# How to Turn On Chrome Live Caption and Translate the Captions > Live Caption is a Chrome setting, not an extension. Turn it on, add the language being spoken, translate with Live Translate, and fix captions that don't show. - URL: https://freelivecaption.com/en/posts/chrome-live-caption - Published: 2026-10-05 - Updated: 2026-10-05 - Author: Emily Carter (https://freelivecaption.com/en/about) - Topic: Videos (https://freelivecaption.com/en/topics/video) - Tags: Chrome, Captions, Translation ## Summary - Live Caption is built into Chrome on Windows and Mac under More → Settings → Accessibility. There's no extension to install. - For speech that isn't English, add the language under Manage languages. Turn on Live Translate to translate the captions; it sends them to Google. - No captions? Check that the sound is playing in Chrome, unmute videos that autoplay, match the caption language to the speech, and expand a collapsed bubble. - Chrome doesn't keep the text. Google says Live Caption captions are never stored, so use the site's own transcript when you need the words later. --- ## The Live Caption switch Live Caption is a setting inside Chrome, so there's nothing to add from the Chrome Web Store. Google's [Live Caption and Live Translate help page](https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/10538231?hl=en), as it read on October 5, 2026, gives these steps for Windows and Mac: 1. Open Chrome and select More at the top right. 2. Select Settings, then Accessibility. 3. Turn on Live Caption. Play a video with speech in a Chrome tab. The captions appear in a bubble you can drag around the browser window; select Back to tab to return to the tab that's playing. To turn Live Caption off, go back to the same switch. On Linux, select Captions under Accessibility first; the switch is on that page. On a Chromebook, the switch is in the system settings, as Google's [Chromebook captions page](https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/10616170?hl=en) shows: select the time at the bottom right, then Settings → Accessibility, and under "Audio and captions" select Captions and turn on Live Caption. If that switch isn't there, Google says your Chromebook doesn't support the feature yet. Google's Live Caption help doesn't give a keyboard shortcut. For a quicker switch, select Media control at the top right of Chrome to turn on captions for all videos. ## Speech in a language other than English Live Caption needs to know which language it's listening to. For a video in Japanese, Spanish or another language, Google's [steps for other caption languages](https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/10538231?hl=en) are: 1. In Chrome, go to More → Settings → Accessibility. 2. Next to "Manage languages", select Add languages and choose the language. Chrome downloads the language pack for it. 3. Next to "Preferred caption language", choose the language the video is spoken in. The Add languages menu shows which languages you can caption. If the captions come out as the wrong words, check Preferred caption language before anything else. ## Live Translate Live Translate shows the captions in another language. Google's [Live Translate instructions](https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/10538231?hl=en) say the captions are sent to Google to be translated, while Live Caption alone processes audio and captions on your device. If what you're watching is confidential, leave Live Translate off. On Windows and Mac: 1. Set up the spoken language as described above. 2. In More → Settings → Accessibility, turn on Live Translate. 3. If you want a language other than English, choose it next to "Translate to". Once Live Caption is on, Live Translate also appears in the caption bubble, and selecting Translating there opens the caption settings. The "Translate to" menu shows which languages you can pick. For Chromebook Plus, Google lists English, French, German, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, and Simplified and Traditional Chinese among the caption languages that translate into more than 100 languages. For a YouTube video, our [YouTube auto-translate guide](/en/posts/youtube-auto-translate-fix) covers YouTube's own translated captions and what to do when they fail. ## Captions not showing Go through these in order. 1. Make sure the sound is playing in Chrome. Google's [Live Caption help](https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/10538231?hl=en) describes it working on videos, podcasts, games, live streams and video calls in the Chrome browser, so for sound from the Zoom app, a podcast app or Safari, use your computer's own live captions; see [Zoom, Podcasts, Safari and other apps](#zoom-podcasts-safari-and-other-apps). 2. If the video started playing by itself, turn its volume on; Live Caption needs the volume on for videos that autoplay. 3. Check that Live Caption is still on, that the spoken language is added under Manage languages, and that Preferred caption language matches it. 4. Look for a collapsed bubble. The arrow in the bubble collapses and expands the captions, and the bubble can sit anywhere in the browser window. 