How to Add Captions to a Video on Android (2026)

To add captions to a video on Android, use an editor that burns them into the file: YouTube Create (free, clips up to 60 seconds), CapCut, a browser tool like Capsubs in Chrome, or the captions tool inside TikTok, Instagram or YouTube. Android's Live Caption is useful for watching, but it only shows captions on your screen; it doesn't add them to the video your viewers see.

Live Caption vs captions in the video

Live Caption (Settings → Accessibility → Hearing enhancements → Live Caption) transcribes any audio playing on your phone, on-device, even with the sound muted. It's great for you as a viewer. But the text is drawn by your phone, not saved into the video, so it does nothing for the people watching your posts.

For your audience to see captions, they need to be part of the video (burned in) or added through the platform you post to.

Option 1: YouTube Create (free)

Google's YouTube Create app runs on Android 8.0+ phones with at least 4 GB of RAM.

1. Open a project and tap Captions in the toolbar.
2. Choose All videos (speech in your footage) or Voiceover.
3. Pick the language and tap Generate.
4. Select the caption layer, tap Edit to fix words and Style to change font, color, outline and background.
5. Export, or upload straight to YouTube.

Google notes YouTube Create can't generate captions for clips longer than 60 seconds, and the app is only available in some countries.

Option 2: A browser tool in Chrome

Capsubs works in Chrome on Android with nothing to install:

1. Go to capsubs.com, sign in, and tap New Video (or try it without an account on a clip up to 60 seconds).
2. Pick your video, choose a style, highlight color and position.
3. Download the MP4 with captions burned in and post it anywhere.

The captions are word-by-word and the same file works on TikTok, Reels and Shorts.

Option 3: CapCut

In the CapCut app, open your project and tap Captions → Auto captions, pick the language and generate. Tap a caption block to fix words. Whether auto captions are free or Pro depends on your account and region; CapCut's own pages give different answers. More in how to add captions in CapCut and CapCut auto captions not working.

Option 4: The platform's own captions

• TikTok: Captions on the editing screen (steps)
• Instagram: the Captions sticker (steps)
• YouTube Shorts: Captions in the Shorts editor, where available (steps)

These are free but only exist on that platform, so you'd caption again for each one.

Which to pick

FAQ

Does Android have built-in auto captions for my own videos? Live Caption shows captions while you watch, but there's no built-in tool that saves captions into a video file. Use one of the apps above.

Do I need to install anything? No. A browser tool like Capsubs runs in Chrome.

Why are my captions wrong? Music, noise and names cause most errors. See how to fix wrong words in auto captions.