How do you get live captions on phone calls?

The short answer depends on your phone. On a Google Pixel phone, Live Caption can caption your calls ¹. On an iPhone, Apple documents Live Captions for FaceTime video calls, and its pages do not list ordinary phone calls ². For any phone that cannot caption a call, a captioned telephone service is the route built for this, and it is open only to registered users with hearing loss ³.

Pixel phones caption calls, and other phones are not documented

Google's current wording is that on a Pixel phone, Live Caption can caption your calls ¹. That is not the whole picture of its history. When Google launched Live Caption with the Pixel 4, it described the feature as captioning videos and spoken audio on the device, except phone and video calls ⁴. The 2019 wording is older than Google's current statement, so check Google's current support pages before you rely on either.

The Pixel statement names Pixel phones only. We could not find a Google statement that Live Caption covers calls on other brands, and we could not confirm call captions on Samsung or other Android phones from their own pages. If you use one of those, look in your phone's settings for a call-caption option, and treat it as a feature of that phone, not a guarantee.

iPhone captions FaceTime calls, but Apple's pages do not list phone calls

On an iPhone, Apple's documented call captions are for FaceTime. Apple says that during a video call in the FaceTime app, you can turn on Live Captions to see the spoken conversation transcribed and displayed in real time ². Apple's page is about FaceTime video calls, so do not assume the same screen will caption a call on your mobile network.

The Phone app has a different feature. Apple's steps let you record a call: both call participants hear an audio notice that the call is being recorded ⁵. This is a recording, not live captions, so it does not help you follow the call as it happens. Apple also says call recording is not currently offered in many countries, including the European Union, Saudi Arabia and South Africa ⁶, so check Apple's feature availability page for your region before you plan around it.

A captioned telephone service is built for ordinary calls

When your phone cannot caption a call, a captioned telephone service is designed for exactly this. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association says that anyone with hearing loss of sufficient degree that compromises successful use of a conventional telephone may be eligible for captioned phone service ⁷. The rule text is stricter about who may use it: only registered users with hearing loss may use IP captioned telephones with the captions turned on ³.

This service is different from a phone's built-in captions, because it is a service you call through rather than a setting on the phone. Our question on what a captioned telephone is explains the service in full.

It depends: match the call to the tool

The captions from either tool are an aid, not a record. Apple's accuracy warning applies to Live Captions generally: the accuracy of Live Captions may vary and it should not be relied on in high-risk or emergency situations ⁸. A call about medical care, money or safety is the kind of call where you should not rely on automatic text alone.

What to do

1. Check your phone's settings for a call-caption option. On a Pixel, that is Live Caption. On an iPhone, look for Live Captions in FaceTime calls.
2. Test before an important call. Ring a friend, turn the feature on, and check the text and the delay.
3. Register for a captioned telephone service if you have hearing loss and cannot follow ordinary calls. Eligibility is set by the rules and the service provider, so ask the provider which steps apply to you.
4. Tell the other person what to expect. On an iPhone recording, they will hear a notice, so explain why you are recording before you start.
5. Keep a second route for important calls, such as a text message, an email or a visit, in case the captions fail.

The wider question of tools for hearing loss is covered in our guide to speech to text for deaf and hard of hearing people. For the tools on your phone that caption conversations and apps, see our guide to Live Transcribe, Live Captions and Voice Control, and for the whole group of tools, see dictation and voice to text on iPhone and Android. If you wonder whether a captioned phone is the same thing as a dictation app, the glossary entry for Live Captions and the glossary entry for Live Transcribe explain the two tools. If you searched for Live Transcribe on an iPhone, read whether there is Live Transcribe for iPhone.