iPhone Live Captions Not Working? Fixes That Work

First, check your iPhone and language are supported

Live Captions only works on iPhone 11 or later, and Apple says it is not available in all languages, countries, or regions. If you cannot find Live Captions in Settings at all, or it never produces words, an unsupported device or language is the most likely reason.

To see your iPhone's language and region, go to Settings > General > Language & Region. Compare it with the list below, which comes from Apple's Feature Availability page for the current version of iOS. If you are on an older version of iOS, your list may be different, which is one more reason to update.

Requirement	What Apple lists
iPhone	iPhone 11 or later
English	Australia, Canada, India, Singapore, United Kingdom, United States
Spanish	Mexico, Spain, United States
French	Canada, France
German	Germany
Chinese	Mandarin (China mainland), Mandarin (Taiwan), Cantonese (China mainland), Cantonese (Hong Kong)
Japanese and Korean	Japanese, Korean

Sources: Apple, "Get live captions of spoken audio on iPhone" and the iOS and iPadOS 27 Feature Availability page (Accessibility: Live Captions). Verified October 2026. Apple updates this list with new iOS releases.

How Apple Live Captions compares with Hearing Buddy →

Fixes for Live Captions, most likely to work first

Make sure Live Captions is turned on

Go to Settings > Accessibility > Live Captions, then turn on Live Captions. It is easy to assume it is on because you used it once, but a reset, an update, or a shortcut can switch it off. While you are there, Appearance lets you change the text size and color if the captions are hard to read.

Pick the right source: Microphone or iPhone Audio

This is the fix most people miss. Live Captions can listen to the room or to audio playing on your iPhone, and it only captions the one you choose. To caption someone talking to you in person, tap the Live Captions window, then tap Microphone. To caption a video, podcast, or other app, tap Live Captions, then tap iPhone Audio. If the window is open but no words appear, it is often set to the other source.

Check that captions are not paused

Live Captions has a Pause Listening option in the same menu (tap Live Captions). If it was paused, nothing new will appear. Tap Live Captions again and choose Microphone or iPhone Audio to start it listening.

Bring the window back

Apple hides the Live Captions window automatically when no audio is detected, and you can also hide it by swiping it left or right. To restore it, tap the small collapsed Live Captions button at the edge of the screen. You can drag the window anywhere, and tap the Maximize button to make the captions full screen.

Turn it off and on again with a shortcut

Toggling Live Captions is quicker with the Accessibility Shortcut. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Accessibility Shortcut and look for Live Captions in the list. Then triple-click the side button (or the Home button on older iPhones) to turn it off and back on. You can also add hearing controls to Control Center: go to Settings > Accessibility > Hearing Control Center to choose what appears there.

For FaceTime: turn captions on inside the call

FaceTime has its own captions switch. During a video call, tap the screen to show the controls, tap the More button, then tap Live Captions. A window appears near the top of the screen showing the conversation and who is speaking. To turn it off, tap More, then Stop next to Live Captions. Apple notes this uses extra battery.

For phone calls: check Keep Call Captions

In Settings > Accessibility > Live Captions, Keep Call Captions decides what happens to captions from calls. With 1 Minute, call captions are cleared after the call ends and you cannot copy, screenshot, or screen record them. With 1 Hour, you can, but everyone on the call hears a short announcement that the call is being transcribed. If your call captions vanished or would not copy, this setting is usually why.

Restart your iPhone

General troubleshooting: turn your iPhone off and back on. If it is frozen, force restart it: press and release volume up, press and release volume down, then hold the side button until the Apple logo appears.

Update iOS

Go to Settings > General > Software Update and install any update shown. Apple publishes its Live Captions language list per iOS version, so an older version may be missing your language. Updating is worth doing even if the rest of your phone seems fine.

Rule out Low Power Mode and low storage

General troubleshooting, not something Apple lists for Live Captions: Low Power Mode can make some tasks slower, so turn it off in Settings > Battery and try again. If your iPhone is nearly full (Settings > General > iPhone Storage), freeing some space is a reasonable step when on-device features misbehave.

Why Live Captions sometimes fails, and what to try next

None of this means Live Captions is bad. It is free, private, and built into every recent iPhone. But it was designed as a quick overlay, and a few of its limits are by design, so no setting will change them.

It is an overlay, not an app

Live Captions floats over whatever you are doing. That makes it handy, but the window hides itself when it hears nothing, and it is easy to swipe away by accident.

It is not built to keep a record

You can copy captions out or clear them, but there is no saved list of past conversations. Call captions are cleared after the call unless you choose 1 Hour.

Accuracy varies

Apple says Live Captions accuracy may vary and should not be relied on in high-risk or emergency situations. Noise, distance, and accents all affect it.

If it still does not work for in-person conversations

Hearing Buddy is a free iPhone app built for conversations in the room. Standard captions run on your device, unlimited, with no signup, and your transcripts are saved so you can scroll back later. It cannot caption phone calls or FaceTime. For calls, use Apple's call captions above, or a free FCC-certified call captioning app such as Rylo or InnoCaption.

Questions people ask

Why are my Live Captions not showing on my iPhone?

Most often Live Captions is turned off, your iPhone or language is not supported, or the window has hidden itself. Check Settings > Accessibility > Live Captions, make sure you have an iPhone 11 or later in a supported language, and tap the collapsed Live Captions button to bring the window back. Apple hides the window automatically when no audio is detected.

Why is Live Captions stuck on listening with no words?

Usually it is listening to the wrong source or it is paused. Tap the Live Captions window and choose Microphone for people talking near you, or iPhone Audio for sound playing on your phone. If that does not help, turn Live Captions off and on with the Accessibility Shortcut, then restart your iPhone.

Which iPhones support Live Captions?

Apple says Live Captions is available on iPhone 11 or later. It is not available in every language, country, or region. Verified October 2026.

What languages does iPhone Live Captions support?

Apple's Feature Availability page for iOS 27 lists English (Australia, Canada, India, Singapore, UK, US), Spanish (Mexico, Spain, US), French (Canada, France), German, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin Chinese (China mainland, Taiwan), and Cantonese (China mainland, Hong Kong). Verified October 2026.

Why is Live Captions not working on FaceTime or phone calls?

FaceTime has its own switch: during a video call, tap More, then Live Captions. For phone calls, check Keep Call Captions in Settings > Accessibility > Live Captions. With 1 Minute selected, call captions are cleared when the call ends and cannot be copied or screenshotted.

Is iPhone Live Captions free?

Yes. Live Captions is built into iOS on supported iPhones, with nothing extra to buy or download from the App Store.

Can Hearing Buddy caption my phone calls or FaceTime?

No. Hearing Buddy captions conversations happening around you, through your iPhone's microphone. It cannot caption phone calls, FaceTime, or audio from other apps. For calls, use Apple's call captions or a free FCC-certified service like Rylo or InnoCaption.

iPhone Live Captions not working? Fixes, most likely first.