Twitter lets users add descriptions to photos, allowing visually-impaired people to take part in pictures

The new feature has been added to the iOS and Android app, and been extended to other apps including those specifically made for the visually-impaired

An illustration picture shows the Twitter logo reflected in the eye of a woman in Berlin, November 7, 2013 (Reuters)

Twitter has added a new feature to ensure that people who are visually-impaired don’t miss out on pictures on the service.

The company will now support “alternative text” in all of its photos, meaning that people can add descriptions to pictures that will help those who otherwise couldn’t see them be involved in the post.

The new feature has been added to the Twitter app on both iOS and Android already.

Once the feature is enabled, people will be able to use special software and equipment — which is used across the web — to see descriptions found in the “alt text” field of what the picture shows.

The feature can be switched on by choosing the “compose image descriptions” setting in the accessibility part of the Twitter app. Once that’s done, the feature will be turned on and visible every time you go to do a tweet.

From then on, every picture will have an “Add description” button in the bottom corner. You can click that and add the description, using up to 420 characters.

The feature has been extended to the company’s API and to Twitter cards, it said. That means that it will work with Twitter clients that are made especially for the visually-impaired, such as EasyChirp.