Turning TikTok Captions On: A Complete Guide

American TV and streaming shows all have closed captions thanks to a 1996 US law, and that means most viewers around the world have the option to turn on the captions as they watch.

Captions aren’t required in TikTok videos, but they are automatically generated — and both content creators and those watching the videos can turn them on when necessary.

Captions are an enormous help to those with poor or no hearing, and can also be beneficial for those watching in noisy environments (like gyms) or ones where others are working or sleeping. They’re also a welcome feature in videos shot with loud background noise and those with people speaking in other languages; there are many times when closed captions are desirable.

Here’s a deeper dive into TikTok captions.

How TikTok Captions Work

Automatically-generated captions were introduced to the social media platform in 2021. Since then, TikTok creators have been able to set them “on” or “off in the videos they produce. In 2021, the function was made more valuable by allowing viewers to activate closed captions after content has been posted.

As of this writing, captions are available in more than a dozen languages, including English, German, Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Turkish, Korean, and Mandarin Chinese. More will be added in future updates.

As a viewer, it’s simple to turn on captions for all TikTok content, or for individual videos that don’t already display them.

If you want closed captions to appear on everything you watch on the app:

1. Open your TikTok profile by tapping on the “Profile” icon at the bottom right of the home screen.
2. Tap the three horizontal bars at the top right of your profile page to open the profile menu.
3. Choose “Settings and privacy,” scroll down to and click on “Accessibility,” and turn the “Captions” toggle switch on.

To only see captions for the video you’re currently watching, press and hold on the video, scroll the menu at the top of the popup window until you see the “Captions” icon, and tap it. The Captions menu you see next will let you activate auto-generated captions with a toggle switch, and choose the language your captions should appear in.

A little more work is involved if you want captions to automatically appear on the TikTok posts you upload.

How to Turn Captions On When Creating a TikTok Video

Captioning your video is easy, but making sure the captions are what you want TikTok viewers to see requires more time and effort.

1. Record your video in the app as you normally would, and tap the check mark to move to the “Editing” screen.
2. Tap the “Captions” icon in the right-hand menu.
3. The app will autogenerate your captions; when it’s done, the text it’s created will appear on the screen.
4. Here’s where the extra work comes in. The subtitles are generated with AI, so they may not be completely accurate or reflect the proper context. You can tap on each line of your captions and edit it to read just the way you’d like.
5. You can also click “Language” at the bottom of the screen to choose the language you want your captions to appear in (if it’s different than your app’s native language), and/or “Style” to choose what your captions should look like on the screen.
6. Finish editing and uploading your post as normal.

Third-party editors are available if you want even more control over your closed captions, but the in-app TikTok captioning function is robust enough to satisfy most non-professional content creators.

Give it a try. Your viewers will thank you.