How to Change the Netflix Subtitles on Your iPad or iPhone

This guide will show you how to edit the subtitles – the font, the font size, color and even background color – for all of the videos you watch on your iPad or iPhone (specifically including Netflix).

The default subtitles that iOS uses, which carries over to the Netflix App, may not be ideal for all viewers. Here’s what they look like by default:

a Netflix screen on an iPhone with the default subtitles displayed
click to enlarge

and here’s an example of what they can look like (when you choose your own font, size and color):

a Netflix screen with custom subtitles
click to enlarge

It’s a little more complicated than it should be, but we’ll take you each and every step of the way through. Here goes –

  1. Tap the Settings button.
  2. the iOS Settings button

  3. Scroll down and select Accessibility from the list of options.
  4. an arrow pointing at the Accessibility option in the iOS Settings list

  5. Scroll way down to the HEARING section, and tap the Subtitles & Captioning item
  6. an arrow pointing at Subtitles & Captioning from the HEARING section of the iOS Settings

  7. Tap the Style option.
  8. an arrow pointing at a line item titled Style

  9. The top section of this window will show you how your subtitles look. Tap the Classic from the list of options to preview that style.
  10. the list of default subtitles for an iPhone or iPad to use including Netflix

  11. You can also do some basic style changes here – tap the Large Text option.
  12. changing the iPhone subtitles to have larger text to use in Netflix

  13. To create a completely custom subtitle style, tap the Create New Style… option.
  14. In the Description section, give your subtitle style a name. Something descriptive is helpful, but it doesn’t really matter. Then in the Text section directly below the Description, tap the Font item
  15. entering a name to use for custom subtitles on an iPhone

  16. From here, select a font that works best for you. As usual, you can ‘preview’ what each one looks like in the top section of the window. VERY IMPORTANT – make sure to toggle the Video Override option to OFF.
  17. the iOS subtitle preview area

  18. Return to the previous screen and select a font Color and Size. