How to Add Subtitles on TikTok Automatically

Adding subtitles to your TikTok videos is one of the single best things you can do to boost your views and engagement. Not only does it make your content accessible to a wider audience, but it also hooks viewers who are scrolling with their sound off (which is a lot of them). This guide will walk you through exactly how to add, edit, and customize automatic captions directly within the TikTok app, turning a simple video into a more polished and inclusive piece of content.

Why Subtitles Aren't Just an Option - They're Essential

Before getting into the "how," let's quickly touch on the "why." If you think of subtitles, or captions, as an optional extra, you're missing out on a huge opportunity to connect with more people. Here’s why they’re so important for every creator on the platform.

• Massive Accessibility Improvements: First and foremost, captions make your content available to the 430 million people worldwide who are deaf or have disabling hearing loss. It’s a simple way to practice digital inclusion and welcome a massive community to your content.
• Most People Watch with Sound Off: Think about where people scroll through TikTok: on the bus, in a quiet office, waiting in line, or next to a sleeping partner. Research consistently shows that a majority of users on social media watch videos with the sound off. Without captions, your well-crafted message is completely lost. Subtitles allow you to communicate your point and keep them watching, even in silence.
• Better Comprehension and Clarity: Let's be honest, sometimes audio isn't perfect. Background noise, fast talking, or strong accents can make it difficult for anyone to catch every word. Captions reinforce your spoken message, making it easier for viewers to understand and remember. This is especially true for educational or complex content.
• Boosted Video SEO: TikTok isn’t just a social platform, it’s also a search engine. When you add subtitles, you’re giving TikTok’s algorithm a text-based transcript of your video. This helps the platform understand what your content is about, which in turn helps it show your video to users who are searching for that specific topic or are interested in it. It’s a low-effort way to improve your video's discoverability.

Ultimately, a video without subtitles is an incomplete video. You're creating a barrier for a huge part of your potential audience and fighting an uphill battle for attention in a sound-off world.

How to Add Automatic Subtitles on TikTok (The Easy Way)

TikTok has made adding captions incredibly simple with its built-in auto-transcription tool. The technology isn't perfect, but it provides a fantastic starting point that you can quickly edit for perfect results. Here’s the step-by-step process.

Step 1: Record or Upload Your Video

Start creating your TikTok as you normally would. You can either record your video directly in the app using the camera or upload a pre-recorded clip from your phone’s camera roll. Once you’re done recording or have selected your clip, tap the checkmark to move on to the main editing screen.

Step 2: Find the Captions Button

On the editing screen, look at the panel of tools on the right-hand side. You’ll see icons for Text, Stickers, Effects, and more. Scroll down this list until you find the icon labeled 'Captions.' It often looks like a small rectangle with lines of text inside. Tap on it.

Step 3: Let TikTok Generate the Subtitles

Once you tap 'Captions,' a pop-up will appear. TikTok will automatically start "transcribing audio to generate captions." It may take a few moments for the app to process the audio from your video. When it’s done, you’ll see the generated text on the screen for you to review.

Make sure the correct language is selected as the source. By default, it will use your app's language, but you can change it if you’re speaking another language in the video.

Step 4: Review and Edit the Generated Text

This is the most important step! Automatic transcription tools are good, but they rarely get everything 100% right. They often misspell names, brand-specific terms, industry jargon, or homophones (like "your" and "you're"). Read through every single caption to check for errors.

You’ll edit these in the next phase, but for now, just make a mental note of any corrections needed. Once you've skimmed the text for accuracy and are ready to edit, tap 'Save' in the top right corner. The generated captions will appear overlaid on your video preview.

Making Your Subtitles Look Good: Customization Tips

You're not stuck with the default look. Once the captions have been generated and added to your video, you can customize them to match your branding, improve readability, and add your own creative flair. Simply tap on the captions on your video preview to open up the editing tools.

Editing the Text for Accuracy

Right after generating captions, you'll be taken to a screen that shows all the text blocks. This is where you can do a detailed proofread.

