Instagram has had auto-generated captions enabled on feed videos by default since March 2022. Unlike those handy caption stickers you can add to your Stories and Reels, these closed captions appear automatically — meaning you don’t have to do anything to get them up and running.
Meta’s goal here was primarily to make the platform more accessible to users who are deaf or hard of hearing, but there’s another “hidden” plus, too. Research shows that 69 percent of Instagram users watch feed videos with the sound off at least occasionally — usually in public places like trains, waiting rooms, or in class.
Automatically adding subtitles can help tons of users enjoy your videos without forcing everyone around them to hear what you’re saying, then. However, closed captions aren’t always welcome. Some people want to turn them off.
Can’t figure out how to do that? We’ll walk you through the process.
Why Would You Want to Turn off Captions Instagram Generates?
Meta’s vision is clear and admirable — to give every user access to great content, even if they’re deaf, hearing impaired, or simply stuck in a public place without headphones. The subtitles the platform automatically generates for IG feed videos are currently available in a whole bunch of different languages.
Instagram supports automated closed captions on Android and iOS devices for English, Arabic, French, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Italian, Malay, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, Thai, Turkish, Urdu, and Vietnamese.
Although Meta plans to add more languages, it doesn’t right now — and things can get pretty crazy if your language isn’t on the list, or you’re using a mix of multiple languages in your videos. If you’re not saying anything in your video, there’s also the risk that Instagram will pick up and transcribe background conversations. Another faux pas!
If you’re on the user end of the equation, meanwhile, you might simply think of closed captions as an irritating and often inaccurate intrusion. These subtitles cover some of the screen, so you might not, for example, be able to see the landscape or outfit someone you follow is sharing in its full glory.
Luckily for you, you can put a stop to subtitles. If you’re wondering how to turn off live captions on Instagram, you have a couple of different options. You can turn off (or edit!) captions as a content creator. If you’re just watching, you can permanently disable closed captions (until you decide you want them back), or turn them off for a single video.
How to Turn off Captions on Instagram for All Your Feed Videos
So, you hate autogenerated Instagram captions with a vengeance? You simply want them gone — permanently? It’s actually super easy to make that work:
- Go to your Instagram profile (in the bottom right of your screen).
- Tap the hamburger menu in the upper right corner. Then, go to Settings.
- Click on Account. Find the Captions field between Language and Browser settings.
- Simply toggle your captions off.
That’s it! You won’t be annoyed by subtitles anymore! Of course, if you decide you want to invite closed captions back into your life, perhaps for a long train ride, you can reverse this step just as easily by following the same steps again.
How to Turn off Live Captions on Instagram for Just One Video
Say you actually love closed captions, and you’re glad they appear on Instagram feed videos by default. There may still be times when you want to turn off captions Instagram has generated for a particular vid. Perhaps you want to get a closer look at the visuals at the bottom of your screen, which are currently covered in closed captions, or maybe Instagram has transcribed a video wrong and the captions are distracting.
You wouldn’t want to go through this process every single time if you never want to see subtitles, but if it’s a one-off, here’s how to turn off captions on Instagram for just one video:
- Tap the three-dot menu in the upper right corner of the video you’re watching.
- Navigate to Manage captions — which only shows up if the video supports captions in the first place.
- Turn the captions off.
Bingo! You can now watch the video without closed captions!
How to Turn off Captions on Instagram as a Content Creator
If you’re making feed videos for your Instagram, you may also want to disable autogenerated captions entirely. You may turn off captions on Instagram in the hope that your followers and viewers won’t be subjected to inaccurate subtitles — or miss important parts of your video that would otherwise be covered by captions.
This isn’t hard, either. After you’re done shooting a video from the Instagram app or uploading one from your gallery, just:
- Tap Advanced settings, which pops up in your menu right before you’re ready to take that video live.
- Go to the Accessibility field.
- Tap Show captions, and turn them on or off at will.
This step won’t necessarily prevent followers who are desperate for closed captions from getting them, but it’ll turn off captions Instagram generates by default.
Bonus Option: Why Turn off Captions on Instagram When You Can Edit Them?
Are you trying to turn off captions Instagram’s AI systems have generated for your video because they’re not accurate? If you like the idea of subtitles appearing on your videos, but you simply want them to be correct, you can also edit them.
Here’s how that works:
- Find the video post you want to edit through your feed or profile.
- Once you’re looking at the post, tap the three dots menu you’ll see in the top right corner of your screen.
- Pick Edit from the menu.
- You can now manually edit the autogenerated captions Instagram created for you, or you can even write your own captions from scratch!
- Tap Done (if you’re on iOS) or the checkmark (on Android).
See? Editing your captions doesn’t have to be much more complicated than deleting them entirely. Why figure out how to turn off captions on Instagram when they can be 100 percent accurate with just a little extra work?
Wrapping Up: How to Turn off Live Captions on Instagram
Instagram has pushed its autogenerated captions pretty hard since their inception — and they are, overall, pretty helpful, not just to people with hearing issues, but also to those watching Instagram videos in public spaces.
Not everyone likes them, though, and that’s OK. Once you know how to turn off live captions on Instagram, you have total control over when you see closed captions, and when you don’t!
