DEV Community: Free Live Caption

Google Translate conversation mode on phone, PC and offline

Free Live Caption — Wed, 14 Oct 2026 01:10:07 +0000

Google Translate's conversation mode works in the phone app on Android and iPhone. The web version can't do it. Steps, offline limits and what to check when it stops.

URL: https://freelivecaption.com/en/posts/google-translate-conversation-mode
Published: 2026-10-12
Updated: 2026-10-12
Author: Priya Nair (https://freelivecaption.com/en/about)
Topic: Conversations (https://freelivecaption.com/en/topics/conversations)

Summary

Conversation mode is in the Translate app on Android, iPhone and iPad: tap Live translate, choose Conversation, pick two languages.
Google says you can't talk and translate at the same time on the web version, so on a PC or laptop use the phone or tablet app.
Google's Android page ties offline live translation to Pixel 9, 10 and 11 phones and ten language pairs.
For a long one-sided talk, continuous captions fit better than turn-taking. Vocena's live captions are free with no time limit.

Start a conversation on Android, iPhone or iPad

Conversation mode lives inside Live translate in the Translate app. Google's help pages for Android and for iPhone and iPad give the same steps:

Open the Translate app and tap Live translate at the bottom of the screen.
Choose Conversation. On iPhone and iPad, Google lists four modes in all: Listening, Conversation, Text only and Custom settings.
Pick the two languages.
Talk in turns. The microphone detects when one language stops and the other starts, so nobody has to tap a button between speakers. On iPhone and iPad the translation plays out loud through the phone speaker or headphones.

If a tutorial tells you to look for a separate Conversation button, it may be describing an older version of the app. Google's current pages put Conversation under Live translate.

To lay the phone between you and the other person, tap Face to face. Each of you then reads the transcript and translation in your own language on your half of the screen. Tap Speak to pause or resume, and Close to leave the mode.

On a PC or laptop

There's no conversation mode on the website. Google's help page for bilingual conversations on a computer says you can't talk and translate at the same time on Google Translate for the web, and points you to the Translate app on a phone or tablet.

The website does take voice input, one speaker at a time. Per Google's computer instructions for speech, you allow the browser to use your microphone, open Google Translate, choose the languages, click the microphone at the bottom, speak, then click Stop. Google says microphone translation works in Chrome and has limited support in Safari and Edge.

For a real back-and-forth at a desk, put a phone between the two of you and run the app there. If what you need on the computer is captions for audio that's playing, our guides to Windows Live Captions, Chrome Live Caption and live captions on every device cover that.

Offline

Google's Android page says offline live translation is currently only for Pixel 9, 10 and 11 users, and it lists ten language pairs. On any other phone, don't count on Conversation working without a connection. The iPhone and iPad page doesn't mention an offline mode at all.

Before a trip, switch on airplane mode and run one conversation with the exact languages you'll need. If it doesn't start, you've found out at home. If you also need to read menus on the trip, our guide to reading a Japanese menu by camera covers that.

When it won't start or stops listening

Work through these in order.

It stops after a pause. In Face to face, Speak is a pause and resume control. If the mic went quiet, tap Speak again.

You can't hear the translation. On iPhone and iPad, translations play through the phone speaker or headphones, so check the volume and which output is connected. For the headphone steps on iPhone, see playing translations into your headphones. For the one-way Speak button on Android, Google puts the switch in Menu → Settings → Speech input → Speak output, according to its speech translation page.

A language won't work with the microphone. On that same Android page, Google says that if the Speak button is disabled, the spoken language can't be translated. Pick a different language for the speaker, or type instead.

Live translate or Conversation isn't on screen. Update the Translate app, then look again. The steps above describe Google's current help pages, and your screen may show something else on an older version.

The microphone is blocked. On a computer, Google's instructions start with giving the browser permission to use the microphone. On a phone, check the Translate app's microphone permission in the system settings.

The browser is Safari or Edge. Google lists only limited microphone support there. Try Chrome.

You're offline. See the section above. Outside Pixel 9, 10 and 11, assume the mode needs a connection.

If all of that fails, try the same conversation on a phone or tablet instead of the web, since the web version doesn't have the mode.

Apple's Translate app

An iPhone also ships with Apple's own Translate app, and Apple documents its in-person mode in Translate in-person conversations with iPhone. Our guide to iPhone live translation languages lists which languages Apple's translation features cover. If you're deciding between Apple's app and Google Translate for a trip, our comparison of the two translation apps shows how to test your own language pair.

A long talk or lecture

Conversation mode is built for two people trading turns in two languages. For a 45-minute lecture in one language, where you want text that keeps scrolling and stays on the screen, that's the wrong tool. You'd be treating the lecture as a series of turns the app has to guess at.

Vocena fits that case. Its live captions are free and have no time limit. It runs on iPhone and iPad (iOS / iPadOS 26 or later) and on Mac (macOS 15.5 or later). Each caption line is labeled as coming from the microphone or from system audio, not by speaker. Translation under each line is a paid feature, so if you only need to read the lecture in its own language, the free captions are enough.

Sources and checks

Translate a bilingual conversation - Android - Google Translate Help — Checked 2026-10-07

Translate a bilingual conversation - iPhone & iPad - Google Translate Help — Checked 2026-10-07

Translate a bilingual conversation - Computer - Google Translate Help — Checked 2026-10-07

Translate by speech - Computer - Google Translate Help — Checked 2026-10-07

Translate by speech - Android - Google Translate Help — Checked 2026-10-07

Translate in-person conversations with iPhone - Apple Support — Checked 2026-10-07

Dual Subtitles on YouTube: Two Languages at Once, on Computer and Phone

Free Live Caption — Wed, 14 Oct 2026 01:09:29 +0000

YouTube shows one caption language at a time. Here is how to get two lines on a computer with a Chrome extension, and what you can do on iPhone, iPad and Android.

URL: https://freelivecaption.com/en/posts/youtube-dual-subtitles
Published: 2026-10-14
Updated: 2026-10-14
Author: Yuki Tanaka (https://freelivecaption.com/en/about)
Topic: Videos (https://freelivecaption.com/en/topics/video)

Summary

YouTube's help pages describe one caption language at a time, so two lines at once on a computer take a Chrome extension.
YouTube Dual Subtitles is free and needs captions turned on first. Language Reactor is another Chrome extension and offers in-app purchases.
On iPhone, iPad and Android, YouTube shows one caption language and Auto-translate switches it. The extension listings mention only computers.
Vocena can put a translation under live captions of YouTube's audio. Translation is paid, and iPhone needs iOS 27 on a real device for this.

What YouTube shows by itself

On a computer, the Closed captions (CC) button at the bottom right of the player switches captions on and off. Subtitles/CC in the settings menu leads to Options, where you can change the font, color, opacity, size, background, window and character edge style (YouTube's caption settings page). Those controls change how captions look. They don't add a second language.

In the Android app, tap the player once, then tap Closed captions to turn captions on. To change the language, open the More menu at the top right of the player, choose Captions and pick a language. If yours isn't listed, choose Auto-translate and pick it there (YouTube's Android caption page). Both pages end with one language on screen and mention no setting for two at once, so the second line has to come from an extension or another app. If Auto-translate is missing or won't switch, that problem has its own guide.

Two languages on a computer

In Chrome, start with YouTube Dual Subtitles. Its Chrome Web Store listing describes bilingual subtitles with two languages shown together, custom styles and 55 languages. It's free.

Open the listing and click Add to Chrome.
Open a YouTube video and turn captions on with the CC button. The listing says the video must have subtitles turned on for the extension to work.
Choose your two languages in the extension. The original and translated lines should appear together without overlapping, as the listing describes.

The listing shows about 200,000 users, but also version 3.7.3 dated November 2024, and the developer says the extension won't collect or use your data. An extension can read the pages it runs on, so skim the permissions and the recent reviews before you install it.

Language Reactor suits people who are studying a language. Its Chrome Web Store listing mentions dual language subtitles and YouTube channels, says it runs in Chrome on Windows and macOS computers, and offers in-app purchases. We compare it with similar tools in Language Reactor alternatives. To practice speaking along with a clip, see speaking practice built around transcripts.

Both listings sit on the Chrome Web Store. On Firefox, search Mozilla's add-ons site for a version before you plan around either one.

If the second line doesn't appear

Turn on CC in the player first, because YouTube Dual Subtitles only works on videos whose subtitles are on. Reload the YouTube tab after installing the extension. If the video has no captions at all, the extension has nothing to pair, and you need something that captions the sound instead (see the next section).

iPhone, iPad and Android

The YouTube app shows one caption language, and Auto-translate is the built-in way to change it. The two extension listings above are for Chrome on a computer, and the Dual Subtitles listing says nothing about phones. If you want two languages on a phone or tablet and the video has no way to give you that, the simplest fix is to watch it on a computer. Netflix is different, and getting two subtitle languages on Netflix depends on your device.

