How to Turn Off Closed Captions on Apple TV

Captions on Apple TV can be controlled in two places: the playback controls of the video you are watching, and the system-wide accessibility setting that tells apps to prefer closed captions and SDH (subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing). If you only change one of them, captions may reappear on the next video. This guide covers both, plus the cases where a third-party app or the video itself is the source.

Before you start

Have your Apple TV remote ready and know which app is playing the video. Caption settings are applied on the Apple TV device itself; no account change or online service is involved. Menu names and layouts differ between tvOS versions and between apps, so treat the labels below as what to look for rather than an exact path, and check your tvOS version under Settings if something does not match.

These steps apply to an Apple TV set-top box. If you are using the Apple TV app on a smart TV, game console or streaming stick, captions are usually controlled by that device's own menus and accessibility settings instead.

Step-by-step instructions

Turn off captions for the video you are watching

• Start playing the video.
• Open the playback controls: on most recent tvOS versions, press the clickpad or swipe down on the remote's touch surface.
• Find the subtitles option, usually shown as a speech-bubble icon or a Subtitles tab, depending on your tvOS version.
• Select Off. Avoid Auto if you never want captions, because Auto can show subtitles when the audio language differs from your device language.
• Resume playback.

On Apple TV models with Siri, you can also ask Siri to turn off closed captions while a video is playing. This only affects the current playback session, so continue with the system setting below if captions keep returning.

Turn off the system-wide caption preference

• Open Settings on the Apple TV home screen.
• Go to Accessibility.
• Open Subtitles and Captioning.
• Switch Closed Captions and SDH to off.

This setting is reversible: switch it back on at any time to restore captions. The caption style options on the same screen only change how captions look, not whether they appear, so you do not need to change them.

Check settings inside third-party apps

Streaming apps often use their own subtitle menu and may remember your last choice per profile or per title. If captions persist in a specific app, open its playback or audio and subtitles menu during a video and set subtitles to Off there as well.

Check the output

Play a title you previously watched with captions and confirm none appear. Then try a different title in the same app and one in another app, since the per-video choice and the system preference behave differently. If captions are gone in some apps but not others, the remaining app has its own setting.

Some text cannot be turned off from any menu. Captions or translations that are part of the video picture itself, such as on-screen text for foreign-language dialogue, are burned into the image and will still appear. If the subtitle menu shows Off but text remains, this is the most likely reason.

Common problems and next steps

Captions come back on every new video: turn off Closed Captions and SDH in Accessibility, and choose Off rather than Auto in the playback menu.

Subtitles appear only for foreign-language content: the Auto option or your language settings may be selecting them. Set subtitles to Off during playback and check the language options in the app you are using.

Captions still show with Apple TV settings off: check your television's own caption or subtitle setting, and check the app's profile settings. Some apps store subtitle preferences per profile.

You cannot find the menus described here: update tvOS if an update is available, or compare the labels on your screen with the ones above, since wording varies by version. If you need captions again later, reverse the same steps.