Closed captions for Bedrock Edition

Psst! Hear that? Probably not, because it’s text – and that’s great! Text and visual cues are an excellent way to share information that might otherwise be missed by many people, including deaf and hard-of-hearing players, players who process audio differently, or anyone dealing with plain old broken headphones. That’s why we’re bringing closed captions to Bedrock Edition for a more inclusive and convenient game experience! 

Now everyone can be more aware of their surroundings in Minecraft, dramatically lowering the chance of creeper sneak attacks (not to zero, though – they’ll always find a way). Closed captions allow deaf and hard-of-hearing players to experience Minecraft through visual cues. They’re also very convenient for situations in which you can’t have sound enabled or simply can’t pay full attention to it. 

How do closed captions work? 

When enabled, closed captions display short descriptions of nearby sounds, including creepers hissing, footsteps, doors opening, zombie groans, and many more. These captions appear on your screen in real time, and they also include directional cues to help you locate the source of the sound. We need to make sure you can run away FROM the creeper, and not accidentally towards it!  

You can switch on closed captions by going to Settings > Accessibility > Gameplay. You can also adjust various customization settings, including how long captions stay on screen, where they appear on the HUD, and which sounds are shown. This way, you can tailor your closed captions to your needs and playstyle. 

How do closed captions help me? 

Haven’t tried closed captions before? They can be super convenient for any player, regardless of their ability. Based on the feedback we’ve received on this feature, closed captions reduce stress and increase confidence in dangerous situations (like in combat or at night), improve players’ awareness of off-screen threats and events, and help them notice easily missed sounds, like items dropping or cooking completing.  

I noticed an incorrect caption, what now? 

Glad you asked! Closed captions are an evolving feature that we’re continuously refining, based on our own testing and your feedback. If you see any incorrect or missing captions, please submit a report at feedback.minecraft.net so we can work on a fix! 

Right now, the known issues include some potentially incorrect or inconsistent sounds (which we’re working on), directional indicators being hard to interpret (especially in vertical spaces), and caption clutter during busy moments. 

Closed captions can take a while to dial in, as there are so many small details one can get wrong – sometimes hilariously wrong. During localization, the caption for the “pants” wolf sound was translated a bit too literally, resulting in UK players briefly being notified about “wolf trousers” instead. Imagine my disappointment when I realized the adorable pet attire was, in fact, not real. 

Are you excited to experience more of the Overworld through sight? Try out closed captions and let us know what you think!