The other way is to generate the second line yourself from the audio. Vocena, the app we make, puts live captions on screen with a translation under each line, and it works from what it hears, so the video doesn't need a caption track. Live captions are free with no time limit. Translation is part of the paid buyout or subscription. Where it runs:

iPhone and iPad: iOS / iPadOS 26 or later. On iPhone, capturing the sound of another app such as YouTube needs iOS 27 on a physical device. Captions can float over other apps in picture-in-picture.
Mac: macOS 15.5 or later, with a floating caption window on the desktop.

Vocena has no Android or Windows version. On Android, use a computer with the extensions above, or look at the other captioning tools in live captions on every device. Because the text comes from speech recognition rather than from the uploader's subtitle file, expect an occasional misheard word.

Reading the transcript next to the captions

On a computer, the video description has a Show transcript button (YouTube's transcript page). That page describes only this button. It doesn't say whether the panel follows the caption language you pick, so check it on a video you know:

Set the player's captions to the language spoken in the video and click Show transcript. Note which language the panel shows.
Switch the player's captions to an Auto-translate language and look at the panel again.

If the panel stays in the spoken language, you already have two languages without an extension: the translation under the video and the original text in the panel. If the panel changes along with the captions, it can't show a different language from the player, and an extension is the way to get both.

For study, read a stretch of the original text in the panel first, then play it with captions in the spoken language, and turn on the translation only for lines you missed. Finding and saving the transcript has the details on opening it. If you are learning the language, we cover how to choose subtitles for your level in another guide.

Sources and checks

Manage caption settings - YouTube Help — Checked 2026-10-07

Manage caption settings - Android - YouTube Help — Checked 2026-10-07

View video transcripts - YouTube Help — Checked 2026-10-07

YouTube™ Dual Subtitles - Chrome Web Store — Checked 2026-10-07

Language Reactor - Chrome Web Store — Checked 2026-10-07

How to Get a YouTube Transcript on Desktop and Phone

Free Live Caption — Tue, 13 Oct 2026 02:25:31 +0000

Open Show transcript under a YouTube video, copy the text, and see what to do when the button is missing or the captions are wrong.

URL: https://freelivecaption.com/en/posts/youtube-transcript
Published: 2026-10-13
Updated: 2026-10-13
Author: Jonas Weber (https://freelivecaption.com/en/about)
Topic: Videos (https://freelivecaption.com/en/topics/video)

Summary

On a computer, expand the description under the video, click Show transcript, then select and copy the text.
The button only appears for videos that have captions. Automatic captions can be missing for new uploads, unsupported languages or poor audio.
YouTube's help page gives no separate phone steps. TechSmith suggests opening the desktop site in your phone's browser.
For a video with no captions, use live captions on your device, such as Chrome Live Caption or Live Captions on a Mac.

Open the transcript on a computer

Open the video on youtube.com and click more in the description box under the player to expand it.
Click Show transcript. A panel opens with the captions line by line and scrolls along as the video plays.
Click any line to jump to that point in the video.

YouTube's View video transcripts page says this works for any video that has captions. It adds that the panel can also help you find chapters and the people and places mentioned in the video.

Copy the text

Highlight the lines you want in the panel, then press Ctrl+C (Cmd+C on a Mac) or right-click and choose Copy. For the whole transcript, scroll to the end and drag from the first line to the last. Paste it into a Google Doc, a Word file or a plain text file. To study a line you did not understand, see our guide to saving a sentence with audio and translation in Anki.

The timestamps come along with the text. TechSmith's guide to getting a YouTube transcript shows the same copy steps and says you can delete the timestamps from the pasted text if you don't want them. If you want the text as a subtitle file, our guide to turning a transcript into an SRT file covers how.

YouTube's transcript page mentions no download button, so for someone else's video, pasting into a file is how you save the text. If you want to use that text to study a language, our guide to repeating clips aloud with a transcript shows one routine.

Download captions from your own video

If the video is on your channel, YouTube Studio can give you the caption file. YouTube's Edit or remove captions page lists the steps:

Sign in to YouTube Studio and select Subtitles from the left menu.
Click the video.
Under Subtitles, click Edit next to the language you want.
Click Options, then Download subtitles.

Your browser saves a file with that caption track in it. The page only covers your own videos and says nothing about downloading captions from anyone else's.

On a phone or tablet

YouTube's transcript page gives one step, Show transcript in the video description, and no separate steps for Android, iPhone or iPad. TechSmith tells phone users to switch the browser to the desktop version of YouTube and then follow the computer steps above. The same guide says mobile devices can't download the transcript, so on a phone you can read it and copy from it, not save it as a file.

Browsers name the switch differently. Look in the browser's menu for a desktop-site entry.

If Show transcript is missing

TechSmith's guide says the button doesn't appear when transcripts are disabled for a video, and then YouTube's own interface has no transcript to give you. Check these in order:

Click more first. The button sits inside the description box, and it isn't visible until the description is expanded.
Look at when the video went up. YouTube's automatic captioning page says captions may not be ready yet because the audio is complex to process. Come back later.
Listen to the audio. The same page lists why automatic captions don't appear: an unsupported language, a video that's too long, poor sound quality or speech YouTube doesn't recognize, a long silence at the start, and overlapping speakers or several languages at once. A viewer can't change any of those on someone else's video.
If none of that fits and the button is still gone, the video has no captions. Go to the last section below.

If the transcript opens but is in the wrong language, or translated captions won't load, our YouTube auto-translate fix covers that.

Automatic captions and creator captions

YouTube generates automatic captions with speech recognition and publishes them on the video when they're available. Its page says they can misrepresent the speech because of mispronunciations, accents, dialects or background noise, and it tells creators to review and edit them. Automatic captions are offered in more than 100 languages, so compare the speaker's language with the list on that page.

Creators can also add captions themselves. YouTube's page on adding subtitles and captions names four ways: uploading a file, auto-sync, typing them in, and auto-translate.

The transcript panel shows whichever captions the video has, so check names, numbers and technical terms against the audio before you quote it.

Videos with no captions

With no transcript to open, live captions on your own device can caption the audio as it plays. In Chrome, use Live Caption, covered in our Chrome Live Caption guide. On a Mac, Live Captions is built into the system, and our Live Captions on Mac fix guide helps if it won't start. Live captions on every device lists what else is available. These show text while the video plays and don't add a transcript to the YouTube page.

Vocena, the app we make, can also caption audio that other apps play, such as a video or a podcast. Its live captions are free with no time limit, and the current session is saved to its library. The Mac app needs macOS 15.5 or later and can caption other apps' audio. On iPhone, that needs a physical device running iOS 27. The iPhone and iPad app otherwise needs iOS or iPadOS 26 or later. For podcasts on Spotify, our guide to finding Spotify episode transcripts covers where to look.

Sources and checks

View video transcripts - YouTube Help — Checked 2026-10-05

How to Get a Transcript of a YouTube Video — Checked 2026-10-05

Use automatic captioning - YouTube Help — Checked 2026-10-05

Add subtitles & captions - YouTube Help — Checked 2026-10-05

Edit or remove captions - YouTube Help — Checked 2026-10-05

SRT vs VTT: Which Caption File to Use, and How to Convert

Free Live Caption — Tue, 13 Oct 2026 02:24:49 +0000

SRT and VTT both hold timed captions as plain text. Here is how they differ, which one YouTube, Vimeo and a video tag want, and how to convert between them.

URL: https://freelivecaption.com/en/posts/srt-vs-vtt
Published: 2026-10-13
Updated: 2026-10-13
Author: Owen Davies (https://freelivecaption.com/en/about)
Topic: Videos (https://freelivecaption.com/en/topics/video)

Summary

VTT is the safer pick when you can choose: Vimeo recommends it and the HTML track element expects a .vtt file. YouTube accepts both.
To convert SRT to VTT, add a WEBVTT first line and change the comma before the milliseconds to a period, then save as UTF-8.
Zoom saves cloud-recording transcripts as VTT and Teams offers .docx or .vtt, so the same conversion steps apply to both.

Which format for which place

VTT is the safer default when you get to choose. Vimeo recommends WebVTT, and the HTML <track> element expects a .vtt file. YouTube lists both formats, so SRT is fine there.

Where the captions go	Use	Notes
YouTube	SRT, or VTT if you need positioning	Both are accepted
Vimeo	VTT	SRT is accepted too
`<video>` tag on your own page	VTT	Convert an SRT first
A media player or TV app	Whatever its subtitle menu lists	Convert if it names only one

How the two files look

Both are plain text: a timing line, the caption, a blank line. Here is the same caption in each.