• To edit, simply tap on the text section you want to change. A keyboard will appear, allowing you to fix spelling mistakes, add punctuation, or rephrase a sentence.
• For example, if TikTok transcribed "post base" instead of "Postbase," you can quickly correct it. Fixing capitalization and punctuation makes your content look much more professional.
• You can also delete an entire text block using the 'x' icon or tap 'Bulk edit' to see the full transcript at once, which is helpful for longer videos.

Changing the Style: Fonts, Colors, and Highlights

Clean, readable visuals are just as important as accurate text. After you've confirmed the text is correct, you can change its appearance. With the captions selected on the main editing screen, tap the 'Edit' button that appears over them.

• Fonts: TikTok offers several clean and modern font choices. You can scroll through them to find one that best fits your brand's aesthetic. Stick with clear, sans-serif fonts for best readability.
• Colors: You can select a color for your text. Pro tip: Don't just pick your favorite color. Choose one that has strong contrast with the background of your video. If your video has a very light background, use dark text. If it has a dark background, use light text.
• Highlights & Outlines: This is a creator's best friend for making subtitles readable no matter what’s going on in the background. You can add a solid color-block highlight behind your text, a transparent one, or an outline around the letters. The classic white text with a black outline or a subtle dark highlight is almost always readable on any background. This is a game-changer for visibility.

Adjusting Size and Position

Once you’ve set the style, you can position the subtitles on the screen. Use a two-finger pinch-and-zoom gesture to resize them. Make them large enough to be easily read but not so large that they obscure important parts of your video.

You can also drag the caption box anywhere on the screen. A good rule of thumb is to place them in the lower-middle portion of the screen, just above where TikTok overlays its own interface (like your username and the video description). Always consider the "safe zones" where UI elements won't cover them up.

Troubleshooting Common TikTok Caption Issues

Sometimes, things don't go as planned. Here are a few common issues you might run into with TikTok's auto-captioning feature and how to solve them.

"The 'Captions' Button is Missing!"

If you don't see the 'Captions' button in your editing menu, there are a few possible culprits:

• Your App is Outdated: Captions is a relatively new feature. Head to your phone’s app store and make sure your TikTok app is updated to the latest version.
• The Language Isn't Supported Yet: TikTok has been rolling out this feature for different languages over time. If you're speaking a language that isn’t widely supported, the option might not appear.
• No Detectable Speech: If your video has only music or very faint, unclear audio, TikTok might not detect any speech and, therefore, won't offer the captioning option. Make sure your video has clear spoken words.

"Why is the Transcription so Inaccurate?"

If your auto-captions are a complete mess, it likely comes down to audio quality. To improve the accuracy of the transcription:

• Speak Clearly and at a Moderate Pace: Mumbling or talking too fast can confuse the AI.
• Reduce Background Noise: Record your videos in a quiet environment. Turn off fans, TVs, or anything else that could interfere with your voice.
• Use an External Microphone: Even an inexpensive lavalier mic or the one on your headphones will provide much clearer audio than your phone’s built-in mic, leading to significantly better transcription results.

"Can I Add or Edit Subtitles After Posting?"

Unfortunately, no. Once a video is published on TikTok, you cannot go back and add or edit the captions. This is why proofreading and customizing *before* you hit 'Post' is so important.

If you spot a major error after publishing, your only option is to delete the video and re-upload it with the corrections. To avoid this frustration, always save a copy of your finished video to your drafts before posting. That way, if you need to make a change, you don't have to start the entire editing process from scratch.

Final Thoughts

Using TikTok's powerful auto-caption feature is a fast and simple method to make your content more effective, accessible, and professional. By taking a few extra minutes to generate, proofread, and customize your subtitles, you ensure your message reaches a wider audience and stands out on the For You page.

Once your video is perfectly subtitled and ready for the world, the final step is getting it in front of your audience consistently. At Postbase, we designed our visual content calendar and scheduling tools specifically for creators who are tired of dealing with clunky workflows and unreliable tech. We built a platform that treats video - Reels, Shorts, and TikToks - as the priority it is, not an afterthought. With a unified inbox for all your comments and DMs and clean analytics to see what’s working, we're focused on making social media management feel less chaotic. It's the simple, modern, and reliable tool we wish we'd had when managing our own social media. Give Postbase a look if you're ready for a smoother process.