How to add captions to an English lesson or language-learning clip on iPhone

Why caption English lessons

Short English lessons, such as a word of the day, a common phrase, a pronunciation tip or a grammar mistake to avoid, are popular in short-form feeds. Learners often understand more when they can read along, and word-by-word captions link the sound of each word to its spelling at the moment it is spoken. Captions also reach viewers watching with the sound off and viewers who are deaf or hard of hearing.

This guide is for teachers, tutors and creators who make English lessons for learners on social media. For announcements and explainers made for your own class, see the classroom guide; for how the one-word-at-a-time style works, the word-by-word guide. CaptionAddr burns the captions into the picture, so they show wherever you post.

Caption an English lesson on iPhone

1. Record a clear lesson. Speak at a steady pace, close to the microphone, in a quiet room. Keep the lesson in English; words in other languages may come out wrong because CaptionAddr transcribes English only.
2. Choose the video. Tap Select Video in CaptionAddr and pick the clip with Apple’s Photos picker. Vertical, square and landscape videos all work, and the video keeps its shape.
3. Let the captions generate. Captions start as soon as the video opens; keep the app open; the English speech is transcribed on your iPhone, not on a server.
4. Check every word. Learners copy what they read, so a misheard word teaches the wrong thing. Correct spellings in Edit Captions, and delete false starts or words you don’t want shown. You can edit, delete and reorder words, with undo and redo.
5. Choose a readable style. Pick a plain font from the 20 available at a large size, and turn on the tinted background so each word stands out. Drag the captions where they won’t cover your mouth if you are showing pronunciation.
6. Export and post. Tap Export Video to save the captioned copy to Photos, then upload it to TikTok, Reels, Shorts or a class page. The watermark is off unless you turn it on.

Tips for language lesson captions

• Pause around the key word. A short pause before and after the word you are teaching gives it its own moment on screen.
• Say it, then use it. Say the new word on its own, then in a full example sentence, so learners see it both ways.
• Remember the uppercase style. Captions always appear in uppercase, so they don’t show the difference between capital and lowercase letters. Point it out in your lesson when it matters.
• Keep one topic per clip. Short clips that teach one word or one phrase are easier to follow and easier to check.
• Keep your original. CaptionAddr exports a new copy and leaves the original clip in your library.

Limits

• English only. CaptionAddr transcribes English speech and doesn’t translate, so it can’t make subtitles in a learner’s own language or show two languages at once.
• No pronunciation feedback. The app writes down what it hears; it doesn’t score pronunciation, show phonetic spelling or check grammar.
• Single-word captions. Words appear one at a time, timed automatically, always in uppercase; there are no speaker labels, full-sentence layouts or manual per-word timing, and you can only fix, delete or reorder the transcribed words.
• No audio changes. The app doesn’t remove background noise, slow down speech or change the audio; deleting a word removes it from the captions only.
• Length. Free covers videos up to 2 minutes; CaptionAddr Pro covers up to 30 minutes. The App Store shows the current Pro price in your currency.
• Burned-in captions only. There is no SRT, VTT or text export, and the app doesn’t post to social platforms.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides

• How to add captions to a classroom or teacher video on iPhone
• Word-by-word captions on iPhone
• Accessible captions for videos on iPhone

All caption guides →