Live Captions on Mac for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Users: Apple's Eight Languages, and What Covers the Rest
Apple's built-in Live Captions transcribes any app's audio on an Apple-silicon Mac, on device, in eight languages. If yours is one of them, start there. If it isn't — Portuguese, Italian, Arabic, Hindi, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Turkish, and Thai are not on the list — or you also need translation, here are the platform captions and the system-audio caption app that fill the gap, with their limits stated plainly.
2026-09-18 · 9 minStart with Apple's built-in Live Captions
If you are deaf or hard of hearing and use a Mac with Apple silicon, the first thing to try is already installed. Live Captions lives under System Settings, Accessibility, Live Captions, and Apple describes it as a real-time transcription that lets you follow the audio in any app, such as FaceTime or Podcasts, as well as live conversations around you. A microphone icon in the caption window switches between your Mac's audio output and its microphone input, so the same window covers a video, a meeting, or a person speaking in the room. The window can be resized by dragging any edge and moved anywhere, and the settings offer font family, font size, font color, and background color. Apple states that audio is processed on device. It needs an internet connection only for the initial language download. Two caveats from Apple's own guide apply to every tool in this article: accuracy may vary, and Live Captions should not be relied upon in high-risk or emergency situations.
The eight languages Apple lists — and the ones it does not
Apple says Live Captions is not available in all languages, countries, or regions, and its macOS feature-availability page for the current release, macOS 27, gives the list (checked September 17, 2026): Cantonese (China mainland, Hong Kong), English (Australia, Canada, India, Singapore, UK, US), French (Canada, France), German (Germany), Japanese, Korean, Mandarin Chinese (China mainland, Taiwan), and Spanish (Mexico, Spain, US). That is eight languages. Not on the list, at the time of writing, are Portuguese, Italian, Arabic, Hindi, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Turkish, Thai, Russian, Dutch, Polish, and every other language — and the regional pairing matters too, so a Spanish speaker in Argentina or a French speaker in Belgium should test rather than assume. Apple adds languages over time, so check the page again after each macOS release. Until your language appears, the rest of this article is about what to do in the meantime.
Captions built into the apps you already use
Meeting and calling apps carry their own captions, and for the meetings themselves they are worth turning on first. FaceTime on Mac offers Live Captions during video calls from the More button, on Apple-silicon Macs and not in all languages or regions. Microsoft Teams shows free live captions for everyone — its support page lists 61 spoken-language entries — but the captions are per person, they are deleted when the meeting ends, and translation into another language requires a Teams Premium or Microsoft 365 Copilot license on the organizer's or your own account. Zoom provides automated captions and, on eligible business and enterprise accounts or with a paid add-on, translated captions in 35 languages. Google Meet provides captions, with translated captions currently listed for specific Workspace editions in 61 languages. The common limit is scope: platform captions only see the audio inside that one app, and their language, retention, and translation rules are set by the account behind the meeting, not by you.
When a system-audio caption app is the better fit
Four situations push people past the built-in options. Your language is not one of Apple's eight. You move between many apps in a day — a browser lecture, a VLC file, a Teams call, a podcast — and want one caption window that behaves the same everywhere. You need the original and a translation together, because the speaker's language is not the one you read most easily. Or you want typography and contrast you control, plus a saved text history to re-read after the fact. Alison Workspace is built for exactly this: it listens to the audio your Mac is playing and shows each recognized sentence in a floating window, with an optional translated line beneath it. Recognition covers 100 spoken languages, including all eight languages Apple's list omits above; translation offers up to 21 target languages depending on the Apple language resources on your Mac. Font, size, colors, background, and line spacing are adjustable, the window position is remembered, click-through mode keeps it from stealing clicks, and global shortcuts start and stop it. After the one-time download of language resources, capture, recognition, and translation run on the Mac. It requires macOS 15 or later on Apple silicon, and new users get 120 minutes of listening free.
What Alison Workspace does not do — read this before you rely on it
Three limits matter more for deaf and hard-of-hearing users than for anyone else. First, Alison does not use the microphone. It captions only what your Mac plays, so it cannot caption a colleague at the next desk, an in-person class, or a phone held to your ear; for speech in the room, Apple's Live Captions in microphone mode is the built-in tool, and a dedicated in-person captioning app or a human captioner is the next step. Second, automatic captions of any kind are an aid, not an accommodation. For classes, job interviews, medical appointments, legal proceedings, or any meeting where a missed word has consequences, ask for professional real-time captioning (CART) or an interpreter; keep automatic captions as a complement, not a replacement. Third, expect a delay of a few seconds while a sentence is recognized and the translation settles, expect errors on names and numbers, and know that captions stop while the display is asleep. Apple's warning against relying on live captions in high-risk or emergency situations applies here word for word.
