How to Turn On Closed Captioning for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch and Find Movies

Closed captioning or subtitling is displaying text on the video screen to provide additional information to people who wish to access it. This is an essential accessibility feature for certain individuals, who are hearing impaired or hard of hearing. Or for folks wanting to watch a video without audio!

Set your caption and subtitle preferences on iPhones or iPads

How to Enable Closed Captioning on iOS Videos

First things first: not all videos include a caption or subtitle track

So check with the video provider (like Hulu or Netflix for example) to see what options they provide. Or search for closed-captioned and subtitled content when looking for videos.

Additionally, some websites and apps provide their own custom caption interfaces for videos. So be on the lookout for those too!

Turn On (or Off) Closed Captioning or Subtitles Using the TV or Videos App

When you’re watching videos that include captions and subtitles, open the Audio & Subtitles menu

• While viewing, tap the screen to reveal the playback controls
• Tap the speech bubble icon to open the Audio & Subtitles menu
• Choose the closed caption or subtitles option that you want

Older iOS (with the Videos App)

Just tap Settings > Videos and toggle on Closed Captioning.

Note that enabling closed captions only works if you have a video that supports it. Also, when you enable closed captioning, it turns on closed captioning for your third-party video apps (e.g., Netflix).

Turn On Closed Captioning in iTunes

You can also turn on closed captioning in iTunes on Mac and Windows PCs.

Closed Captioning and Subtitles on Macs

Find them in the Audio & Subtitles menu

For Older Macs and MacOS X, open iTunes

• Launch iTunes > Preferences from the “iTunes” menu for Mac
• Select the “Playback” tab
• Check the box for “Show closed captioning when available”

Closed Captioning and Subtitles on Windows

Like Macs, find these settings in the Audio & Subtitles menu while playing your video

1. Move your pointer over your video
2. Click the speech bubble icon

Choose the subtitle options that you want to use 

Set your Windows PC’s caption and subtitle preferences

• Hold down the Control and B keys on your keyboard to open the iTunes menu bar
• Select iTunes > Preferences (“Edit” menu for PC) then select the “Playback” tab
• Check the box for Prefer Closed Captions and SDH 
• To Customize Look, click Configure
• Choose one of the predefined styles, or create your own style by clicking New.
  • Change the font, size, and color of the text, along with the color and opacity of the background. A preview of your new style displays at the top of the window
  • Click OK to save your choices. iTunes uses this style as the default style for captions and subtitles for iTunes video playback 

How to find videos that support closed captioning

Turning closed captioning on will only work if your video supports it. Nowadays, many videos support this feature. To find videos that support closed captioning see below:

Find movies that support closed captioning on PC and Mac

1. Open iTunes.
2. Go to the  iTunes Store
3. In the search bar in the upper-right corner, type a specific title or keyword
   1. And type “closed caption” to browse available titles with closed captions
   2. Or type “subtitles” or “SDH” to browse available titles with subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
   3. For example, use search term: history closed caption to search contents that include the keyword history and support closed captioning
4. In the column on the right-hand side of the window, click Movies or TV Shows
5. When you find something that you’d like to watch, click it. Look for a closed caption icon (CC) or subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing icon (SDH) on the item’s product page, under its title 
6. Scroll to the bottom of an item’s product page and look in the Languages section for information about available closed caption and subtitle languages.

Find movies and videos that support closed captioning on iOS devices

1. Tap iTunes Store
2. Tap Search
3. In the search bar in the upper-right corner, type a specific title or keyword for a movie you want to see
   1. And type “closed caption” to browse available titles with closed captions 
   2. Or type “subtitles” or “SDH” to browse available titles with subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
   3. For example, use search term: history closed caption to search contents that include the keyword history and support closed captioning
4. When you find something that you’d like to watch, tap it. Look for a closed caption icon (CC) or subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing icon (SDH) on the item’s product page, underneath its title.
5. Scroll to the bottom of an item’s product page and look in the Languages section for information about available closed caption and subtitle languages

Remember that movies that support closed captioning show a CC (Close Caption) logo and videos that support subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing show an SDH icon.

And again, not all videos include a caption or subtitle track.

Sudz Kar

Obsessed with tech since the early arrival of A/UX on Apple, Sudz (SK) is responsible for the original editorial direction of AppleToolBox. He is based out of Los Angeles, CA.

Sudz specializes in covering all things macOS, having reviewed dozens of OS X and macOS developments over the years.

In a former life, Sudz worked helping Fortune 100 companies with their technology and business transformation aspirations.