Hearing assistance

About captions

There are 2 types of captions you can use:

  • Live Captions - captions your phone creates in real time when it detects speech
  • Closed captions - subtitles video creators and streaming services include with their videos

Turn captions off

Turn Live Caption off

  • Drag the caption box off the bottom of the screen.
  • Or, go to Settings > Accessibility > Live Caption and turn it off .

Remove Live Caption icon from Volume control

If you don't use Live Caption, you can remove the icon from Volume control to prevent unintentionally turning subtitles on. You can add it again any time.

  1. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Live Caption.

  2. Turn Live Caption in volume control off .

If you turn Live Caption in volume control on , you can press a Volume button and then tap or to easily show and hide the caption box.

Turn off closed captions

  1. Go to Settings > Accessibility.
  2. Tap Caption preferences and turn Show captions off .

See captions

Turn closed captions on

To see closed captions or subtitles for video content that includes them:

  1. Go to Settings > Accessibility.
  2. Tap Caption preferences and turn Show captions on .
  3. Specify options (language, text size, and style) for captions.

When you play a video, you'll see its closed captions in the video frame.

Turn Live Caption on

Live Caption automatically generates real-time subtitles (captions) on your screen for audio or video content playing. Use it to:

  • Watch videos without disturbing others
  • Understand content in noisy environments
  • Understand content if you have hearing impairments

To turn it on:

  1. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Live Caption and enable it.

  2. Set your preferences for:

    • Caption language
    • Profanity
    • Sound labels (laughter, applause, music)
  3. If you want to toggle captions off and on from the Volume buttons, turn Live Caption in volume control on .

When Live Caption detects speech, it generates captions and shows them in the caption box.

Live Caption increases battery use. When your battery gets low and Battery saver is on, Live Caption automatically turns off.

Live Caption isn’t intended for calls with more than one other person, may not be available for some media and calling apps, and doesn’t work on music.

Quickly toggle Live Caption on/off

To pause captions, press a Volume button and then tap .

To restart them, press a Volume button and tap .

Move or resize caption box

To move the caption box, press & hold the box, then drag it to a new position.

To resize the caption box, double-tap the box to toggle between larger and smaller sizes. To make it even bigger, drag the resize bar.

Change languages or what gets captioned

To adjust caption settings:

  1. Tap the caption box.
  2. To change the language, tap the current language setting. Tap plus icon to add a language.

  3. To adjust other settings, tap more options icon. Then tap settings icon and choose what to hide or show:

    • Profanity
    • Sound labels (laughter, applause, music)

Or, go to Settings > Accessibility > Live Caption.

Use hearing devices

To stream phone audio directly to your hearing device, pair it with your phone. Add a Hearing device shortcut to quickly connect, disconnect, or adjust hearing aid settings, depending on your environment.

  1. Turn the hearing aids or other devices on, then follow the manufacturer’s instructions to set them to pairing mode.
  2. Tap Settings > Accessibility > Hearing devices.

  3. Tap plus icon to put the phone in pairing mode.

  4. Select your hearing aid from the list of available devices.

    • If you don't see your hearing aid in the list, tap See more devices.

    • For two hearing aids, connect the first, then once connected, tap the second hearing aid in the list of available devices. After both are paired, you’ll see “Active, left and right”.

  5. Tap Hearing device shortcut, then select one or more shortcuts:

    • Quick Settings: Swipe down twice from the top of the screen and tap Hearing devices.
    • Accessibility button: Add a button to your home screen and tap it to connect/disconnect your hearing aid.
    • Accessibility gesture: Swipe up with two fingers from the bottom of your home screen to control your hearing aid.
    • Volume keys: Press & hold Volume Up and Down at the same time to control your hearing aid.

Now you'll receive phone audio through your hearing aids.

To disconnect, reconnect, or adjust settings for your hearing aids, use the Hearing device shortcut you set up.

When your hearing device isn't paired

If you don't want to pair your hearing device with your phone and want to listen to audio through the phone's receiver, during a call, hold the phone to your ear, then rotate or move it to get the best position for speaking and listening.

Use mono audio or adjust left/right balance

  1. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Audio adjustment.
  2. To combine channels when playing audio, turn Mono audio on .
  3. To adjust left/right balance, drag the slider.

Set up TTY device

Not all carriers support this feature.

For text-based communication, you can use text messaging and email.

If you prefer to connect to a TTY device:

  1. Tap .
  2. Tap more options icon > Settings > Accessibility > TTY mode.

  3. Select a mode:

    • TTY Full: Type and read text on your TTY device.
    • TTY HCO: Type text on your TTY and listen to voice replies on your phone.
    • TTY VCO: Speak into your phone and read text replies on your TTY.
  4. Connect your phone and TTY with the audio cord that came with your TTY.