SRT:

1
00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:03,500
Welcome back to the channel.

2
00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:06,200
Today we're fixing a leaky tap.

WebVTT:

WEBVTT

00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:03.500
Welcome back to the channel.

00:00:03.800 --> 00:00:06.200
<v Sam>Today we're fixing a leaky tap.

The differences you will actually run into:

A WebVTT file must begin with the word WEBVTT. SRT has no header, just a counter before each caption.
SRT writes the timestamp as HH:MM:SS,mmm with a comma, according to YouTube's format list. The WebVTT spec uses a period, and it lets you drop the hours.
The numbers above each caption are optional in WebVTT, so converted files can keep them.
WebVTT can mark who is speaking with a <v> voice tag, move a caption with cue settings such as position, align and line, and hold NOTE comments and STYLE blocks with CSS. YouTube says an SRT file carries no style information and no positioning.

YouTube

Either format uploads. YouTube points beginners to SRT (or SBV) because it needs only timing and text, and SRT must be plain UTF-8. Pick VTT when a caption has to sit somewhere other than the default spot, or you want bold, italic or underline. YouTube's page limits WebVTT styling to those three tags and describes its WebVTT support as an initial implementation, so don't count on fancy CSS surviving.

Vimeo

Vimeo takes SRT and WebVTT, both in UTF-8. To add a file, open your Library, open the video, click the Languages button in the toolbar to the left of the player, then click the plus button and upload the file from your computer. Two dropdowns ask for the language and whether the file is a subtitle or a caption track. The three-dot menu next to an uploaded file lets you download, replace, delete or edit it.

A video tag on your own page

Browsers load the track from a .vtt file, so an SRT has to be converted first. A minimal version:

<video controls src="talk.mp4">
  <track default kind="captions" srclang="en" label="English" src="talk.en.vtt">
</video>

MDN's attribute notes cover the rest. kind="captions" includes sound effects and musical cues, while kind="subtitles" covers dialogue or its translation and requires srclang. Only one track per video can carry default. The track URL must have the same origin as the page unless the <video> element has a crossorigin attribute, which matters if your captions sit on a CDN.

A media player or TV app

Open the player's subtitle or caption menu, or its help page, and see which formats it names. If it lists both, either works. If it lists one, convert to that. If the clip has to play anywhere, you can also build the subtitles into the picture.

Converting SRT to VTT and back

A short file takes a few minutes in a plain-text editor. Work on a copy and save as UTF-8, which YouTube, Vimeo and the WebVTT spec all call for. If CapCut's auto captions fail and you need an SRT instead, see the SRT import fallback for CapCut.

SRT to VTT:

Add WEBVTT as the first line, then a blank line.
Change the comma before the milliseconds in every timing line to a period. In an editor with regular-expression search, find (\d\d:\d\d:\d\d),(\d\d\d) and replace it with \1.\2 (some editors want $1.$2). A plain replace-all on commas would also change commas inside the dialogue.
Save the file with a .vtt extension.

VTT to SRT:

Delete the WEBVTT line and any NOTE or STYLE blocks.
Change the period before the milliseconds in each timing line to a comma. If a timestamp has no hours, add them, so 05:12.300 becomes 00:05:12,300.
Remove anything after the timing on that line (align:, position:) and strip <v Name> tags. SRT has no place for them.
Number the captions 1, 2, 3 from the top and save with a .srt extension.

Why Zoom and Teams give you a VTT

Zoom saves the audio transcript of a cloud recording as a separate VTT file. That needs a Pro, Business, Education or Enterprise account with both cloud recording and audio transcription turned on. Teams lets the organizer and co-organizers download a meeting transcript as .docx or .vtt from Chat → Recap → Transcript → Download dropdown.

A meeting transcript needs a time for each passage and a name for each speaker, and WebVTT has both built in through cue timings and the <v> tag. Teams also offers the .docx if you just want to read the text. For an SRT from either app, follow the VTT to SRT steps above. The full steps for getting the file are in our guides to saving a Zoom transcript and downloading a Teams transcript. If you only have plain text with no times, see our guide on adding timing to a plain transcript.

If the captions don't show up

Accented or non-Latin characters look broken. The file isn't UTF-8. Vimeo warns that special characters may display wrongly otherwise. Re-save it as UTF-8.
A <track> shows nothing. Check that the file is WebVTT rather than a renamed SRT, and that its first line is WEBVTT. Then check the origin: a caption file on another domain needs crossorigin on the <video>. If both are fine, look at what your host sends for .vtt files, since the spec names text/vtt as the MIME type.
YouTube drops your formatting. SRT carries none, and WebVTT gets bold, italic and underline only.
A player rejects a converted file. Compare the timing lines against the samples above. A comma left in a VTT or a period left in an SRT is the usual slip.

Sources and checks

Supported subtitle and closed caption files — Checked 2026-10-07

WebVTT: The Web Video Text Tracks Format — Checked 2026-10-07

How to add captions or subtitles to your video — Checked 2026-10-07

<track>: The Embed Text Track element — Checked 2026-10-07

Using audio transcription for cloud recordings — Checked 2026-10-07

Start, stop, and download live transcripts in Microsoft Teams meetings — Checked 2026-10-07

Live Captions Missing on iPhone? Check the Model and Audio Source

Free Live Caption — Mon, 12 Oct 2026 01:30:22 +0000

Fix missing iPhone Live Captions by checking the model, language, audio source and a hidden window, and know when you need translation instead.

URL: https://freelivecaption.com/en/posts/apple-live-captions-iphone-fix
Published: 2026-07-19
Updated: 2026-10-02
Author: Emily Carter (https://freelivecaption.com/en/about)
Topic: Hearing access (https://freelivecaption.com/en/topics/accessibility)

Summary

Live Captions needs iPhone 11 or later, and it's available only in some languages, countries and regions.
If the setting is there but no words appear, check whether you picked Microphone or iPhone Audio.
Then check whether listening is paused or the caption window has hidden itself.

No Live Captions setting at all

Open Settings → Accessibility → Live Captions. If the switch isn't there, check whether Apple lists your iPhone model and spoken language as supported. If you were looking for Google's Live Transcribe, it runs on Android, not iPhone, so see other live caption options for iPhone.

Apple's Live Captions guide for iPhone lists iPhone 11 or later, and says the feature isn't available in all languages, countries or regions. On those phones, use the subtitles that come with the video or a transcript the podcast publisher provides. For a phone call, see ways to get captions on a call. Another caption app has its own device requirements, so read those before you buy.

That iPhone 11 requirement is for Live Captions alone. Live Translation and Apple Intelligence have their own requirements, so check the feature you actually want.

For languages, check the Accessibility: Live Captions row on Apple's iOS 27 feature availability page, not the lists for Siri, Dictation or the Translate app. On October 1, 2026, that row listed:

Language	Listed variants
Cantonese	China mainland; Hong Kong
English	Australia; Canada; India; Singapore; United Kingdom; United States
French	Canada; France
German	Germany
Japanese	Japanese
Korean	Korean
Mandarin Chinese	China mainland; Taiwan
Spanish	Mexico; Spain; United States

The page covers iOS 27. If an older tutorial shows different menus, compare its iOS version with yours.

The window is on but no words appear

Check which source Live Captions is listening to. Apple's Live Captions guide for iPhone lists two: Microphone for people talking near the phone, and iPhone Audio for sound playing in apps on the phone. Test nearby speech with Microphone first, then a short recording with iPhone Audio.

Start with the microphone:

Turn on Live Captions in Settings → Accessibility → Live Captions.
Tap Live Captions, then tap Microphone.
If listening is paused, turn it back on from the same menu.
Say a normal sentence in a listed language, close to the phone, and check whether new text appears.

If nothing appears, move somewhere quieter and try again. If there's still no text, note the result and go on to the iPhone Audio test. To hear the speaker better in the meantime, you can turn your iPhone into a remote mic for connected AirPods.

Then test audio from an app:

Play a short recording with clear speech in the app you want to caption.
Tap Live Captions, then tap iPhone Audio.
Watch for new text while the recording plays.

If the microphone works and iPhone Audio doesn't, try the same recording in another app, if you have a copy you're allowed to play. If captions appear in one app but not another, note both app names and keep the recording and audio output the same when you compare again. Captions that appear only because the microphone hears the phone's own speaker don't count as iPhone Audio working. If you switch to headphones, test again, and note it as a separate change. If you wear hearing aids, our guide to hearing aid settings on your iPhone covers pairing and the Hearing Devices screen.

