How to enable closed captioning

Turning closed captions on or off

Closed captions are not visible until activated. For some service providers, closed captions are activated from within the app. The closed captioning settings available on your Roku^® streaming device have no effect on the content from these service providers. See a list of a few common apps at the bottom of this article.

For many apps, closed captions can be activated from the settings of your Roku device.

Press Home on your Roku remote
Scroll and select Settings
To open the Captions menu, select Accessibility. If Accessibility is not listed, select Captions.
Select Captions mode and choose when captions appear
- Off – captions never appear
- On always – captions always appear (when available from the service provider). When service providers use their own settings, closed captions are activated within their app.
- On replay – captions appear only after pressing Replay on your Roku remote (with content that supports instant replay)
- On mute – captions appear only when volume is muted
  - Note: The "On mute" selection is not available on all Roku devices.

Customizing closed captions

For apps that use the closed captioning settings available on your Roku device, there are three style elements that can be customized – text, background and window.

Press Home on your Roku remote
Scroll and select Settings
To open the Style menu, select Accessibility and then Caption style. If Accessibility is not listed, select Captions.
Adjust each style element. A preview appears with an example of the changes.
- Text – style (font) / edge effect / size / color / opacity
- Background – color / opacity
- Window – color / opacity

Using closed captions during playback

For apps that use the closed captioning settings available on your Roku device, closed captions can often be turned on or off during playback.

Note: Not all apps make this feature available.

After playback begins, press Star on your Roku remote to open the Options menu
Scroll and select Closed captioning.
Choose when captions appear
- Off – captions never appear
- On always – captions always appear (when available from the service provider). When service providers use their settings, closed captions are activated within their app.
- On replay – captions appear only after pressing Replay on your Roku remote (with content that supports instant replay)
- On mute – captions appear only when volume is muted
  - Note: The "On mute" selection is not available on all Roku devices.