One of the features Google advertised in Android 10 was Live Captions. If you’re deaf, have some hearing loss, or maybe just want to watch video without the sound, then live captioning could be a feature that you’re excited about. Live Caption can automatically caption any video, podcast, or audio message that you’re playing on your phone. It can even work with videos or audio files that you’ve recorded yourself. You don’t need to have an internet connection for this to work and it doesn’t send any data to Google — everything is handled locally on the phone.
The good news is that it’s available now, but you do need to have the right phone for it to work.
Devices that support Live Caption now
So far, the list of supported devices is very short:
- Google Pixel 4
- Google Pixel 4 XL
Devices that will support Live Caption soon
We know that Google has committed to bringing Live Caption to more Pixels before the end of the year. Here’s the list:
- Google Pixel 3
- Google Pixel 3 XL
- Google Pixel 3a
- Google Pixel 3a XL
Google also said, “we’re working closely with other Android phone manufacturers to make it more widely available in the coming year,” so hopefully that list will grow soon.
How to turn on Live Captions in Android 10
If you have a supported phone, here’s how to turn on Live Caption. We used a Pixel 4 for this guide.
- Find the video, podcast, or other content that you want to caption and start playing it.
- Press the volume up or down button.
- You’ll see a caption icon below the volume controls, simply tap it and a Live Caption box will appear on the screen. If you don’t see the icon, go to Settings > Sound > Live Caption and make sure Live Caption in volume control is toggled on.
- You can tap and drag the caption box anywhere you like on screen.
- To turn it off, tap volume up or down again and tap that caption icon.
For anyone that prefers to have Live Caption on all the time, go to Settings > Sound > Live Caption and toggle Live Caption at the top on. That way you’ll get live captions every time speech is detected.
If it’s the first time you’ve used Live Caption, then you’ll see a message that states, “Live Caption detects speech in media and automatically generates captions. When media is playing, this feature uses additional battery. All audio and captions are processed on the device and never stored or sent to Google. Currently available in English only.”
Live Caption works really well on the Pixel 4, and hopefully we’ll see it roll out to a lot more phones in the near future. In the meantime, there are plenty of other Android 10 features worth digging into to.
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