Don't erase your iPhone, reset all settings or change your Apple Account region to try to bring Live Captions back. If these tests don't help, contact Apple Accessibility Support, as described in the last section.

The window keeps disappearing

Apple's guide to using Live Captions says the window hides by itself when no audio is detected. You can also swipe it left or right to hide it, and tap the collapsed Live Captions button to bring it back. Start some speech before you decide the feature has switched itself off.

You can drag the window, make it full screen, and change the text size and color under Appearance in the Live Captions settings. If the words are too small or low-contrast to read, fix that there.

The words are wrong

Once text appears, check the spoken language against Apple's list, and try a clear recording with one person speaking. For a recording in two languages, test a passage in one listed language first, then the mixed part on its own. Apple's Live Captions guide for iPhone says their accuracy may vary and that they shouldn't be relied on in high-risk or emergency situations. For anything important, ask the speaker to confirm it.

Subtitles in the video player

In supported apps, the Subtitles menu in a video player lists the subtitles and captions available for that video. You turn them on in the player and style them under Settings → Accessibility → Subtitles & Captioning. Apple's page on subtitles and captions on iPhone also describes generated subtitles on iOS 27, which need an iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max or an iPhone 16 model or later, and work in English (U.S. and Canada) in supported apps.

Copying and keeping captions

To copy what Live Captions wrote, Apple's Live Captions guide says to tap the More Options button in the window, then Copy Captions, and paste it into another app such as Notes or Messages.

Phone calls have their own setting, Keep Call Captions:

1 Minute keeps captions for up to one minute during the call and clears them when it ends. You can't copy, screenshot or screen-record the call transcription.
1 Hour keeps captions for up to one hour after the call ends and lets you copy, screenshot and screen-record them. Everyone on the call hears an announcement at the start that the call is being transcribed. If you pause Live Captions or switch to 1 Minute during the call, they hear that it's no longer being transcribed.

Tell the other people on the call what you plan to keep before you save their words. Check a quote against the recording if you have one.

If you need translation

Live Captions writes down speech in the language it's spoken in. For translated Apple conversations, Apple's iOS 27 feature availability page gives different language lists for Messages, Phone and FaceTime, and AirPods. Our guide to iPhone Live Translation languages goes through each one.

Vocena

Vocena runs on iPhone and iPad (iOS or iPadOS 26 or later) and Mac (macOS 15.5 or later). It shows continuous captions, can put a translation under each line, and saves each session so you can read it again.

Live captions are free, with no time limit. Translation is paid. To caption audio from other apps on an iPhone, you need a physical iPhone running iOS 27. A microphone session working doesn't prove that capture works on your phone, so try a short clip you're allowed to use first.

Interface preview (demo data)

The picture uses demo data and shows the microphone source. Live captions mark each line as microphone or system audio; they don't name individual speakers. The suggested reply comes from an AI button that runs only when you press it. With the one-time purchase, AI uses Apple Intelligence on the device, so the device has to support it; cloud AI comes with the subscription.

When nothing works

Write down the iPhone model, iOS version, the spoken language, the app, the source you picked, and whether the window was missing, empty or showing wrong words. Keep the microphone result and the iPhone Audio result separate. Apple's Accessibility Support page lists ways to contact Apple about accessibility features by phone, chat, in person or online, including SignTime, which connects you to a sign language interpreter.

Sources and checks

Get live captions of spoken audio on iPhone — Checked 2026-10-01

Apple iOS 27 feature availability: captions and translation — Checked 2026-10-01

Display subtitles and captions on iPhone — Checked 2026-10-01

Apple Accessibility Support — Checked 2026-10-01

YouTube Auto-Translate Not Working? Check These Steps

Free Live Caption — Mon, 12 Oct 2026 01:29:47 +0000

Find out whether the video's captions, the translation setting or your player is the problem, then try YouTube's own fixes before anything else.

URL: https://freelivecaption.com/en/posts/youtube-auto-translate-fix
Published: 2026-07-06
Updated: 2026-09-09
Author: Priya Nair (https://freelivecaption.com/en/about)
Topic: Videos (https://freelivecaption.com/en/topics/video)
Tags: YouTube, Captions, Translation

Summary

First check that the video has captions at all. Without them, translation settings won't bring text back.
If the captions work, check the translation language and the player you're using.
In the YouTube app on iPhone or iPad, tap More → Captions, and choose Auto-translate if your language isn't listed.

Check for captions first

Auto-translate works from the video's captions, so check first that the video has any. YouTube's caption settings for iPhone and iPad say that if you don't see the Closed captions button, the video doesn't have captions. Play a part of the video where someone is talking, not a music intro, and turn captions on. Words that are part of the picture are not a caption track, and our guide to fixed text versus separate caption tracks covers the difference.

No CC button, or no caption track at all: the translation setting can't help. Go to No captions at all.
The captions work, but your language isn't offered: go to Turning on auto-translate.
A translation is selected, but no text appears: go to Captions work, translation doesn't.
Translated text appears but makes little sense: go to The translation reads wrong.

Write down the video link, the spoken language, the language you want, your device and app or browser, and whether the captions worked. You'll need these to compare, and to ask for help.

Turning on auto-translate

On iPhone and iPad, YouTube's caption settings for iPhone and iPad give these steps:

Open the video in the YouTube app and tap More at the top right of the player.
Tap Captions and pick a language.
If your language isn't listed, tap Auto-translate, then choose your language.
Replay the same sentence and check that the captions are now in your language.

If you don't see the Closed captions button at all, the same page says the video doesn't have captions. Go to No captions at all.

On a computer, YouTube's caption settings for computers put the Closed captions button at the bottom right of the player when a video has captions, and Settings → Subtitles/CC → Options changes how they look. That page doesn't describe picking a caption language or translating. If you can't find a way to translate on a computer, open the same video in the YouTube app on an iPhone or iPad and follow the steps above, or use Chrome's Live Translate, described in Captions from your browser or another app.

Use the video's own YouTube page or the YouTube app, not only a player embedded on another site. If your menus look different from these steps, write down the device and app version before you change any account settings.

No captions at all

YouTube's help page on automatic captions lists why a video may have none:

They aren't ready yet; processing takes longer for complex audio, and they may not exist right after upload.
The spoken language isn't supported.
The video is too long.
The sound is poor or the speech isn't recognized.
There's a long silence at the start.
Several people talk over each other, or several languages are spoken at once.

As a viewer, you can check the description for a transcript or subtitles from the creator, come back later if the upload is new, or ask the creator for captions. If the video is on Instagram instead, our guide to fixing missing Instagram captions covers that.

Live streams follow different rules. YouTube's automatic captions for live streams are English only, so a live broadcast in another language may have no captions to translate.

If the video has captions, the description also offers Show transcript. YouTube's page on viewing video transcripts says it works for any video with captions and lets you click a line to jump there. It shows the existing words; it can't create captions that aren't there.

Captions work, translation doesn't

Change one thing at a time:

Replay the same sentence with the captions in the video's language, then with your translation. If neither shows text, check that captions are switched on and the video is playing before you test translation again.
Try another video that clearly has captions, on the same device and with the same target language. If that one translates, keep both links for a support report.
Try the first video in the YouTube app if you were in a browser, or the other way round.

YouTube's video error troubleshooting page suggests updating your browser or the YouTube app, clearing the cache and cookies, and trying an incognito window with all extensions disabled. Those are general playback fixes; the page doesn't say they fix auto-translate. If translation works in the incognito window, open the same video in a normal window with all extensions disabled and reload it. If it works there too, turn the extensions back on one at a time, reloading and replaying the same passage after each. If it still fails with every extension off, put that in your support report.

Don't install an unfamiliar subtitle extension because a video is urgent. Check who makes it and what access it asks for.

When you report the problem, say whether the captions work, whether the translation is missing, blank or wrong, whether it's one video or several, and which app or browser version you used.

The translation reads wrong

Listen to the passage and compare it with the captions in the video's language first. A word the captions got wrong can end up wrong in the translation too. Check names, technical terms, numbers and any "not".

If it's your own video and it has automatic captions, YouTube's automatic captions page says to sign in to YouTube Studio, select Subtitles, and edit the parts that weren't transcribed properly. If you work with caption files, see which caption file type to use.

For language study, take one short passage: read the captions in the video's language, compare the translation, and replay the audio. If a word is uncertain in those captions, write it down as uncertain instead of memorizing the translated sentence.

If you quote the video, keep the link and the time, and label your quote as a translation.

Captions from your browser or another app

In Chrome on a Mac or Windows computer, Google's Live Caption and Live Translate help page describes turning on Live Caption under More → Settings → Accessibility. It captions audio playing in Chrome, and Google says Live Caption audio and captions are processed on your device. Live Translate, in the same menu, sends the captions to Google to translate them, so think twice before using it on confidential material. Neither changes YouTube's own caption track.

