn off Auto-Play for Instagram:
- Open Settings and Activity
- Under Your App and Media, select Media Quality
- Select Use Less Cellular Data
Learn to enlarge Instagram posts
While this isn’t an accessibility feature that has to be enabled, learning to enlarge or zoom in on Instagram posts is a helpful skill for browsing the platform with low vision.
To zoom in on a post on the home feed, explore grid, or on a profile, use the pinch-to-zoom gesture by pinching outwards with two fingers on an image or video to view a detail. Remove fingers from the screen to zoom back out and return the image or video to its full size.
To enlarge a thumbnail within the grid, tap and hold on an image or video thumbnail to view the full image in the center of the screen, which will blur out surrounding items on the screen. Release fingers from the screen to zoom back out and return to grid view.
Related links
- Choosing Between Light Mode and Dark Mode For Low Vision
- How To Use Invert Colors With Low Vision
- Enabling Temporary Accessibility Settings For iPad
- Customize Accessibility Settings For Specific Apps
Add alt text to images so they can be read by screen readers
Alt text is a short text-based description of images that includes information such as text, scene descriptions, and other descriptive information. People who use screen readers such as VoiceOver, TalkBack, or Select-to-speak listen to the alt text as their only way of knowing what is in an image, so having alt text written for images is incredibly important for making an accessible Instagram feed for assistive technology users. Instagram supports alt text up to 100 characters, and alt text can be added or edited once a picture is posted.
TO ADD ALT TEXT TO NEW INSTAGRAM POSTS:
- Create a new post
- Select “compose alt text” underneath advanced settings of the post
- Type alt text of your choice
- Select “done” or the check mark when finished
TO ADD ALT TEXT TO EXISTING INSTAGRAM POSTS:
- Select the three vertical dots at the top of the post
- Select “edit”
- Tap the “alt text” option that is directly on top of the photo, next to the “tag people” option.
- Add your own alt text and save it to the photo
Related links
When creating graphics or posting stories, use high contrast text
When creating text posts, stories, or adding text to images, ensure that the text color stands out from the image background color by using a contrasting color, adding a colored outline to text (such as black lines around white text or vice versa), or highlighting/shading behind to ensure it does not blend into the background.
There is no “universal” color scheme for high contrast and low vision, as preferences for color scheme can vary amongst individuals or be influenced by their specific vision condition. However, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines define enhanced contrast for text as having a minimum value of 7:1 for standard print text and 4.5:1 for large or bold text. To get information on the specific contrast ratio for two colors, I recommend checking out an online contrast color checker that can provide further information.
Related links
- Color Contrast Checker – Coolors
- Highlighting Information With Low Vision
- High Contrast and Low Vision
Put image descriptions in captions
A picture is worth a thousand words, but alt text is only 100 characters. Alt text and image descriptions are text-based descriptions of visual details in an image written primarily for people who are visually impaired (inclusive of blind/low vision). Image descriptions are similar to alt text descriptions that are used by screen readers to recognize images, though there are a few key differences between alt text and image descriptions:
- Location. Alt text is typically attached to an image metadata or added in the “alt text” box on social media. Image descriptions may be in the image caption, in a text post, or otherwise incorporated into a social media post
- Visibility. Alt text is usually only visible to screen readers, which read the alt text out loud or display it on a braille display. Image descriptions are “exposed” and can be read by anyone
- Length of text. While alt text is limited to 100 characters, image descriptions can be the same length or even longer, since they are included in the photo caption, in a text post, or text link.
- Level of detail. Image descriptions tend to go more in-depth about visual details than alt text due to the larger character limit.
I recommend including both alt text and image descriptions when making digital comics accessible so that everyone can read descriptions of images, not just screen reader users- especially since many users with low vision do not use screen readers when browsing social media, but still might need assistive technology for reading images such as a screen magnifier. Personally, I rely on image descriptions to let me know what is in an image, especially if the caption or colors are ambiguous and it is otherwise hard for me to guess what I am looking at.
