The comment section on TikTok isn’t just a place to react — It’s where a video’s story keeps going: where jokes get funnier, reactions get bigger, and total strangers connect in real time. Features like text, photo, and video sticker comments give people new ways to say more than words ever could, turning the comment section into an experience of its own. Every day, that adds up to more than 1.7 billion comments shared across the platform.
TikTok’s comment sections are getting an upgrade. The social network announced on Thursday that it’s rolling out new features for its comment sections, including voice comments, comment polls, photo carousel comments, and Live Photo comments. With the additions, the app is borrowing features from messaging apps as it looks to deepen engagement on its platform. By bundling voice, polls, and photo comments, the company aims to make comment sections places where people linger and interact with each other, rather than simply leave feedback underneath a video.
Say More in the Comments: Introducing Voice, Polls, and
Sound and music have shaped TikTok from the very beginning, turning songs into trends and audio clips into jokes shared across the app,
TikTok wrote in a blog post. Now, we’re bringing that same energy to the comment section with Voice Comments, a new way to post and listen to audio messages directly under any video.
Voice Comments and Audio Messaging
Sound has anchored the platform since its inception, transforming audio clips into viral trends and shared jokes. Now, the company is extending that audio-first culture directly into the discussion threads beneath videos.
To leave a voice comment, users need to tap the microphone icon in the comment box and record a message up to a minute long. Once the voice comment is posted, anyone can tap to listen, turning the comment section into a place people can hear as much as read. Whether you’re laughing at a meme, singing with a creator, or reacting out loud, users can record and post audio messages directly up to 60 seconds long.
TikTok comments are getting more interactive with voice comments
Voice Comments will roll out globally over the next month to accounts belonging to people ages 18 and older, according to TikTok. The new commenting format will likely be a trial by fire for TikTok’s increasingly AI-powered content moderation tools, which were involved in a false-flag controversy recently. A TikTok spokesperson told TechCrunch that voice comments follow the same Community Guidelines as other content on the platform, utilizing both human reviewers and automated tools, including speech-to-text, to detect and remove comments that break its rules.
Comment Polls and Live Audience Decisions
The company also announced Comment Polls, which will allow creators to engage audiences directly. The Polls feature has been rolling out slowly over the past few weeks, as some eagle-eyed users may have already noticed, but it will now be made available for all accounts globally.
The feature will be accessible via a poll icon in the comment box but will only be available when creators comment on their own video. Once the user clicks the icon, they will be able to choose up to 5 options to vote on and set a timeframe for when the poll will close. As votes come in, creators can track results directly in the comment section, making it easy to engage followers.
TikTok Is Supercharging Comments With Voice, Photo Carousels, and
Photo Carousels and Motion Previews
TikTok is also bringing Live Photos and photo carousels with up to nine images to the comments section. The platform is rolling out a slate of new ways to interact beneath videos, including photo carousels and Live Photos, expanding what users can post beyond text and single image replies, giving TikTok’s famously active comment sections even more ways to become part of the content itself.
The Shift Toward Self-Sustaining Social Feeds
With more than 1.7 billion comments posted on the platform every day, TikTok’s comment section is becoming a group chat. By bundling voice, polls, and photo comments, the company aims to make comment sections places where people linger and interact with each other, rather than simply leave feedback underneath a video.
