- I prefer watching TV shows and movies with the captions turned on. So do 63% of Americans under 30.
- But each streaming app has a slightly different way of turning on captions, which is confusing.
- There is literally nothing else going on in the world more terrible than this, I’m pretty sure.
I can’t remember exactly when I started watching TV and movies with captions turned on, but it probably started with a show that had British accents that I — as a boorish American — struggled to understand.
Now, even though I don’t need closed captioning, I almost always use it. And I’m not alone — a recent YouGov poll found that 63% of Americans under age 30 prefer watching TV with subtitles turned on.
It’s great to be able to understand every nuance and whispered word, but something grinds my gears like no other: Each streaming service seems to have its own way of turning on captions — and it’s hard to keep them all straight.
Inevitably, I’ll start pushing buttons or sliding my thumb around the Apple TV remote — trying to find the right menu and the magic combination of gestures. Sometimes, this means accidentally pausing my show. Sometimes, it means accidentally turning it off. Sometimes, I manage to actually exit out of the app entirely.
Perhaps I should show you how hard it is to turn on subtitles
I should start with a disclaimer: I’m using an Apple TV set-top box that’s connected to my TV. Things may work differently with a Roku or a Google Chromecast. (Using captions on mobile and desktop versions of streaming apps is easier because you don’t have to fumble around with a remote control.)
Perhaps it’s best if I show you. Allow me to take you on a tour through the annoyingly subtle ways each streamer does captions differently.
Netflix
To add captions on Netflix, there’s a speech bubble on the lower right-hand side of the screen that shows up when you start a new show. Or you can swipe up on your remote to pull it onto the screen.
Personally, I find this the easiest and most intuitive way to do captions, but that may be partly because I’ve used Netflix the longest.
Amazon Prime
For Amazon Prime, you swipe up to open the menu, but BE CAREFUL!
You could easily tap the “Play from the Beginning” button, which will restart your episode. (Nooooooo!) The menu is on the lower left, under “Subtitles.”
Click into that, and then tap “On” or “Off,” which is confusing because does that mean you want to TURN on captions? Or does it mean that subtitles are already on? And how do you know which way it’s toggled? Don’t swipe right into “Languages,” where you’ll see “English [CC]” because that isn’t actually the option to turn subtitles on or off — it’s the menu to choose subtitles in a different language.
Basically, good luck!!
Disney Plus
On Disney Plus, you swipe down on your remote to access the menu. with Info/Audio/Subtitles.
Then, you choose from a list of languages that have been formatted in paragraph mode rather than a drop-down list. From there, you find “Engish [CC].” (Presuming you’re looking for English like I am.)
Max
For Max, you swipe up and tap into the little speech bubble icon at the bottom right.
This will open a menu on the bottom right of the screen.
From there, it’s pretty self-explanatory.
Peacock
On Peacock, you swipe up and open up a menu on the bottom left.
Make sure you skip over the “Restart” and “Next Episode” prompts before you scootch right into the “Subtitles and Audio” menu.
Apple TV+
On AppleTV+, or on movies or shows from the iTunes Store, the menu is on the bottom, and in list order.
This is almost identical to Netflix — but with one extra button to minimize the screen on the bottom right.
YouTube TV
Now, let’s get to YouTube TV. Look, I’m not a religious person, but I know that hell is real because only Satan himself could have designed the user interface on the YouTube TV app.
First, you swipe down on the remote — but not too quickly, because then it will automatically drop you into a menu with thumbnails for other shows to watch. From that thumbnail menu, you have to swipe lightly back up, but not too far up or you’ll get back into the show.
This will put you in the most far left “More to watch” option. From there, you have to scroll to the left several times to finally reach the CC button, which will open a new menu below. If this sounds confusing, IT IS.
Why are captions so hard?
Another disclaimer! I’ll be honest: I am only 95% sure these are the right pathways for each app’s caption settings. Because although I tested each app while writing this story, I kept messing up and fumbling around — sometimes going back a step or two and getting angrier and angrier as I went.
It is entirely possible that you have to actually swipe left when I said right, or up when I said down. But if I had to try these one more time, it might have actually driven me to madness. And that’s sort of my point: This shouldn’t be so hard!
You’ll have to take my word that I’m capable when it comes to using a remote. I’ve put in the 10,000 hours of clicking around my TV. I know how to turn off motion smoothing; I’ve programmed a VCR to record. And yet, I still find captioning incredibly frustrating — and accidentally restart or stop my shows all the time.
Closed captions are a serious matter for some
I should say here something that’s obvious, but important: Captioning is an accessibility issue. I am a hearing person who just prefers to use captions, but for someone who needs captions, confusion about how to turn them on could be a real problem.
Meredith Patterson, who’s the president of the National Captioning Institute, told me she supports what’s become the more ubiquitous use of captions. “We want closed captioning to be ‘the norm’ regardless of context and are committed to making that a reality,” she said.
In the last few years, AI technology has made captioning easier and better than ever — more things can be captioned with fewer errors and latency, and ultimately, Patterson said, that’s what matters to the people who need it.
How to improve captioning for everyone
I can imagine why streaming services want to have slightly different functionality. They want to have their own distinct identities. And they’re all obviously committed to captioning, which is a good thing. Once you figure out how to work captions on each streaming app, they do work. (None responded to my request for comment on this story.)
But captions are so hard to access! At least for me. And there are some basic functions you want to be consistent when it comes to technology: You expect the privacy policy of a website to be in small print at the bottom; you expect to find customer service at the very top or very bottom of a shopping site; you know where to find notifications in a social app.
For a streaming service, turning on captions should be standard and easy.
Do you have a story to share about using captions on streaming services? Contact this reporter at knotopoulos@businessinsider.com.
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