Apple launches a new suite of accessibility features in the soon unveiled iOS 16and (finally) the addition of a Live Captions feature for all audio content on all devices.
The new option allows users to easily enable automatic captioning in their Settings menu, which will apply to all audio played on the device, from phone calls to FaceTime sessions to videos. Subtitles appear at the top of the screen during real-time audio playback, and users can also customize the subtitle font size to better suit their needs.
How to Use Live Text on Video in iOS 16
It’s a great addition to the slew of accessibility features on Apple devices, which include customizable tweaks across vision, mobilityand even cognitive Needs. But the company lags behind other brands and devices that already offer in-device accessible captioning, including the real-time captioning and text-to-speech capabilities of Google Pixel phones announced earlier this year.
In his iOS 16 Accessibility OverviewApple described the new Live Captions audience is a tool for the deaf and hard of hearing community to better navigate their devices, calls, video conferencing and social media applications with on-device only live text generation, designed to protect the privacy and security of speaker conversations .
The best part – for deaf users and active iPhone users trying to stay connected to a multitude of social connections – is that the subtitles account for multiple speakers and sounds. The devices will automatically detect and assign a different speech to each person on the call, using your friends’ already saved contact information.
Live captions are not just limited to iPhone users, but can be enabled in the Settings menus of iPad and Mac devices. For Mac users, the update also includes a live text-to-speech feature for calls, similar to the Google Pixel update, where users can type in a response and have it spoken out loud to others during of the call.
How dynamic subtitles work
During an audio or video call, or while watching a video on your device, live captions will automatically appear at the top of your screen in a separate pop-up window, similar to a push notification. For calls, Facetime sessions, or conference meetings, speaker names are determined by the contact information you’ve already saved, including contact pictures and first names.
For videos, dynamic captions don’t include the same audio descriptions as general closed captions, transcribing only the voices from the live speakers rather than all the sounds playing on the screen.
If you’re an iPhone user interested in the new dynamic captions, here’s how to make sure the feature is turned on and customized to your liking:
Go to “Settings” and select the “Accessibility” menu
First go to your phone’s settings and then select “accessibility” from the third party menu options.
Credit: Apple/Mashable
Find all Apple accessibility settings in your iPhone’s Settings menu.
Scroll down to the section titled “Audition” and select “Live Captions”
Once in your accessibility settings, scroll down to find the Live Captions option.
Credit: Apple/Mashable
You will also likely see a selection for captioning settings (different from live captions) which controls how already generated captioning services appear on your devices.
Enable system-wide or in-app captions
The current live captions beta shows options to enable captions for your entire device or to call out specific apps.
Credit: Apple/Mashable
To enable live captions across your entire device, toggle the top button to the “On” position. To call apps, such as FaceTime, you can manually select the app that allows live captions. Note that enabling them will alert people you’re talking to that their audio is being transcribed to text.
Adjust as you like using “Appearance”
You can adjust the font size and text color of dynamic captions and pop-up.
Credit: Apple/Mashable
You can also adjust how live captions appear on your device using Appearance settings. In this menu you will find customization tools for the font size, font color and background color of the caption text windows.
Adjust the captions to the desired font size.
Credit: Apple/Mashable
Credit: Apple/Mashable
The new feature is only available in English, for now, and is accessible on iPhone models 11 and above, iPad with A12 Bionic and later, and Mac with Apple Silicon.