Does Pluto TV Have Closed Captions? What Is Pluto TV?

By Phillip Swann
The TV Answer Man –Follow me on X.

TV Answer Man, I like to use Closed Captions when I watch TV because I can follow along on a show without having the sound on. But I can’t seem to figure out how to do this when I watch Pluto TV. What am I missing here? — George, Scranton, Pennsylvania. 

George, you’ll be happy to know that Pluto TV does offer Closed Captioning. But before I explain how to implement that feature, allow me to explain Pluto TV to our readers who are not familiar with it.

What Is Pluto TV?
Pluto TV is a streaming service that has hundreds of channels — and they are all free (albeit with ads.).
There’s a slew of news channels such as CBS News, ABC News Live and Pluto TV News (the content is recent, but not live); a gaggle of sports channels including the NFL Channel, CBS Sports HQ, Fox Sports, and MLB, among others; and a collection of comedy channels including specialized channels for Mystery Science Theater 3000 and RiffTrax, the sequel to MSTK, starring members of the original cast. There are channels available in about dozen different categories of all kinds of genres.

Now, here’s how to watch Pluto TV with Closed Captioning.

How to Watch Pluto TV With Closed Captioning

If you are using a Browser, do the following:

1. When clicking the Audio & Subtitles icon, a “subtitle settings” option will appear to the top right

2. Activate this button to access caption appearance settings

If you have Roku, do the following:

1. Open Settings from the Roku home screen

2. Go to Accessibility, then select Captions style

If you are watching Pluto TV on an Android device, do this:
1. Open the Settings app in the Android TV system
2. Go to Accessibility, then select Caption preferences and then Caption size and style
3. Select a preset caption style or create a custom style

If you are watching Pluto on Amazon’s Fire TV, do this:

1. Open Settings (gear icon) in the Amazon Fire system
2. Go to Accessibility, then select Closed Caption
3. Caption appearance settings for text, text background, and window background are available

If you are watching Pluto on an iOS or tvOS device, do this:

1. Open your device’s Settings app
2. Go to Accessibility, then select Subtitles & Captioning from the Hearing section
3. Caption appearance settings may be adjusted under Style 

And for more devices, see this Pluto TV page.

George, hope that helps. Happy viewing and stay safe!

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Have a question about a favorite show, streaming service, or new TV technology? Send it to The TV Answer Man at swann@tvanswerman.com. Please include your first name and hometown in your message.

Who Is The TV Answer Man?
The TV Answer Man is veteran journalist Phillip Swann who has covered television for more than three decades. He will report on the latest news and answer your questions regarding new devices and services that are changing the way you watch TV. See the bio for Phillip Swann here.