How to Turn On Closed Captions on HBO Max

HBO Max captions come with the stream. The service supplies caption tracks for each title, and the app or browser player shows the one you pick. Nothing is created or processed on your device, so you need a working connection and a title that has a caption track. The steps below cover the web player, mobile apps and TV devices. Icon placement and labels can differ slightly between app versions.

Before you start

• An active HBO Max subscription and a signed-in profile.
• The latest version of the app, or an up-to-date browser. The service was called Max for a time before going back to the HBO Max name, so an older install may still show the Max branding and layout.
• A title that offers captions. Caption availability and languages vary by title and region, and the player's subtitle menu shows what a given title includes.
• On a TV or streaming device, find your device's own caption settings first. System-level captions can change what you see on screen.

Captions and subtitles usually sit in the same player menu, but they are not the same thing. A closed caption track, often marked CC, includes descriptions of sounds and speaker cues as well as dialogue. A plain subtitle track shows only the spoken words. If you need non-speech information, choose the track marked as captions when one is listed.

Step-by-step instructions

In a web browser

• 1. Start playing the movie or episode.
• 2. Move the mouse over the video to show the player controls.
• 3. Select the audio and subtitles icon. It is usually a speech-bubble symbol near the other playback controls.
• 4. In the subtitles list, choose the caption track you want, such as an English option marked CC if one is offered.
• 5. Close the menu and keep watching.

On iPhone, iPad and Android

• 1. Start playback and tap the screen to show the controls.
• 2. Tap the audio and subtitles icon.
• 3. Pick a caption or subtitle track.
• 4. Close the menu or tap outside it to go back to the video.

On smart TVs and streaming devices

• 1. Start playback.
• 2. Press a direction button or the select/OK button on the remote to show the player controls.
• 3. Move to the audio and subtitles icon and open it.
• 4. Select the caption track, then go back to playback.

Many devices have caption controls of their own. On Roku, pressing the star button during playback may open an options menu that includes captions. Apple TV, Fire TV and many smart TVs have caption options in the accessibility section of their system settings. Use the HBO Max player menu first, because that is where the service lists its own tracks for the title.

Adjust caption appearance

Depending on the app version and device, HBO Max may let you change text size, color or background, either from the player's subtitle menu or from the app's settings. On some devices, the system's accessibility caption style controls appearance instead. These changes are easy to undo: choose the default style to go back to standard captions.

To turn captions off, open the same audio and subtitles menu during playback and select Off.

Check the output

• Captions should appear once dialogue starts. If nothing shows, skip back a little and replay a scene with speech.
• With a CC track selected, you should see sound cues such as music or background noises, usually in brackets. If you only see dialogue, you probably selected a subtitle-only track.
• Open another episode or title to see whether your choice carried over. This can differ between devices, so check rather than assume.
• Timing, wording and placement come from the service's caption file and cannot be edited on your side.
• Some foreign-language lines are translated as part of the picture or through forced subtitles, so text can appear even when captions are turned off.

Common problems and next steps

No caption option for a title

The title may not have a caption track in your language or region, and trailers or bonus clips may have none at all. Update the app and check another title. If other titles show captions and this one does not, the track is probably missing for that title rather than a problem with your device.

Captions won't turn off or appear twice

This usually means the device's own captions are switched on as well as the app's. Turn off captions in the device's accessibility or caption settings, or in the TV's own CC feature, then control captions only through the HBO Max player menu.

Captions out of sync, flickering or disappearing

Stop playback and start it again, then close and reopen the app. If that does not help, update the app, restart the device, and on Android clear the app cache or reinstall the app. Watching the same scene on a different device helps you tell a device problem from a problem with the title's caption track.

Captions set on one device don't appear on another

Caption choices may not carry over between devices, so turn them on in the player on each device you use. If a caption problem continues after these steps, contact HBO Max support from the help section of the app. Include the title, your device and your app version.