Auto captions on TikTok, for viewers and creators

Why captions matter

Many people scroll with the sound off, on a bus, in a quiet office or late at night next to someone sleeping. Without captions, a talking video means nothing to them.

Captions are also essential for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers. Turning them on is one of the simplest ways to make your content accessible to more people.

For viewers: switching captions on

When a video has captions available, you can usually show or hide them from the video's options or from accessibility settings. Some versions also offer translated captions for certain languages.

If captions are missing, the creator may not have enabled them or the speech may be unclear. Check the accessibility section of settings for the current options.

For creators: turning them on and editing

When posting or editing a video, look for a captions option in the editing tools. TikTok generates text from your speech, and you can review it before publishing.

Always read through it. Automatic captions often mishear names, slang and mixed languages, so fixing a few words takes seconds and avoids confusing or embarrassing errors.

Captions versus text on screen

Auto captions follow your speech, while text you add manually is for headlines, hooks and labels. Many creators use both, with a bold hook at the top and captions lower down.

Keep the two from overlapping, and leave space away from the edges where buttons and descriptions may cover text.

Frequently asked questions