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Live captions are a feature that can enhance audio engagement on your Android device. Irrespective of whether you’re engrossed in a video, podcast, voice call, or any other audio content, live captions render the spoken words as on-screen text. While catering to the needs of the hearing-impaired, these captions also offer a discreet way to enjoy content or grasp vital information without disruption.
Designed for Android 11 and newer versions, live captions currently support several languages alongside English. Toggling this feature on or off is hassle-free, achieved through volume controls or the quick settings panel. Tailoring these captions to your preferences is also effortless, allowing customisation of their appearance and behaviour.
In this comprehensive article, we’ll delve into how to turn off and turn on live captions on your Android device. We’ll also explain how you can customise them within a few seconds.
Also read: How to put Google Search bar on the home screen on Android?
How to turn on live captions on Android?
There are two ways to turn on live captions on Android: from the volume controls or the quick settings panel.
From the volume controls
Here are the instructions:
- Press the volume button on your device.
- Tap the live caption icon that appears below the volume slider. It looks like a box with two lines inside it.
Once you’re done, captions will appear for any playing media, regardless of your device’s volume level.
From the quick settings panel
Follow the steps given below:
- Swipe down from the top of the screen using one or two fingers to open the quick settings panel.
- Next, locate and tap on the live caption tile. It will look like a box with two lines inside it.
Note: Turning on live captions will increase the battery usage of your device.
Following the above two methods, you can easily enable live captions in Android. Now, let us understand how you can disable it.
Also read: What does CC mean on TikTok?
How to turn off live captions on Android?
There are also two ways to turn off live captions on Android: from the volume controls or the quick settings panel.
From the volume controls
Press the volume button on your device and tap the live captions option at the bottom.
The captions will disappear for any media that is playing.
From the quick settings panel
Swipe down to open the quick settings panel on Android and then locate and tap on the Live caption tile to turn it off.
Also read: How to make the keyboard bigger on Android?
How to customize live captions on Android?
You can customize live captions on Android in a few ways: by moving them around, expanding them, changing their language, translating them, censoring profanity, showing sound labels, and adjusting their appearance.
- Moving them around: You can move the captions around by dragging the caption box to any position on your screen. This can be useful if you want to avoid blocking any part of your media or if you want to see them better.
- Expanding them: You can expand the captions by double-tapping the caption box. This will show more lines of text and make them easier to read. You can also collapse them by double-tapping again.
- Changing their language: You can head to Settings > Sound and vibration > Live Caption > Languages to change the language of the caption.
- Censoring profanity: Navigate to Settings > Sound and vibration > Live Caption > Hide profanity to censor profanity in captions.
- Showing sound labels: You can show sound labels in captions by accessing your device’s live caption settings under sound or hearing options. From there, you can toggle on show sound labels. This will display words like laughter, applause, music, and speech.
Also read: How to add captions to reels?
