How do I turn on subtitles and captions everywhere?
System-wide live captions, per-app subtitles, and how to make them large enough to actually read.
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Time
- 15 min
- Read
- 2 min
Short answer
Turn on live captions in the system accessibility settings — it captions any audio playing on the device, including videos with no subtitles of their own. Then set the caption size and style separately, because the default is small.
There are two different things here: subtitles that come with the content, and live captions the device generates itself. The second is far less well known and works on almost anything, including video calls.
Step by step
- Turn on live captions in accessibility settings.Both phone platforms and several browsers have it. It generates captions for any audio playing, including videos that have none of their own.
- Set the caption size and style separately.There is usually a distinct settings page for caption appearance — size, font, background. The default is small and low-contrast. Solid background, large text.
- Turn on subtitles by default in each streaming app.Most have an account-level setting so you do not have to enable them every time.
- Use the browser's caption feature for web video.Some browsers can caption any audio playing in a tab, which covers video that has no subtitle track.
- Turn on captions in video calling apps.The major platforms all have live captions now, usually in the accessibility or view menu during a call.
- Try transcription for recorded audio.Voice notes and voicemail often have a transcription option, which is more useful than captions for something you want to search or keep.
- Check the television's own settings.Televisions and set-top boxes have their own subtitle settings, separate from the apps running on them.
- Adjust for whoever is watching.Very large captions cover the picture. Find the balance rather than assuming maximum is best.
Tips
- Live captions work offline on most modern phones, so they work on a train or a plane.
- Captions help many people who are not deaf or hard of hearing — background noise, unfamiliar accents, quiet dialogue, learning a language.
- A solid black caption background is far more readable than the default translucent one.
Questions people ask
Can I get subtitles on a video that does not have them?
Yes — live captions generate them from the audio in real time. It is in the accessibility settings on most phones and some browsers.
Why are captions so small?
The default is conservative. Caption size and style is usually a separate settings page from the on/off switch — set it there.