How To Turn Off Captions in TikTok

Video captions are an essential accessibility tool for deaf or hard-of-hearing people. In addition, they can be highly beneficial in cases when users can’t hear or use the video’s audio. However, not everyone needs this feature. What’s more, many people find the captions annoying as they can block portions of the video they’re watching. Luckily, the app made it easy to turn off the captions if they aren’t useful to you.

Keep reading to learn how to turn off TikTok captions.

How to Turn Off TikTok Captions on an Android Device

Auto-generated captions can sometimes be inaccurate, making them more distracting than helpful. If this is the case, you can turn off the captions on the video you’re watching in two simple steps.

1. Tap on the captions.
   
2. Click “Hide captions.”
   
   

After that, the video will keep playing with no captions in sight. However, you’ll see a small rectangle in the corner of your screen. If you change your mind and want to turn the captions back on, simply tap the rectangle.

Some users have reported they haven’t been able to turn off the captions on the video directly. If that’s the case, the only way to get rid of the captions is to turn them off in the app’s settings. However, note that this will turn off captions across the app, not just on the particular video you’re watching.

Follow these steps to turn off auto-generated captions on all TikTok videos:

1. Tap the “Profile” icon in the bottom-right corner of your screen.
   
2. Press the Menu icon at the top right.
   
3. Select “Settings and privacy” from the pop-up menu.
   
4. Scroll down to “Accessibility” under “Content & Activity.”
   
5. Toggle the “Always show captions” option off.

Now you won’t have to turn off captions on each video you’re watching. But, you’ll still be able to see the rectangle indicating that the video has captions.

How to Turn Off TikTok Captions on an iPhone

Auto captions can come in handy when you have to scroll through your TikTok “For You” page with the volume off. However, when your volume is up and running, captions might get in the way of an important part of the video. To turn the captions off, simply do as follows:

1. Tap the grey text box containing the captions.
   
2. Select “Hide captions.”
   

The captions will disappear from the screen, leaving a smaller grey box behind. To turn the captions back on, just tap on that box.

Hiding captions on a specific video may keep them off when you continue to scroll through content. But, once you leave the app and come back, you’ll see the captions back on. If you’d like to turn off captions altogether, do the following:

1. Click on the “Profile” icon in the bottom-right corner of your screen.
   
2. Press the Menu button at the top right.
   
3. From the pop-up menu, choose “Settings and privacy.”
   
4. Navigate to the “Content & Activity” tab.
   
5. Tap “Accessibility.”
   
6. Disable the “Always show auto-generated captions” option.

How to Turn Off TikTok Captions on a PC

TikTok’s web client is a great alternative way to enjoy the endlessly fun short videos on the platform. However, the website version of TikTok doesn’t have all the features the mobile app has.

Among others, you can’t turn off auto-generated captions for all videos on a PC. However, you can turn them off for the video you’re currently watching. Here’s what to do:

1. Click on the captions.
2. Select “Hide Captions.”

Now you can continue browsing through your For You page without any distraction.

How to Turn Off TikTok Captions on an iPad

While many people find TikTok captions necessary or useful, not everyone is a fan. If the captions do more harm than good for you, you can simply disable them.

When watching a captioned TikTok video, do the following:

1. Tap on one of the captions as it appears on the screen.
   
2. Click on the “Hide captions” bubble above the captions.
   

The captions will now go away, transforming into a small rectangle on the side of the video. You can re-enable the captions any time by tapping on that rectangle.

You might have trouble turning off the captions this way. Alternatively, you might want to turn off the captions for every video, not just the one you’ve just watched. Fortunately, there is a simple way to do this.

1. Tap the “Profile” icon at the bottom right.
   
2. Press the Menu button top right.
   
3. Click on the “Settings and privacy” on the pop-up menu.
   
4. Scroll to the “Content & Activity” tab.
   
5. Select “Accessibility.”
   
6. Turn off the “Always show auto-generated captions” option.

Bye-Bye Captions

Every step toward inclusivity and accessibility is a step in the right direction. Therefore, the captioning feature is undoubtedly a welcome addition to TikTok. The users who don’t need this feature can quickly turn it off, either on the captioned video itself or through the app’s settings.

Have you tried turning the TikTok captions off? What method did you use? Let us know in the comments section below.