Vocena, our app, is another way to follow a video. It runs on Mac (macOS 15.5 or later) and on iPhone and iPad (iOS or iPadOS 26 or later). On a Mac it captions the system audio for free, with no time limit, and can show a translation under each line, which is paid. It doesn't download YouTube subtitles; it writes its own captions from the sound. Try it first with a video you're allowed to play.

Interface preview (demo data)

The picture shows the iPhone app with demo data. To caption audio from other apps on an iPhone, you need a physical iPhone running iOS 27. The Explain usage button is AI, which runs only when you press it; with the one-time purchase it needs a device that supports Apple Intelligence.

If what you're after is the words from a video podcast, our guide to finding a podcast transcript starts with what the publisher already provides.

Sources and checks

Manage caption settings - Computer — Checked 2026-10-01

Manage caption settings - iPhone — Checked 2026-10-01

Use automatic captioning — Checked 2026-10-01

View video transcripts — Checked 2026-10-01

Troubleshoot YouTube video errors — Checked 2026-10-01

Manage captions and translations in Chrome — Checked 2026-10-01

Netflix dual subtitles: what works on Chrome, Safari, iPhone and TV

Free Live Caption — Sun, 11 Oct 2026 01:05:28 +0000

Netflix's help page covers one audio and one subtitle language. Chrome extensions add a second line on a computer; Safari, phones, tablets and TVs need another way.

URL: https://freelivecaption.com/en/posts/netflix-dual-subtitles
Published: 2026-10-11
Updated: 2026-10-11
Author: Yuki Tanaka (https://freelivecaption.com/en/about)
Topic: Videos (https://freelivecaption.com/en/topics/video)

Summary

Netflix's help page covers one audio language and one subtitle language. Two subtitle lines at once need a Chrome extension on a computer.
The Language Reactor, Dual Subtitles and Multi-Subtitles listings are Chrome Web Store pages, and none mentions Safari, iPhone or iPad.
On iPhone, iPad, Android and TV, set an audio language and a different subtitle language in the player's Audio & Subtitles menu.
On a Mac, Apple Live Captions (Apple silicon only) captions the audio. Vocena adds a translation under each line, and translation is a paid feature.

What Netflix's own menu covers

During playback, tap or click the screen on a phone, tablet or computer. On a TV or streaming box, press the up or down arrow on the remote; on Apple TV, swipe up or press the up arrow. Then choose Audio & Subtitles. That is the menu described in Netflix's help page on audio and subtitles, and the page gives no way to show two subtitle languages at once. It also says languages differ by title and that some shows lack SDH subtitles for every season or episode.

Start the title you plan to watch and look at that menu first. If the language you want as the second line isn't listed there, an extension has nothing to show (see the fix further down).

Two subtitle lines in Chrome on a computer

Browser extensions put a second subtitle language on the player. Three are listed on the Chrome Web Store:

Language Reactor adds dual-language subtitles, a popup dictionary and playback controls on Netflix, and it also works on YouTube. Its Chrome Web Store listing names Google Chrome on desktop and laptop computers running Windows and macOS, and it shows in-app purchases, so some features cost money. Pick this one if you're studying a language. If you'd like to compare it with similar tools first, see Language Reactor alternatives.
Dual Subtitles shows two languages on Netflix, Apple TV+, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video. Its listing says you can change position, size, colour, font and background for each line separately, and it shows no price. Pick this one if you only want two clean lines.
Netflix Multi-Subtitles 2.0 is Netflix-only and free. The listing shows it was last updated on 30 November 2022, so read the recent reviews before you trust it with today's Netflix page.

To set one up:

Open Chrome on Windows or a Mac and add the extension from its listing.
Start a title on Netflix and open Audio & Subtitles. Confirm that both languages you want are there.
Switch the extension on for the page. In Dual Subtitles you choose the two languages from the ones the player already offers. Multi-Subtitles has an activation step, then layout and font-size settings for both lines.
Move or resize the lines until neither covers the picture. You should now see two lines of text at the bottom of the video.

If the second line doesn't appear: The Dual Subtitles listing says it needs subtitles that already exist on the service and doesn't get around DRM, paywalls or sign-in, so a language missing from Netflix's menu won't show up. The same listing says the extension depends on each site's page structure, which can change. Reload the page, check the extension for an update, then try a different extension.

Safari on a Mac

None of the three listings above mentions Safari. They are Chrome Web Store pages, and Language Reactor's names Chrome. If you want two written lines, open Netflix in Chrome. If you'd rather stay in Safari, use the audio-plus-subtitle pairing in the next section, or caption the sound from macOS as described after it.

iPhone, iPad, Android and TV

The listings describe desktop browsers. Language Reactor's says desktop and laptop computers, and none of the three mentions phones, tablets or TV apps. On these devices, two languages means one you hear and one you read. The Audio & Subtitles menu from Netflix's help page lets you set audio and subtitles separately, so you can play a show in Spanish audio with English subtitles, or the reverse. If you're watching to learn a language, see how to pick subtitles for your level.

On a phone or iPad, tap the screen during playback. On a TV, press up or down on the remote. On Apple TV, swipe up. The audio language list is also title-specific, so a show without a Spanish dub won't offer that pairing.

For system-wide captions on each of these devices, see live captions on every device. If you watch YouTube too, see two caption languages on YouTube.

Captions from the audio on a Mac

Both options in this section caption the sound your Mac plays. They don't read Netflix's subtitle track, so they work on Safari too.

Apple Live Captions is the built-in one. Go to Apple menu → System Settings → Accessibility → Live Captions and turn it on. Apple's Live Captions guide for Mac says it can caption audio coming out of the Mac or the microphone, and the microphone icon in the caption window switches between them. Audio is processed on the device. It is available only on Macs with Apple silicon and not in every language, country or region. It gives you one line of text in the spoken language. If it won't start, see Apple Live Captions on Mac not working.

Vocena is the pick when you want a translation under each caption line. The Mac app (macOS 15.5 or later) listens to the system audio, shows captions as the speech plays, and puts a translation under each line. The captions are free with no time limit. Translation is a paid feature (a one-time purchase or a subscription). Recognition and translation run on the Mac by default, and audio or text is uploaded only if you pick a cloud model. Vocena's onboarding recommends recognition in English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Russian, and the real range depends on the model and the system.

Because the text comes from speech recognition, its wording won't match Netflix's own subtitles. It doesn't need a subtitle track in your language, which helps on titles where Netflix lacks the second language. Other Mac caption apps are compared in live caption apps for Mac.

Sources and checks

How to use subtitles, captions, or choose audio language — Checked 2026-10-07

Language Reactor - Chrome Web Store — Checked 2026-10-07

Dual Subtitles - Chrome Web Store — Checked 2026-10-07

Netflix Multi-Subtitles 2.0 - Chrome Web Store — Checked 2026-10-07

Get captions of spoken and computer audio on Mac - Apple Support — Checked 2026-10-07

How to turn on Zoom captions as host or participant

Free Live Caption — Sun, 11 Oct 2026 01:04:22 +0000

Where the host switches on Zoom's automated captions, how participants show or request them, and what to check when the Show captions button is missing.

URL: https://freelivecaption.com/en/posts/zoom-captions
Published: 2026-10-11
Updated: 2026-10-11
Author: Jonas Weber (https://freelivecaption.com/en/about)
Topic: Meetings (https://freelivecaption.com/en/topics/meetings)

Summary

The host or an admin has to switch on automated captions in the Zoom web portal first. After that, anyone in the meeting can click Show captions.
If the host limited who can enable captions, you click Request captions and the host approves or declines.
Zoom says automated captions are on by default for paid accounts, and some accounts don't have the setting at all.
Since late May 2026 Zoom no longer lets you save captions after a meeting. The host or admin has to turn on meeting transcripts instead.

Turning captions on as the host

Zoom's page on enabling automated captions puts the switch in the web portal, under In Meeting (Advanced). Zoom says the setting is enabled by default for paid accounts, and that some accounts don't have it. If you don't see it, the page tells you to contact your Account Executive. Free accounts get no mention on that page. A Zoom blog post from October 2021 announced auto-generated captions for free accounts, so a free host should look for the toggle, but if it isn't there, neither page gives a way to switch it on.

Sign in to the Zoom web portal and open Settings → Meeting. Admins can instead use Account Management → Account Settings → Meeting, or User Management → Groups, pick the group, then open its Meeting tab.
Under In Meeting (Advanced), turn on Automated captions. The pencil icon next to it picks the languages. A lock icon means an admin has locked the setting at a higher level, and only they can change it.
To control who can switch captions on, tick "Allow only the following users to enable captions" and choose Host, or Host and Co-host. Participants can then ask for captions instead of starting them.
In the meeting, click Show captions in the toolbar. Captions start on their own.

