Not every user will have the ability to generate live captions for their Facebook videos and reels, mainly because this feature is reserved for professional users, page owners, and those sharing content within the Meta Business Suite.
If you fall within these realms however, then this article is for you – as we share the best way to turn off live captions.
What Are Live Captions and Why Have Them?
Live captions are designed to make video content more accessible. They allow followers, friends, and other Facebook users to watch the video in silent mode on their device and still follow along with any audio that accompanies the visual.
They are considered an integral part of making Facebook user friendly by today’s standards – though they are not always necessary or wanted.
Switching Live Captions Off
To turn live captions off, you have two choices:
- You can turn off live captions on all videos within professional mode or as part of your page settings
- You can edit the visibility of live captions on individual videos as and when you post them
The latter is more time consuming as it requires you to remember to turn off live captions every time you create and share a new video. Having said that, it does allow you to tailor the use of captions as and when required, personalising your video for different audiences.
Turn off Captions for Your Page
If you are a page manager and are responsible for creating content and uploading videos for your page, you can remove live captions within your page settings.
Head into the page settings and click ‘Media’, then select ‘Auto-Generated Captions and Subtitles’ and select ‘Edit’. Make sure that the setting is fixed on ‘Don’t autogenerate…’ and save the change.
Turn off Captions for Your Professional Profile
If you use Facebook as a user in professional mode, then you can switch off live captions within your own account settings.
Head to your settings menu and select ‘Media’ underneath the ‘Preferences’ heading. Choose the option labelled ‘Captions’ then make sure that you switch auto captions off via the menu.
Turn off Captions on an Individual Video
This requires you to edit the ‘Automatic Closed Captions’ menu within the ‘New Reel’ page on your Facebook app. It takes seconds – but is something you need to remember to do every time. This process will only switch off captions for the one select video you have created and uploaded.
We hope this helps! Captions are a really good way of making Facebook content more accessible and inclusive, but they are not always necessary. Follow the above steps to tailor your use of captions as preferred.