5. If you see a translation where you expected the original words, Live Translate is on. Turn it off in the same Accessibility settings. On a Chromebook Plus, Google notes that Live Translate stays on when you turn Live Caption back on. If none of that helps, contact Google's [Disability Support team](https://support.google.com/accessibility/answer/7641084?hl=en), which answers questions about accessibility features. Email support is offered in English, Spanish and several other languages. ## Chrome on Android and iPhone On an Android phone, Live Caption is part of Android, not Chrome, and it captions speech in audio playing on the phone. Google's [Android Live Caption page](https://support.google.com/accessibility/android/answer/9350862?hl=en) gives the steps: press a volume button, tap More under the volume controls, tap Live Caption, then Done. If Live Caption isn't in that menu, ask the phone's maker. On Pixel 6 and later, and on selected phones with Android U or later, it captions English, Japanese, Spanish, Chinese and other languages. Translating the captions needs Live Translate, which is only on Pixel 6 and later. Live Caption doesn't caption music, may not appear in some media and calling apps, and turns off in battery saver mode. Google's Chrome help has no Live Caption steps for iPhone or iPad. On those, use Apple's Live Captions: go to Settings → Accessibility → Live Captions. Apple's [iPhone Live Captions guide](https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/get-live-captions-of-spoken-audio-iphe0990f7bb/ios) lists it for iPhone 11 or later, and its [iPad Live Captions guide](https://support.apple.com/guide/ipad/get-live-captions-of-spoken-audio-ipad0bbca12e/ipados) for supported iPad models. It captions audio from any app, though Apple says it isn't available in every language, country or region. If the setting is missing on an iPhone, our [guide to missing Live Captions on iPhone](/en/posts/apple-live-captions-iphone-fix) goes through why. Language Reactor runs only in Chrome and Edge, so for Netflix or YouTube on these devices, see [tools for Safari, iPhone and Android](/en/posts/language-reactor-alternatives). ## Saving the caption text Chrome doesn't keep a copy. Google's [Live Caption help](https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/10538231?hl=en) says Live Caption audio and captions are never stored, and its instructions have no copy or export option. Look for the words where the video or call lives instead: - On YouTube, any video with captions has a transcript. YouTube's page on [viewing video transcripts](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/15930243?hl=en) says to click Show transcript in the video description; clicking a line jumps to that part of the video. - If it was a Teams meeting, our guide to [saving Teams captions and transcripts](/en/posts/teams-save-captions) explains when a transcript exists and who can download it. - On an iPhone, Apple's [Live Captions guide](https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/get-live-captions-of-spoken-audio-iphe0990f7bb/ios) includes Copy Captions, which lets you paste the transcription into Notes or Messages. Before you install an extension that says it saves Live Caption text, check who publishes it and what it asks to read. ## Zoom, Podcasts, Safari and other apps Macs with Apple silicon and Windows 11 both have system captions that work on sound from any app. On a Mac, Apple's [Mac Live Captions guide](https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/get-captions-of-spoken-and-computer-audio-mchldd11f4fd/mac) puts Live Captions in Apple menu → System Settings → Accessibility → Live Captions. The audio is processed on the Mac, and Apple says the feature isn't available in every language, country or region. The first time you turn it on, it downloads language data, so you need to be online. If no words appear, our [Mac Live Captions troubleshooting guide](/en/posts/apple-live-captions-mac-fix) goes through the checks, and [captions and transcripts for podcasts on Mac](/en/posts/podcast-live-captions-mac) covers podcast apps. On Windows 11, version 22H2 or later, press the Windows key + Ctrl + L, or go to Settings → Accessibility → Captions, as Microsoft's [live captions guide](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/accessibility/windows/use-live-captions-to-better-understand-audio) describes. Microsoft says the captions are generated on the device and aren't stored. Translating them needs a Copilot+ PC with Windows 11, version 24H2 or later. If setup gets stuck on a language download, our [Windows 11 caption setup and language help](/en/posts/windows-live-captions) goes through the fix. On a Mac, Vocena, the app we make, also captions the system audio (macOS 15.5 or later). The captions are free with no time limit and are saved in its Library; when you clear a session, you choose what to keep. Translation is paid. ## Sources and checks - [Manage captions and translations in Chrome]() — Checked 2026-10-05 - [Use captions on your Chromebook]() — Checked 2026-10-05 - [Live Caption: Caption media & calls on your device]() — Checked 2026-10-05 - [Get live captions of spoken audio on iPhone]() — Checked 2026-10-05 - [Get live captions of spoken audio on iPad]() — Checked 2026-10-05 - [View video transcripts]() — Checked 2026-10-05 - [Contact the Google Disability Support team]() — Checked 2026-10-05 - [Get captions of spoken and computer audio on Mac]() — Checked 2026-10-05 - [Use live captions to better understand audio]() — Checked 2026-10-05