A second toggle, Automated captions on device, lets supported devices process captions locally. Zoom lists Zoom Workplace desktop app 6.5.3 or higher for it, so update the app if you can't find it.

Zoom's guide for hosts warns that accuracy depends on background noise, how clearly people speak and their dialects. If you need speech-to-text for compliance or accessibility, it recommends a manual captioner or a service that can guarantee a specific accuracy.

Showing captions as a participant

On a desktop app, click the Show captions icon in the meeting toolbar. If the icon isn't on the toolbar, click More, then Show captions. On the mobile app, tap More, then Show CC. Zoom's guide to viewing captions lists the same steps for the web app, where the icon is in the toolbar.

To change how captions look, open the Accessibility panel during the meeting. It has a Font size slider, and you can also pick colors, a font and whether captions are pinned or floating. To skip the click in future meetings on a desktop app, click your profile picture → Settings → Accessibility, then under Closed captioning turn on "Always show captions in meetings and webinars".

The same guide says the spoken-language setting tells Zoom which language to listen for and caption in. If it doesn't match what people are speaking, the captions come out wrong, so set it before you decide the captions are bad.

Only for you, or for everyone?

Each person turns captions on from their own toolbar, and clicking the captions icon again hides them for you alone. Zoom says changes to font size, color and layout are visible only to you and don't change what other participants see.

The host decides whether captions exist in the meeting at all. To turn them off for everyone, the host clicks the up arrow next to Show captions, then Host controls → Host caption control settings, and switches off "Allow closed captioning for this meeting". The languages on offer follow the host's automated caption settings, so a language missing from your list is something only the host can fix, with the pencil icon in the web portal.

Translated captions have their own rules and plan limits. See Zoom translated captions and plans.

If Show captions is missing

Try these in order.

Open the More menu. On a crowded toolbar, Zoom moves Show captions there.
Look for Request captions. When the host has restricted who can enable captions, you can ask instead of starting them. The host and possibly co-hosts get a window with Enable and Decline, and nothing happens until one of them answers, so ask in chat if you're waiting.
Check the host's setting. If you're the host and Automated captions is off, you can't start captions in the meeting. If a lock icon shows, an admin set it for your account or group. If the toggle is missing, the account may not have automated captions, and Zoom's page says to contact your Account Executive.
Update the Zoom app. Zoom says the desktop or mobile app has to meet the global minimum version, and captions on device need Workplace desktop app 6.5.3 or higher.
Check the language. If the one you need isn't offered, the host has to add it in the web portal.
Check whether you hid the captions. Click the captions icon again, or turn on "Always show captions in meetings and webinars" in the Accessibility tab.

If the host can't or won't turn captions on, Vocena on a Mac can caption what your Mac plays, including a Zoom meeting. Its live captions are free with no time limit, and it listens to your device's audio without joining the call. It needs macOS 15.5 or later. Vocena also runs on iPhone and iPad (iOS / iPadOS 26 or later), but captioning another app's audio there needs an iOS 27 physical device. For other tools, see live captions on every device and live caption apps for Mac.

Captions after the meeting ends

Zoom's FAQ on captions and transcripts says captions are a live feature and can't be saved once the meeting ends. The change rolled out between May 24 and 26, 2026. During a meeting you can scroll back through the last 3 minutes of captions.

Saved text now comes from meeting transcripts. They're off by default, and a host or admin has to turn them on, under Meeting → In Meeting (Advanced) → Meeting transcript. Steps for saving and downloading are in saving a Zoom transcript.

Sources and checks

Enabling or disabling automated captions (Zoom Support) — Checked 2026-10-05

Managing automated captions as the host of a meeting or webinar (Zoom Support) — Checked 2026-10-05

Viewing captions in a meeting or webinar (Zoom Support) — Checked 2026-10-05

Frequently asked questions about meeting captions and transcript updates (May 2026) (Zoom Support) — Checked 2026-10-05

Zoom's Auto-Generated Captions Available to All Free Users (Zoom blog, October 25, 2021) — Checked 2026-10-05

Voice Memos transcription: where to find it and why it's missing

Free Live Caption — Sat, 10 Oct 2026 01:14:54 +0000

Where Voice Memos shows a transcript on a Mac, how to copy and search it, what Apple says your Mac needs, and what to check when the transcription is missing.

URL: https://freelivecaption.com/en/posts/voice-memos-transcription
Published: 2026-10-10
Updated: 2026-10-10
Author: Daniel Alvarez (https://freelivecaption.com/en/about)
Topic: Dictation (https://freelivecaption.com/en/topics/dictation)

Summary

On a Mac, select a recording in Voice Memos and click the Transcription button. You can copy the text and search it.
Apple's Mac guide calls for macOS Sequoia and a Mac with Apple silicon, and says transcription isn't available in every country or region.
Apple's Mac guide lists no languages and no length limit. The iPhone and iPad steps are on separate Apple pages.

Mac: read the transcript live or afterwards

Apple's Voice Memos guide for Mac describes two moments when you can read the text. To read it while you record:

Open Voice Memos and click Record.
Click the Transcription button. The words appear as they're spoken, and the word being said is highlighted.
Click the same button to go back to the waveform.
Pause or resume if you need to, then click Done to save the recording.

For a recording you already have, select it in the list and click the Transcription button. If the button isn't there or the transcript stays empty, go to the checks further down.

Copy the text and search it

Select the words you want in the transcript, Control-click, and choose Copy. Paste them into any other document.

The search field looks through recording titles and through transcripts, so you can find a memo by something that was said in it, even if the title says nothing about it. Select a word in a transcript and the playhead jumps to that point in the audio. That's the quickest way to replay a sentence before you quote it.

iPhone and iPad

Apple documents these on their own pages: View a Voice Memos transcription on iPhone and View a Voice Memos transcription on iPad. Open the one for your device before you troubleshoot. What the Mac needs, listed below, tells you nothing about which iPhones or iPads qualify. If you wanted Google's Recorder app on an iPhone, see what to use on an iPhone instead.

If there's no Transcription button or no text on a Mac

Apple's Mac guide states three conditions. Check them in this order.

Apple silicon. The Sequoia edition of the guide says speech can be transcribed on "a Mac with Apple silicon" running macOS Sequoia. An Intel Mac doesn't meet that.
macOS version. The current guide covers macOS Sequoia (15), macOS 26 and macOS 27. On anything older than Sequoia the guide doesn't describe the feature at all, so install the update if your Mac can run it.
Country or region. Apple says audio transcription isn't available in all countries or regions, and the page doesn't say which ones are left out. If your chip and macOS are fine and the button is still missing, this is the only condition on Apple's list left to explain it.

Language is the next thing to test, and the Mac guide gives you little to go on. It lists no supported languages and describes no language setting. Record a short stretch of clear speech in the language of the problem recording with the Transcription button on. If text appears in one language and stays empty in another, language is the limit, and there's nothing in the guide to switch.

Length works the same way. Apple's page states no maximum recording length, so a long recording that stays blank isn't explained by a published limit. If a short test recording gets a transcript and the long one doesn't, tell Apple Support exactly that.

When the chip, macOS and region all check out and a short test recording still shows no text, contact Apple Support and give them your macOS version and your Mac's chip.

Other ways to get the text

Pick by what you have in front of you.

An audio file on your Mac. Start with the MacWhisper guide, which covers turning a file into text on a Mac.
A meeting you want transcribed by an online service. The Notta guide covers one such service. If you're weighing Otter, read Otter's free plan limits first so you know how far the free plan gets you.
Text while people are talking. Vocena, the app we make, shows captions as people speak, with a translation under each line if you want one. It runs on iPhone and iPad (iOS or iPadOS 26 or later) and on a Mac (macOS 15.5 or later). Live captions are free with no time limit. Translation is paid. Vocena can also turn an imported audio file into text and separate the speakers, which is paid as well (a one-time purchase or the subscription). Captioning sound from other apps works on a Mac, and on an iPhone it needs a physical device running iOS 27.

For other Mac apps that show captions, see live caption apps for Mac. To run a saved recording through Word instead, see turning a recording into text in Word.

