How to get live translated captions on a Mac

In FaceTime, click More during a video call, then Live Translation: the other person's words show as captions in your language. That's built into macOS, for one-on-one calls, on a Mac with Apple silicon and Apple Intelligence.

For other call apps, the translation comes from the app or from something on your Mac:

• Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams each have translated captions of their own, on paid plans.
• Apple's Live Captions caption the sound of any app, but Apple's guide describes captions in the language spoken, not a translation.
• Koi shows what the others say in your language while it records a call, translated on your Mac, on macOS 26 or later.

We make Koi, so read the Koi part with that in mind. Everything about Apple, Zoom, Google and Microsoft comes from their own help pages, checked October 16, 2026.

From Apple's FaceTime guide:

1. During a FaceTime video call, click the More button. If you don't see it, move the pointer over the FaceTime window.
2. Click Live Translation.
3. When the other person speaks a different language, their words are translated into captions in your preferred language.

Live Translation is for one-on-one calls, in English (UK and US), French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish (Spain), Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Japanese and Korean. It comes with Apple Intelligence, and Live Captions themselves need a Mac with Apple silicon. Apple says all the audio is processed on your Mac, and warns that accuracy may vary, so don't rely on it where a mistake would matter.

The same More menu has Live Captions, which captions the call in the language being spoken. For captions everywhere else, macOS has Live Captions in System Settings, under Accessibility. By default it captions the audio from every app, which takes in a Zoom or Teams call, again on Apple silicon and processed on the Mac. Apple's guide doesn't describe translation there or a way to save the captions.

Zoom's translated captions depend on the host. Per Zoom's setup article, the host's account needs Zoom Workplace Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Plus or Enterprise Premier, or the Translated Captions add-on, and an admin turns it on. Once it's on, any participant can use it, per Zoom's viewing article:

1. Join the meeting in the Zoom desktop app.
2. Click Show Captions in the toolbar, or More, then Captions.
3. Click the up arrow next to Show Captions.
4. Under Captions and translation, turn on Translation and pick your language.
5. Click Save.

The languages you can pick are the ones the host set up. Zoom's own page says it plainly: translated captions may not be accurate.

Translated captions in Meet are on Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Plus, and on Google AI Pro for Education. In the meeting:

1. Click More options, then Settings, then Captions.
2. Choose the language being spoken in the meeting.
3. Turn on translated captions.
4. Choose the language you want them in.

Google lists 69 languages to translate to or from, and notes the feature is still rolling out. The captions only cover the parts of the meeting where you're there with captions on. For everything else about Meet, see how to record Google Meet on a Mac.

Per Microsoft's captions page, live translated captions come with Teams Premium or an eligible add-on license. If the organizer has one, everyone in the meeting can use them. If only some people do, only they see the Translate to option.

1. In the meeting controls, click More actions, then Captions.
2. Open the caption settings and check that the meeting's spoken language is right.
3. Under Translate to, choose your language.

Teams doesn't save captions. Microsoft says caption data is deleted when the meeting ends, so if you want the words afterwards, that's a transcript, which is a separate feature. More in how to record a Teams meeting on a Mac.

Koi's captions don't depend on the call app's plan, because they come from your Mac. They're part of Koi's Record calls, so they run while Koi is recording a call, and only then.

1. In Koi's Settings, open the Koi tab, and under Calls and meetings turn on Live captions in my language. It appears on macOS 26 or later.
2. Pick the language you want the captions in. If it isn't on your Mac yet, download it there.
3. On the call, tap Fn + ⌃ and pick Online call, or choose Record an Online Call in the menu bar.

As each stretch of what the others say is written down, it shows at the bottom of your screen in your language, translated on your Mac by Apple's Translation, with the words as they were said underneath. The captions are sent nowhere, and they never show in a screen you share. Until a language has downloaded, the captions show the words as said.

When the call ends, it's a document in Recents with the video and the transcript, You and Them in turns. If the call was in your second language, turn on “Coach how I speak” too: when you say yes to the call's notes, they add a few things you said, put more naturally, and words worth practising. If you dictate in one language and need English, see speaking any language and typing in English.

The limits, plainly. Captions only run while Koi records, so everything about recording applies, including asking people first. They translate what the others say, not your own voice, and everyone else is one Them. The translation is Apple's, and we haven't measured its quality, so try it on a short call before one that matters. Koi needs the Screen Recording permission to hear the call. Recording is unlimited on every plan: Pro is $20 a month after a 3-day free trial that needs a card, and the rest is on the pricing page.

Turning on captions in FaceTime, Zoom, Meet or Teams doesn't record the call, and Teams says it doesn't keep captions at all. Koi is different: its captions come with a recording, so the people on the call should know they're being recorded.

Whether you can record a call depends on where you and the others are. In many places everyone has to agree. Koi doesn't announce itself to the call, so ask at the start, wait for a yes, and don't record if anyone says no. This isn't legal advice.

• A one-on-one FaceTime call in one of Apple's languages? Live Translation. Nothing to install.
• A Zoom, Meet or Teams call where the host's plan includes translated captions? Use the app's own.
• Just need captions, not a translation, in any app? Apple's Live Captions.
• Calls in a language you're still learning, on a plan without translation, and you want the transcript afterwards? Koi's captions, with everyone's OK to record.