Set up a caption window you can actually read
Whatever you use, spend five minutes on the window before the first real meeting. Make the text larger than feels necessary; you will be glancing at it while watching a face or a slide, not reading it like a page. Choose a solid, high-contrast background rather than a transparent one, and increase line spacing so that two lines do not blur together. Place the window close to where your eyes already are — just below a speaker's video tile or beside the slides — rather than in a corner. In Alison, decide whether you want the original line plus the translation or a single language, save the position so it opens in the same place next time, turn on click-through so an accidental click lands on the app underneath, and learn the start and stop shortcuts so you never hunt for a button mid-call. Then run a one-minute test with a real clip in the language you will hear, and adjust once more.
Getting more accurate captions
Live captions are only as good as the audio they receive, and the biggest gains come from the speaker's side. Ask remote participants to use a headset, to speak one at a time, and to repeat numbers and names; most people are glad to once they know why. Select the exact spoken language and regional variant instead of automatic detection when you know it. Put recurring names, course vocabulary, product names, and acronyms into Alison's custom dictionary and hot words so they are recognized and spelled consistently. Learn to read the two states of a line: a sentence still being recognized may change, while a settled sentence is what the system finally heard — wait for the settled version before trusting a figure. Ask for important details in writing in the chat or on a slide. When captions degrade suddenly, the cause is usually audio: background music, echo from an open speaker, or a bad connection, not the caption tool.
Know your rights and ask for proper accommodations
In many countries, employers, schools, universities, and public services have legal obligations to provide reasonable accommodations, and automatic captions are rarely the standard when accuracy carries consequences. Human real-time captioning, sign-language interpreting, transcripts provided in advance, and captioned recordings are the accommodations to request in writing, with a record of the request and the response. Personal tools have a real place alongside them: platform captions for the meeting you are in, Apple's Live Captions for a supported language or a conversation in the room, and a system-audio caption app such as Alison Workspace when the language, the app, or the need for translation falls outside what those provide. Used that way, a caption window on your Mac is not a substitute for what you are entitled to; it is what keeps the ordinary hours of the day — the lecture recording, the podcast, the unscheduled call — readable while the formal arrangements are made.
Official Apple, Microsoft, Zoom, and Google sources checked September 17, 2026
Apple — macOS Feature Availability (Live Captions languages and regions)
Apple Support — Get captions of spoken and computer audio on Mac
Apple Support — Turn on Live Captions in FaceTime on Mac
Microsoft Support — Use live captions in Microsoft Teams meetings
Zoom Support — Enabling and configuring translated captions
Google Meet Help — Use translated captions in Google Meet
Frequently asked questions
Which languages does Apple's Live Captions support on Mac?
For the current release, macOS 27, Apple's feature-availability page lists Cantonese, English (Australia, Canada, India, Singapore, UK, US), French (Canada, France), German, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin Chinese (China mainland, Taiwan), and Spanish (Mexico, Spain, US), checked September 17, 2026. Apple notes it is not available in all languages, countries, or regions, and requires a Mac with Apple silicon.
Does Live Captions on Mac translate into another language?
No. It transcribes speech in the language being spoken. Apple's separate Live Translation feature works inside FaceTime, Phone, and Messages for a limited set of languages with Apple Intelligence; it is not a system-wide caption translator. For translated captions of any app's audio, you need a different tool.
Is there a live caption app for Mac that supports Portuguese, Arabic, Hindi, Vietnamese, Thai, or another language Apple does not list?
Yes. Alison Workspace's recognition covers 100 spoken languages, including Portuguese, Italian, Arabic, Hindi, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Turkish, and Thai, and can add a translated line in up to 21 target languages. Test it with your own audio and accent first, and re-check Apple's list after each macOS release, because it grows.
Can Alison Workspace caption a conversation in the room?
No. It does not request microphone access and captions only the audio your Mac is playing. For in-person speech, use Apple's Live Captions in microphone mode, a dedicated in-person captioning app, or a human captioner.
Do these captions run offline, and is anything recorded?
Apple states that Live Captions processes audio on device after the initial language download. Alison Workspace runs capture, recognition, and translation on the Mac after a one-time download of language resources; it never stores audio and keeps only a local text history that you can search, export, or delete.
Can I make the captions bigger and higher contrast?
Yes, in both. Apple's Live Captions settings include font family, font size, font color, and background color, and the window can be resized and moved. Alison Workspace lets you adjust font, size, colors, background, and line spacing, resize and position the window, and remembers that position.