Sources and checks

View a transcription of a recording - Voice Memos User Guide (Mac) — Checked 2026-10-07

View a transcription of a recording - Voice Memos User Guide (macOS Sequoia edition) — Checked 2026-10-07

View a Voice Memos transcription on iPhone - Apple Support — Checked 2026-10-07

View a Voice Memos transcription on iPad - Apple Support — Checked 2026-10-07

CapCut auto captions not working: causes and fixes

Free Live Caption — Sat, 10 Oct 2026 01:13:35 +0000

Fix CapCut auto captions that won't generate, stall at a percentage, come out wrong or trigger a Pro prompt, plus an SRT import fallback.

URL: https://freelivecaption.com/en/posts/capcut-auto-captions-not-working
Published: 2026-10-10
Updated: 2026-10-10
Author: Owen Davies (https://freelivecaption.com/en/about)
Topic: Videos (https://freelivecaption.com/en/topics/video)

Summary

CapCut lists these causes for failed auto captions: wrong language, muted or noisy audio, a weak connection and an outdated app.
For a stall at a percentage, don't refresh or leave the app, wait several minutes, and split long videos into shorter clips.
A Pro prompt on the Standard plan means the project holds a Pro-marked item. CapCut names auto captions as one example.
If it still fails, make an SRT in another app and import it on CapCut's desktop or web editor. The mobile app can't import subtitle files.

No captions appear or the button does nothing

CapCut's help page on auto captions that don't work names five causes: unclear audio or background noise, an unsupported or wrong language setting, a weak internet connection, a muted or missing audio track, and an outdated version. The first two take seconds to rule out, so start there.

Play the clip you want captioned. If it's muted or the track is empty, CapCut has nothing to recognize.
Open Auto Captions and set the language to the one spoken in the clip. A wrong choice can return no captions or a garbled transcript. If your language isn't in the list, skip to the last section.
Check your connection. CapCut lists a weak one as a cause and tells desktop users to check it, then restart the app.
Reset the app. In the web editor, refresh the page and use Chrome or Edge. On a phone, update CapCut from the App Store or Google Play.

In the web editor and the desktop app, the path is Captions → Auto Captions, then pick a language and click Generate. On mobile, tap Captions in the bottom menu, then choose a language and template. Other CapCut help pages call the same panel Text → Auto Captions, so look under both tabs if one lacks the button.

Stuck at 45%, 99% or any other number

CapCut has no help page for a stall at 45%. Its page on recognition stuck at 99% is the nearest official one, and every check on it costs nothing to try.

In the web editor, don't refresh or leave the page, because that cancels the job. Use Chrome or Edge at 100% zoom with ad blockers off, and give it 5 to 10 minutes, since CapCut says server queues can slow things down at busy hours. If it's still stuck, try another browser or a private window and shorten the clip. CapCut recommends keeping web uploads to about 15 minutes.

In the desktop app, wait 3 to 10 minutes and open Task Manager (Windows) or Activity Monitor (Mac) to see whether the machine is short on resources. Then quit and reopen CapCut. The page says the app keeps intermediate results. Update to the current version before you try again.

On mobile, wait 2 to 5 minutes without switching apps, on stable Wi-Fi or mobile data. If nothing moves, force-close CapCut, reopen the project and use Split to cut the video into pieces of 10 minutes or less. CapCut says videos over 15 minutes often hit timeouts or memory limits, and it tells you to avoid music-heavy or noisy audio.

Wrong language or too many mistakes

If the captions came out in the wrong language, delete them and run Auto Captions again with the right language selected. CapCut's page on inaccurate auto captions gives the same remedy for poor results in general: delete, then generate again. If the captions that are missing or wrong are on Instagram instead, our guide to fixing missing or wrong Instagram captions covers that.

When the language is right and the words are still off, CapCut blames background noise, accents, fast speech and low audio quality. Remove background music before you generate, and avoid clips where people talk over each other. Then fix the rest by hand:

Web editor: open Edit captions in the right panel and correct the text. Split a badly cut caption with the scissors icon or the B key.
Desktop app: double-click a caption block or right-click it and choose Edit Captions. Split at a pause with Ctrl+B on Windows or Cmd+B on Mac.
Mobile: select the subtitle clips, tap Edit captions at the bottom and tap a line to change it. The scissors icon splits long sentences.

Style the captions before you edit the text. CapCut's page on Apply to all captions failing says captions you pasted or typed by hand drop out of that setting. Its last-resort fix is to delete every caption, run Auto Captions again and apply the styling first.

A Pro prompt when you export

CapCut's page on Pro prompts for Standard users says you're asked to join Pro when something in the project is Pro-only. It gives auto captions as one example of a feature that can include Pro-only functionality. The fix it gives: remove anything marked with a Pro icon, or swap in a free alternative, before you export. CapCut presents the prompt as a way to try Pro features before deciding to upgrade.

Neither that page nor the auto-captions page gives a free caption quota or a list of Pro-only caption styles. The thing to check is the Pro icon on the captions, fonts, effects or other items in your own timeline.

When it still fails: make the SRT in another app

CapCut can import a subtitle file, which lets you skip its recognizer. The page on importing subtitles says it takes SRT and TXT files saved as UTF-8, with one limit per platform:

Web editor: open the Captions tab on the left toolbar and choose Upload caption file. Only SRT works here. Files of 1,000+ lines can process slowly.
Desktop app: choose Captions → Add Captions → Import file and pick the .srt or .txt file. A TXT file has to follow the SRT layout with timecodes.
Mobile: there is no direct import. Import on the desktop app or the web editor first.

To make the file, transcribe the audio in a different app and export SRT. Our guides to MacWhisper and Descript cover transcribing a recording in each, so look for SRT among the export formats. If a site wants VTT instead, you can convert an SRT file to VTT in a couple of steps. An SRT's timecodes belong to the file it was made from. Transcribe the clip as it sits on your timeline, and if you cut it afterwards, expect to retime the captions.

Imported captions are ordinary text clips. In the desktop app you can change fonts, colors, position and animation from the right panel, but Apply to all captions, the button meant for auto-generated subtitles, won't reach them. To decide whether captions should be part of the picture or stay a separate track, read about choosing between open and closed captions.

Sources and checks

Why Aren't Auto Captions Working in CapCut? — Checked 2026-10-07

What If the Recognition of Subtitles Is Stuck at 99%? — Checked 2026-10-07

How Do I Fix Inaccurate Auto-Captions in CapCut? — Checked 2026-10-07

What Should I Do When 'Apply to All Captions' Doesn't Work in Automatic Subtitling? — Checked 2026-10-07

Why Am I Prompted to Join CapCut Pro as a Standard User? — Checked 2026-10-07

How Do I Import Subtitles? — Checked 2026-10-07

Live captions on Windows 11: shortcut, languages and fixes

Free Live Caption — Fri, 09 Oct 2026 02:39:17 +0000

Turn on Windows 11 live captions with Windows logo key + Ctrl + L, add a caption language, restyle the bar, and fix a setup that gets stuck on a language download.

URL: https://freelivecaption.com/en/posts/windows-live-captions
Published: 2026-10-09
Updated: 2026-10-09
Author: Maren Holt (https://freelivecaption.com/en/about)
Topic: Hearing access (https://freelivecaption.com/en/topics/accessibility)

Summary

Press Windows logo key + Ctrl + L to start live captions on Windows 11 version 22H2 or later.
Choose the caption language from the Settings button on the caption bar. Windows downloads a speech pack if the language isn't installed yet.
Translated captions need a Copilot+ PC on Windows 11 24H2 or later, and the output language must be English (United States) or Chinese (Simplified).
If setup stalls on a language download error, Windows can't reach the Microsoft Store. Microsoft publishes a manual install package for that case.

Turn on live captions

Press Windows logo key + Ctrl + L. A caption bar opens and writes out the audio the PC is playing. Microsoft's live captions page lists three other ways in: the Live captions toggle in Quick Settings, Start → All apps → Accessibility → Live captions, and Settings → Accessibility → Captions.

The feature exists in Windows 11 version 22H2 and later. Microsoft lists no other Windows version.

The same page says audio, voice data and captions never leave the device and aren't shared with Microsoft. The captions aren't stored either, so there is nothing to save afterward. For a transcript of a meeting, use the meeting app's own: Teams and Zoom each have one.

Live captions starts with the microphone off, every time. To caption your own voice as well, click the Settings button in the caption bar, open Preferences and turn on Include microphone audio. If the bar shows the video call but never your side of it, this is the switch to check.

Choose the caption language

Click the Settings button in the caption bar.
Choose Change language, pick a language from the dropdown and select Continue.
If that language isn't installed, Windows asks you to download it. Select Download.
When the bar says it's ready to caption in the new language, play something.

Languages already on the PC appear in bold in the dropdown. The downloaded files are listed as speech packs under Settings → Apps → Installed apps (search for "Speech Pack"). Captioning runs on the PC, so once the pack is installed it doesn't need a connection.

