Following spoken dialogue in noisy environments, understanding fast-paced podcasts, or participating in FaceTime calls can be difficult for users who are deaf, hard of hearing, or operating in environments where speaker audio cannot be played out loud. Live Captions is a system-wide accessibility feature in iOS that transcribes spoken dialogue in real time across any application—including phone calls, FaceTime conferences, YouTube streams, and in-person room conversations—using private, on-device machine learning with zero cloud processing.
Device Compatibility and Language Requirements
Because real-time speech transcription relies on the Apple Neural Engine to maintain low latency without battery drain, Live Captions requires an iPhone 11 or newer running iOS 16 or later (e.g. iPhone 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16 families). Primary transcription models support English (US and Canada), with additional localized language models expanding across recent iOS updates.
Enabling Live Captions in iOS Settings
To turn on the transcription overlay across your system:
- Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
- Scroll down and select Accessibility.
- Under the Hearing section, tap Live Captions.
- Toggle Live Captions to the On position.
- If this is your first time enabling the feature, iOS will download the on-device language transcription dictionary (typically 100–200 MB over Wi-Fi).
Once active, a compact floating widget appears on your display, ready to transcribe any incoming audio stream.
Customising the Floating Caption Overlay
You can tailor the appearance, dimensions, and opacity of the caption window to ensure it complements your workflow without obstructing app buttons:
- In Settings > Accessibility > Live Captions, tap Appearance.
- Text Size: Adjust the slider to increase or decrease subtitle font size for optimal legibility.
- Text Colour: Select custom font colours (such as high-contrast yellow or white) against dark backgrounds.
- Idle Opacity: Adjust the transparency slider (from 0% to 100%) to control how faint the floating widget becomes when no speech is detected.
On your home screen or within apps, drag the floating pill by its handle to dock it against any screen edge. Tap the pill once to expand it into a full transcription card; tap the pill twice to collapse it into a minimal icon.
Using Live Captions in FaceTime and Phone Calls
Live Captions integrates deeply with Apple’s communication suite:
- FaceTime Calls: Toggle Live Captions in FaceTime on within the accessibility settings. During group or 1-on-1 video calls, spoken audio is transcribed line-by-line with speaker attribution, making it easy to track multi-participant meetings.
- Phone Calls & Third-Party VoIP: When answering standard voice calls or third-party apps like WhatsApp or Zoom, the overlay listens to receiver audio and transcribes the caller’s speech in real time.
Transcribing In-Person Conversations Using the iPhone Microphone
Live Captions is not restricted to internal device audio; it can function as a pocket conversation assistant during face-to-face meetings:
- Tap the floating Live Captions widget to expand the dialogue window.
- Tap the Microphone icon on the widget bar.
- Aim the bottom microphone of your iPhone toward the speaker.
Live Captions immediately begins transcribing room audio onto the display, allowing you to follow lectures, doctor consultations, or retail transactions comfortably.
Adding Live Captions to the Accessibility Shortcut and Control Centre
Rather than leaving the caption overlay on your screen permanently, bind it to your hardware buttons for instantaneous toggling:
- Navigate to Settings > Accessibility > Accessibility Shortcut (at the very bottom).
- Tick Live Captions.
Now, triple-clicking the side power button instantly toggles Live Captions on or off from any screen. You can also add the Hearing or Accessibility Shortcuts tile to your Control Centre for quick one-swipe access.