Why Does FaceTime Caption Only One Side of the Call?

It’s wonderful that Apple’s latest iOS now includes built-in auto-captioning. It has been a long time coming, and more work is needed, but it is great to see accessibility for people with hearing loss finally taking center stage. One of my favorite ways to use this capability is on FaceTime.

For most conversations, I use Zoom—especially if I am at home and can access it from my computer. But when I am on the go and using my iPhone, I prefer FaceTime. It’s a quicker and easier way to communicate while still enjoying the benefits of seeing the person’s face for speechreading cues. And the captions just make it better.

Why Two Way Captioning Is Important

But the first time I used the auto-captions with FaceTime I was confused. The captions worked when my communication partner spoke, but not when I did. Had I done something wrong in the setup? Nope. That is just how FaceTime captions work. Unfortunately, this one-sided feature creates several issues.

It’s hard to tell if the captions are working properly

Was the pause in the transcription due to a speaker change or some other factor? I couldn’t be sure so I was constantly worried if the captions were actually working.

You cannot correct errors you cannot see

Auto-captions are far from perfect, but if you can’t see the real-time transcription errors, you cannot correct them. Dual side captioning would help prevent miscommunications.

Group FaceTime calls won’t work

Imagine you are calling two people with hearing loss who happen to be together. They may have trouble understanding one another because without the benefit of captioning. Group FaceTime calls won’t work as well unless each person is on their own device.

Full transcripts are not available

If you are recording a call for future reference, only your communication partners’ captions are saved. leaving an incomplete record of the call. This is less than helpful when trying to recall the full exchange later.

Communication is a two-way street so why not caption both sides of the conversation? I hope Apple will consider amending this feature in a later version.

Readers, would you prefer that FaceTime show captions for both sides of the conversation?

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7 thoughts on “Why Does FaceTime Caption Only One Side of the Call?

  1. I live in England and read that the language should be set the English US or English Cananda, as my language and region are set to English U tied Kingsom does this mean I can’t turn captions on I FaceTime

    1. Shari Eberts – NYC – Shari Eberts is a passionate hearing health advocate and internationally recognized author and speaker on hearing loss issues. She is the founder of Living with Hearing Loss, a popular blog and online community for people with hearing loss, and an executive producer of "We Hear You," an award-winning documentary about the hearing loss experience. Her book, "Hear & Beyond: Live Skillfully with Hearing Loss," (co-authored with Gael Hannan) is the ultimate survival guide to living well with hearing loss. Shari has an adult-onset genetic hearing loss and hopes that by sharing her story, she will help others to live more peacefully with their own hearing issues.
      Shari Eberts says:

      Interesting. I see that as well. Give it a try, but you may need to switch your phone’s primary language to make them work. Good luck! Thank you for your comment. https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/turn-on-live-captions-in-a-facetime-call-iphb41156356/ios

  2. Having both sides captioned if saving the transcript would be nice. But otherwise it doesn’t bother me. I have used a CaptionCall phone for many years, so I am accustom to just having the other person captioned.
    So far I am less than impressed with iOS auto-captioning. I have tried using it to watch videos I made, it says listening but doesn’t transcribe much of anything.
    I am hoping Apple will work on improving it.

    1. Shari Eberts – NYC – Shari Eberts is a passionate hearing health advocate and internationally recognized author and speaker on hearing loss issues. She is the founder of Living with Hearing Loss, a popular blog and online community for people with hearing loss, and an executive producer of "We Hear You," an award-winning documentary about the hearing loss experience. Her book, "Hear & Beyond: Live Skillfully with Hearing Loss," (co-authored with Gael Hannan) is the ultimate survival guide to living well with hearing loss. Shari has an adult-onset genetic hearing loss and hopes that by sharing her story, she will help others to live more peacefully with their own hearing issues.
      Shari Eberts says:

      Thank you for sharing your perspective.

  3. Totally agree.
    I recently used Live Transcribe for an important financial transaction where I knew my hearing aids would need help. The talk was fast and the room noisy. I was confident I would get what I needed, nonetheless, because I had asked the right detailed questions, and had secured a “transcript”. But when I got home, the transcript showed “Yes”, “No”, “I think we can do that.” Like Shari, I look forward to the day when this will no longer be the case.

    1. Shari Eberts – NYC – Shari Eberts is a passionate hearing health advocate and internationally recognized author and speaker on hearing loss issues. She is the founder of Living with Hearing Loss, a popular blog and online community for people with hearing loss, and an executive producer of "We Hear You," an award-winning documentary about the hearing loss experience. Her book, "Hear & Beyond: Live Skillfully with Hearing Loss," (co-authored with Gael Hannan) is the ultimate survival guide to living well with hearing loss. Shari has an adult-onset genetic hearing loss and hopes that by sharing her story, she will help others to live more peacefully with their own hearing issues.
      Shari Eberts says:

      Thank you for sharing your experiences.

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