Microsoft's language list is by region, so the exact variant matters:

Chinese: Simplified (China), Traditional (Hong Kong SAR), Traditional (Taiwan)
English: Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States
French: Canada, France
Portuguese: Brazil, Portugal
Spanish: Mexico, Spain
Danish, German (Germany), Italian (Italy), Japanese and Korean

A language that isn't on this list, such as Dutch or Russian, has no entry in the dropdown. Spanish from Argentina, for example, would need to be captioned as Spanish (Mexico) or Spanish (Spain).

Move the bar and change how it looks

Settings button → Position lets you dock the bar above the screen, below it, or lay it over the screen. Drag its edges to resize it.

For the look of the text, go to Settings button → Preferences → Caption style, which opens the Captions page in Accessibility settings. Microsoft's caption settings guide shows four presets: White on black, Small caps, Large text and Yellow on blue. A preview appears when you pick one, and Edit lets you change the text, the background and the window. The built-in Default style follows your light or dark mode.

Preferences also has Filter profanity.

Translated captions need a Copilot+ PC

Translation is limited to Copilot+ PCs running Windows 11 version 24H2 or later. On one of those, Microsoft says you see translation automatically when the output language is English (United States) or Chinese (Simplified). It covers over 40 languages into English (Arabic, Hindi, Russian, Thai and Vietnamese among them) and 27 languages into Chinese (Simplified), including German, French, Japanese, Korean and Spanish.

Microsoft describes no translation for other PCs, and there is no switch to look for. If you're unsure whether your machine is a Copilot+ PC, the maker's spec page will say. On a regular Windows 11 PC you get captions in the language being spoken and nothing more.

If captions won't start or setup is stuck

Work through these in order.

Windows version. Check that the PC runs Windows 11 22H2 or later.
The shortcut does nothing. Turn on Live captions in Settings → Accessibility → Captions. If the bar appears from there, only the shortcut is failing, and you can use Quick Settings or the Start menu in the meantime.
The bar is empty during a call. The captions come from the audio the PC plays, and your own voice is included only if Include microphone audio is on.
The language is missing. Compare it with the list above. If it is there, open Change language from the caption bar and download it.
Setup stops with a language download error. The message reads "We can't download the required language files right now. Make sure you're connected to the internet and try again in a few minutes."

For the fifth one, Microsoft's troubleshooting page says the cause is that the PC can't reach the Microsoft Store app catalog during setup. Check the internet connection, then see whether the Microsoft Store itself can download an app. On a work or school PC, an administrator may have turned the Store off, and then only they can change that.

If you can't get the Store to work, install the speech pack by hand:

Open Settings → Time & language → Language & region to see your display language, and Settings → System → About for the system type.
On Microsoft's troubleshooting page, download the CAB file that matches both from its table.
Double-click the CAB file and extract the ZIP file inside to a folder.
Open that folder, double-click the MSIX file, select Install, then Close.

If Windows answers "No such interface supported", open Windows PowerShell in the unzipped folder and run the Add-AppxPackage cmdlet on the MSIX file.

On a Mac or another device

Windows 11 live captions only run on Windows. Mac readers can start with live caption apps for Mac, or with Apple Live Captions troubleshooting if the built-in feature misbehaves. Live captions on every device covers phones and browsers, and the separate caption feature in Chrome has its own guide.

Sources and checks

Use live captions to better understand audio (Microsoft Support) — Checked 2026-10-05

Use live captions to better understand audio (Microsoft Support, accessibility section) — Checked 2026-10-05

Troubleshooting live captions or voice access setup issues (Microsoft Support) — Checked 2026-10-05

Customizing Your Live Caption Settings (Microsoft Windows Learning Center) — Checked 2026-10-05

How to use Live Translation with AirPods

Free Live Caption — Fri, 09 Oct 2026 02:39:00 +0000

Set up Live Translation on AirPods, start it from the stems or Siri, and check what to fix when it won't turn on: models, iOS version, languages, EU.

URL: https://freelivecaption.com/en/posts/airpods-live-translation
Published: 2026-10-09
Updated: 2026-10-09
Author: Priya Nair (https://freelivecaption.com/en/about)
Topic: Travel (https://freelivecaption.com/en/topics/travel)

Summary

You need an iPhone 15 Pro or later on iOS 26 with Apple Intelligence on, and AirPods 4 (ANC), AirPods 5, Pro 2, Pro 3 or Max 2.
Download both languages under Settings, your AirPods, Live Translation. Then press and hold both stems, or say 'Siri, start Live Translation'.
The other person hears your reply only on supported AirPods of their own. Otherwise your iPhone shows a transcript or plays the translation aloud.
In the EU the feature arrived with iOS 26.2, so update at least that far before troubleshooting anything else.

What you need

Apple's Live Translation with AirPods page lists six requirements:

AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation, AirPods 5 (both models), AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Pro 3 or AirPods Max 2
an iPhone 15 Pro or later
iOS 26 or later
Apple Intelligence turned on
Apple's Translate app installed
the latest AirPods firmware

In the EU you also need iOS 26.2 or later. 9to5Mac reports that iOS 26.2 is the update that expanded AirPods Live Translation to EU users for the first time.

Set it up

Put the AirPods in and make sure they're connected to the iPhone.
Open Settings, tap the name of your AirPods, then tap Live Translation.
Choose the languages to download: the one the other person speaks and the one you want to hear. Apple's page says to download both.

Which language pairs Apple offers is in our iPhone Live Translation languages guide. If the Live Translation entry isn't in your AirPods settings at all, go to the checks further down.

Start it and talk

Any one of these starts a session, according to Apple's page:

On the AirPods. With AirPods 4 (ANC), AirPods 5 or AirPods Pro 2 and later, press and hold the stem on both AirPods at the same time. With AirPods Max 2, press and hold the listening mode button.
With Siri. Say "Siri, start Live Translation."
In the Translate app. Open it, tap Live, then tap Start Translation.
With the Action button. Set it to the Translate app first.

Then let the other person talk. Your AirPods translate what they say into your language and play it in your ears. You answer in your own language, and the translation of your reply goes out through the iPhone, as described in the next section. To stop, tap the X button.

In a loud place, hold the iPhone closer to whoever is speaking. Apple says the iPhone's microphones then work alongside the ones in the AirPods.

What the other person hears or sees

If they wear supported AirPods with Live Translation turned on, they hear your translated reply in their own AirPods.

If they don't, your iPhone covers it. The Live tab in the Translate app shows a transcript you can turn toward them, or you can press Play and the iPhone speaker says the translation aloud.

Apple's footnote warns that Live Translation uses generative models and its output can be inaccurate, unexpected or offensive. Double-check anything where a wrong word costs you, such as a price, an address or a medication.

If it won't turn on

Work down this list. The first three items apply to the whole feature, so no later step will help until they pass.

AirPods model. A model that isn't in the list above can't do it. That includes AirPods 4 without Active Noise Cancellation, which is easy to buy by mistake because the two versions look alike.
iPhone. Apple's list says iPhone 15 Pro or later, with Apple Intelligence turned on. Check the setting is on, not only that the phone is new enough.
iOS version. iOS 26 or later everywhere, and 26.2 or later if you're in the EU. Update first if you're behind.
Languages. Both the language you're hearing and the one you want it translated into have to be downloaded. Go back to Settings, your AirPods, Live Translation, and check each one.
Translate app. Apple lists it as a requirement. If you deleted it, reinstall it from the App Store.
AirPods firmware. Apple asks for the latest version.
Region and language. Apple's page says some features may not be available in all regions or languages. If your pair isn't offered, the languages guide shows what is.
The gesture. Start from the Translate app instead: tap Live, then Start Translation. If that works, the languages and Apple Intelligence are fine, and what's left is the stem press (both stems, held together) or the Siri phrase.

If every item checks out and nothing starts, even from the Translate app, contact Apple Support with your AirPods model and iOS version ready.

Lectures, videos and other audio

Apple frames Live Translation as a way to talk with someone in person while you travel or find your way around abroad. It's not built for the other jobs people ask AirPods to do, such as reading a lecture or a foreign-language video as text.

For that, Vocena is a live-caption app we make for iPhone and iPad (iOS / iPadOS 26 or later) and for Mac (macOS 15.5 or later). Captions are free with no time limit. The translation shown under each line is paid. Captioning the sound of another app on an iPhone needs a physical device running iOS 27; on a Mac it works without that. For other ways to get captions on the device you already own, see live captions on every device.

Sources and checks

Use Live Translation with your AirPods - Apple Support — Checked 2026-10-07

iOS 26.2 expands AirPods Pro's powerful new feature, here's how to use it - 9to5Mac — Checked 2026-10-07