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    Health & Wellness Tech
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    3 min read 5 stepsJuly 26, 2026Verified July 2026

    How to Turn On Live Captions for Phone Calls (iPhone and Android)

    Live Captions show a real-time text transcript of what the other person is saying during a phone call, right on your screen.

    At a Glance

    Category
    Health & Wellness Tech
    Difficulty
    Beginner
    Read Time
    3 min read
    Steps
    5
    Topics covered
    live captions
    accessibility
    hearing
    phone calls
    iphone
    android

    In this guide (5 steps):

    1. 1.iPhone: Turn on Live Captions
    2. 2.iPhone: Use captions during a call
    3. 3.Android: Turn on Live Caption
    4. 4.Android: Use captions during a call
    5. 5.Adjust caption size and appearance
    1

    iPhone: Turn on Live Captions

    ~15s
    Open Settings, tap Accessibility, then scroll to and tap "Live Captions (Beta)." Turn on the toggle at the top. A confirmation screen explains how it works — tap "Turn On Live Captions" to confirm. Note: this feature requires an iPhone 11 or later.
    2

    iPhone: Use captions during a call

    ~27s
    Once turned on, a caption window automatically appears near the bottom of the screen during any phone or FaceTime call, showing text of what the other person says. You can drag the caption window to reposition it, or tap and hold to resize it for easier reading.

    Quick Tip

    Quick Tip: You can also turn Live Captions on and off quickly from Control Center once you add it — go to SettingsControl Center and add "Live Captions" as a shortcut.

    3

    Android: Turn on Live Caption

    ~16s
    Open Settings, tap "Sound & vibration" (or "Accessibility" on some phones), then tap "Live Caption." Turn on the toggle. On many Android phones, you can also press a volume button while any audio is playing and tap the Live Caption icon that appears above the volume slider.
    4

    Android: Use captions during a call

    ~16s
    During a phone call, tap the Live Caption icon if it does not appear automatically (this varies by phone brand — Samsung, Pixel, and others each place it slightly differently). A caption box appears on screen showing the other person's words as text in real time.
    5

    Adjust caption size and appearance

    ~17s
    On both iPhone and Android, you can usually tap a small "Aa" or settings icon on the caption window itself to make the text larger, change the background color for better contrast, or switch to a bold font — helpful for anyone with low vision as well as hearing difficulty.

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    Live Captions is a free, built-in accessibility feature on both iPhone and Android that shows a scrolling text transcript of a phone call directly on your screen as the other person talks. It works entirely on your phone — no internet connection or account needed for the captions themselves — and it also works for video calls, streamed videos, and voicemail on many phones.

    This is genuinely useful even for people without hearing loss: it helps in loud rooms, when a caller has a strong accent or fast speech, or when you want a quick way to review what was just said without asking someone to repeat themselves.

    The caption text stays completely private and is not sent anywhere or saved by default. It disappears when you end the call.

    (Sources: Apple Support — support.apple.com/en-us/111876; Google Accessibility — support.google.com/accessibility)

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    live captions
    accessibility
    hearing
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    Official Resources

    Medicare.govMedlinePlus — Health InfoAARP Health & Technology

    Sources used to create and verify this guide. View all sources →

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