Apple TV captions

Why are captions so bad in the AppleTV app? When I watch the shows on my PC, the captions follow the dialogue; but when I watch using the Apple TV app on my Roku TV, the captions are constantly fragmented. Other streaming services provide good captioning without a hitch. It's remarkable that a company defined by its cutting-edge technology should have such poor captioning, a technology that's so old and commonplace. The programming on AppleTV+ is terrific, but having to watch on my PC diminishes my enjoyment.

8116X,

Posted on Jan 16, 2023 12:02 PM

Reply
4 replies

Jan 18, 2023 8:14 AM in response to gf178

the captions are constantly fragmented.

Fragmented how?

It seems to work fine for most other users on all of the supported devices. It should be the same for everyone.

Does this happen for all content from the Apple TV+ catalog? On which show/​episode did you discover it?

Does this happen for other content in the Apple TV app as well, if applicable?


  • Verify that the Roku TV system software is up-to-date.
  • Verify that the Apple TV app is updated automatically.
  • Try to reset the Apple TV app. Then sign in again, and try the captions again.
  • If the issue still persists, then try to delete and reinstall the Apple TV app.


If the issue is still present after trying all that, then contact the Apple Support staff.

Jan 18, 2023 1:00 PM in response to Urquhart1244

Thanks for your reply and suggestions. I took all of them. After the reset, my initial impression is that the captioning might have improved somewhat. However, the issue isn't entirely resolved.


Here's what happens.


When a character is speaking, sometimes the captioning stops in mid-sentence or fails to appear at all. In the former case, I might see the first segment of a line of dialogue in the captions, but then the character continues to speak with no caption appearing, after which the captioning resumes, never having shown the missing text. In some instances, if I rewind the video, the missing text will appear where it should. In other instances, it won't appear at all or will appear only after repeated rewinds.


Most of the text appears most of the time. But the need to rewind periodically to get dropped text obviously interrupts the flow of the story and is somewhat irksome. At this point, though, I'm resolved to accept that imperfection is a permanent feature of the captioning. And it occurs with all of the programs I've watched: e.g., "The Morning Show," "Shantaram," "Slow Horses," and the films "Greyhound," "Finch," etc.


Other streaming apps such as Amazon Prime, HBO Max, Showtime, etc., don't seem to present the same captioning issues.

Feb 20, 2023 5:15 AM in response to gf178

I am stunned by the poor quality of Apple TV's performance. First off, the closed captioning toolbar is incomprehensible. I find it nearly impossible to turn that tool off and one. The other streaming services have easily navigable and understandable functionality in this regard. Not Apple TV. The wording in the menu is the opposite of intuitive. It is also easily the slowest of the streaming services and the one with the most interruptions. As others have said, the clunkiness is the opposite of what you expect from Apple.

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Apple TV captions

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