As an owner of a Roku TV, I know how frustrating it can be when you want to watch a show or movie with subtitles but can’t figure out how to turn them on.
After doing some research and testing, I’m here to share how I solved this problem and some other solutions I discovered. In this blog post, I’ll be discussing how to put subtitles on your Roku TV.
| Tips |
|---|
| There are two ways to turn on subtitles on your Roku TV: from the home screen settings or through streaming channels. |
| To turn on subtitles from the home screen, navigate to “Settings,” then “Accessibility,” and select “Captions Mode.” |
| In streaming channels, pause the show and select “Settings” to find the “Subtitles” option. |
| Different streaming channels have different settings for subtitles, but the concept is the same. |
| It’s relatively easy to turn on subtitles on Roku, and it’s only a few clicks away. |
Table of Contents
How to Enable Closed Captions on Roku
To put subtitles on Roku, there are two ways to do it: either from the home screen or through streaming channels.
First, let’s look at how to put subtitles on Roku from the home screen.
Home Screen Settings
On the home screen, navigate until you find “Settings” and have it highlighted. Now, on your remote, press the right arrow button, which will take you over to the device’s settings.
Inside “Settings,” look for “Accessibility” and press the right arrow button to access it. The first thing you’ll notice will be “Captions Mode.” Right arrow to select it.
In the “Captions mode” tab, you’ll find three options to choose from: off, on always, and on replay. There was a fourth option called “on mute,” but for some reason, they took it off
- “Off” is pretty much self-explanatory.
- “On Always” is closed captioning turned on at all times.
- “On Replay” will activate the subtitles only when we click the replay button on your remote, the button will have a twisted arrow on it. This will take you about 20 seconds back into whatever you’re watching and will turn captions on for that 20-second replay.
To turn on subtitles, or closed captioning as Roku calls it, highlight the “On Always” option and click “Ok” on your remote.
Through Steaming Channels
You’ve finally turned the subtitles on and you’re about to stream your favorite show only to find out that there are no subtitles. What’s the problem then?
Don’t worry as long as you’ve followed the previous steps, then you’re on the right track.
Streaming channels tend to have a little twist with their captioning settings. Additionally, every channel will have a slightly different way of doing so.
The concept is the same; the only difference is where they put the settings.
Let’s look at how you can fix that on the most popular channels like Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+. Any other channel will follow the same concept just like one of these three methods.
Netflix
Start by opening Netflix and selecting whatever show you want. On the screen, you should see a little description of the show, the “Play” button, and so on.
You want to choose “Audio and Subtitles.” To select that, click “Ok” on your remote. This will take you to the subtitles tab, which will have the options “Off” and “English (CC).”
To turn subtitles on, select “English” and you’re ready to enjoy.
Hulu
There are two ways to turn on captions on Hulu, depending on the version of Roku you have. We’ll call them method one and method two.
Method One
While the show is playing, click the options button on your Roku remote, which can be identified with the star or asterisk symbol on it.
A settings menu will pop up from the left side of the screen. Navigate until you find “Closed Captioning.”
On your remote, click the right or left arrow button until you find “On Always” and select it. Click the star button again to close the settings, and enjoy!
Method Two
Choose a show and click “Ok” to play. Now, pause the show so you can reveal the “Settings” icon. You’ll find it at the bottom right side of the screen.
Select the “Settings” icon, which you can identify with a gear symbol, and a settings tab will pop up from the right side of the screen with “Subtitles” options in it.
Select “Subtitles,” click “Ok” on the remote, and you’re good to go!
Disney+
Open up Disney+ and select any show you want. We’ll activate subtitles with the show running.
With the show in the background, click the star/asterisk button on your remote. This will open up the options menu. The menu will have a “Closed Captioning” option; you want that highlighted.
Select “On Always” to turn on captions. Again you can choose whatever option you like. The final step is to lay back and enjoy.
Final Thoughts
Adding subtitles on Roku is a fairly easy task and it’s only a few clicks on your remote.
From the home screen, navigate to “Settings,” then “Accessibility,” and you’ll find “Captions Mode.” It’ll have all the settings you need for the best subtitles experience.
In streaming channels, run your favorite show, pause it or click the start button to display the settings. You’ll find the subtitles option there waiting for you to activate it.
Read more: Why is my Roku TV screen pink?
