Apple Says iOS 27 Can Automatically Add Captions to Your Personal iPhone Videos

[MacRumors]

Apple this week previewed new accessibility features that are coming later this year, and one is particularly notable: automatic captions for personal videos.

For videos that do not already have captions, Apple said a new on-device speech recognition model can automatically generate them for spoken audio. According to Apple, this feature will be available for videos that you record on your iPhone, videos that you receive from friends and family, and videos that are streamed online.

The automatic captions will initially be limited to English in the U.S. and Canada.

Apple ensured that the captions are generated privately, and you will be able to customize their appearance in the video playback menu or in the Settings app. The feature will be supported across the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and Vision Pro, with the "later this year" timing pointing to iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, tvOS 27, and visionOS 27.

Apple will unveil those software versions during its WWDC 2026 keynote, which begins on Monday, June 8 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time, so we expect to learn more about this feature and its exact implementation in a few weeks from now.

Article Link: Apple Says iOS 27 Can Automatically Add Captions to Your Personal iPhone Videos

 

[CrysisDeu]

It needs auto translation as well. I don’t understand why they don’t have auto translation on captions (for AppleTV) yet in 2026

 

[jmh600cbr]

Cool! Self leakage is always nice!

 

[eduardodfj]

It needs auto translation as well. I don’t understand why they don’t have auto translation on captions (for AppleTV) yet in 2026

Particularly when it's a very common occurrence in other services, such as Zoom and Teams.

 

[Tim Jobs the 2nd]

Sounds cool and also useful.

 

[Slix]

This sounds really good for accessibility.

I do wonder if Apple will add auto captions in a similar way to iMovie at some point. It would be really helpful for making videos for social media and YouTube nowadays because captions are a good accessible feature there too.

 

[pbau]

I hope for multi-language support (simultaneously) and Polish language support as well.

 

[spicynujac]

I've found that these annoying new short clips (Youtube Shorts, Instagram clips, etc.) that always plaster the words of what the speaker is saying overlayed onto the screen, keep me from watching the video and I'm just reading the words as they're being spoken. Which kinda defeats the purpose of video. But I'm sure people will use this feature to death.

 

[arn]

I've found that these annoying new short clips (Youtube Shorts, Instagram clips, etc.) that always plaster the words of what the speaker is saying overlayed onto the screen, keep me from watching the video and I'm just reading the words as they're being spoken. Which kinda defeats the purpose of video. But I'm sure people will use this feature to death.

It's because a ton of people browse social media with audio muted.

 

[Cameront9]

On the one hand, as deaf person this is great.

On the other hand...The iPhone has been able to do this for years? I use iPhone live captions all the the time. It works with literally any audio playing on the phone.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

This sounds really good for accessibility.

I do wonder if Apple will add auto captions in a similar way to iMovie at some point. It would be really helpful for making videos for social media and YouTube nowadays because captions are a good accessible feature there too.

I think this may be part of the point of the feature. Having it at an OS level makes it available for “free” to any app that wants to implement it. I can imagine them not putting in the effort to provide the wide variety of options CapCut does, but I can imagine it being a simple part of a future release.

 

[cjsuk]

I'm seeing a lot of good accessibility changes here. I have disabled family members and the iPhone is somewhat a lifeline for them. Any improvements are good.

I am really so glad to see this technology used for something positive.

 

[Hank001]

No British English?

Would be nice if Apple would stop acting like a startup and acknowledge that the world is bigger than theirs.

 

[CarAnalogy]

It's because a ton of people browse social media with audio muted.

People using their phones at work to bypass content filters has probably contributed very heavily to the evolution of media.

 

[Corefile]

No British English?

Would be nice if Apple would stop acting like a startup and acknowledge that the world is bigger than theirs.

I think regional dialects are generally covered by US English.

 

[Corefile]

Kids nowadays always enable CC when video calling with friends and grandma.

 

[LFO8]

This sounds really good for accessibility.

I do wonder if Apple will add auto captions in a similar way to iMovie at some point. It would be really helpful for making videos for social media and YouTube nowadays because captions are a good accessible feature there too.

Here’s hoping!

 

[Black Belt]

No British English?

Would be nice if Apple would stop acting like a startup and acknowledge that the world is bigger than theirs.

Just learn real English 🤣

 

[matt_and_187_like_this]

youtube voice translation is now so good that i sometimes don't realize it is on. that's the bar. not some captions that capcut was able to do years ago.

 

[Octavius8]

How about a better keyboard?. Not just for grammar suggestions, but for real usage.
Grammar suggestion nowadays when the majority of persons use abbreviations is useless in a phone.

 

[MacFan782040]

Still needed for Final Cut Pro