Related links
- How To Write Alt Text and Image Descriptions for the Visually Impaired
- How To Write Alt Text For Memes
- How To Write Alt Text For Digital Comics
- How To Write Alt Text For Gifs
- How To Write Alt Text and Image Descriptions For Jewelry
Add video descriptions
A video description is a text-based description of what is happening in a video. Video descriptions provide information about the audio (typically in the form of transcripts) and visual content, which can help viewers better understand what is going on. Video descriptions closely resemble alt text and image descriptions, which are used for making images accessible online and on social media platforms. Video descriptions are more similar to image descriptions than alt text because they are “exposed” in comments or captions so anyone can read them, compared to alt text that is typically hidden and only recognized by screen readers.
Since videos do not support having alt text added on Instagram, this is the best option for making video content accessible from a visual standpoint using Instagram’s built-in tools.
Related links
- How To Write Video Descriptions For Animal Videos
- How To Write Video Descriptions For TikTok
- How To Describe Dance Videos For Visually Impaired
- Creating Audio Description For Recipe Videos
- How To Describe Science Experiments For Visually Impaired Students
Add large print captions to videos
For people that prefer to browse Instagram with sound off or that have to zoom in to read text, using large print captions for stories and posts makes it easier for audiences to engage with content and follow along with a video. My favorite tool for creating large print captions has been the free Clips app for iOS, though the automated captions tool for Instagram also has large font options. Again, using a highlighted or colored background can help with making text stand out against the background.
Related links
- How To Create Accessible Videos and Narrated Images With Clips
- How To Make Classroom Videos Easier To See
Share information from stories on the grid/timeline
Instagram stories are not accessible for screen reader users or with text-to-speech, so there is no way of knowing what a post says unless someone was to take a screenshot and use another app to get a description of what is happening (which would get very tedious very quickly!). If there’s something like a sale, special event, or other time sensitive information, consider making a post in the Instagram grid or timeline, which can then have alt text or image descriptions added, as well as provide options for users to zoom in on content.
Related links
Avoid using strobe or flashing lights as the first image in a group
Even though I have auto-play disabled, there have been times I accidentally clicked on an image or video and ended up seeing surprise strobe lights, which to no surprise triggered a migraine and feeling disoriented. When posting content with flashing lights, consider making the first image in the collection a still image that does not flash, and add a trigger warning or content warning for flashing lights.
Related links
- How To Check Videos For Flashing Lights
- Managing Chronic Migraines in College
- Activity Ideas For Vision Breaks
Add words or phrases indicating flashing content
Instagram provide users with the option to mute specific words or phrases so that they do not show up in a user’s main feed, even if someone they follow likes/reposts content with these keywords. While this does not block content that is shown on a specific profile, it is helpful for avoiding surprise flashing lights.
To mute words or phrases on Instagram, open Settings > Privacy > Hidden Words > Manage Custom Words and Phrases, separating words and phrases with commas.
Some examples of words or phrases frequently associated with strobe or flashing content may include:
- Flashing lights
- Lightning
- Strobes
- Strobing lights
- TW (trigger warning) or CW (content warning) followed by: lights, strobes, strobing, flashing lights, epilepsy, lightning, flashes, seizure, flickering. I muted each phrase with and without colons (tw: strobes and tw strobes) separately
- Fancam
- Hashtags or names of specific music groups/artists that frequently use flashing lights in their content
- Video filters associated with flashing lights (many users will include the filters as a hashtag)
For content creators that post trigger warning or content warnings, be explicit about what the trigger is and avoid just captioning something as “trigger warning” or “content warning.” Also, avoid using the hashtag epilepsy (or another medical condition) by itself to indicate flashing content, as this can block out educational material posted under the same hashtag.
Related links
- Avoiding Flashing Lights On Social Media
- Five Common Technology Behaviors That Hurt My Brain
- How I Watch Concert Videos Without Strobe Lights
- How I Access Historical Documents With Low Vision
- How I Use Pinterest For Studying In College
More tips for how to make your Instagram feed accessible for visual impairment
- When creating image descriptions or transcripts for text-based posts, I recommend using the strategies I share in Options For Writing Extended Image Descriptions On Social Media to make text easier to read.
- Want to increase the font size of your device and make Instagram easier to read? Check out How To Make iPad Accessible for Low Vision and Low Vision Accessibility Settings For Android Phones
- Have trouble finding the Instagram icon? Check out How To Organize Apps On iPad With Low Vision
Published July 12, 2019. Updated November 2024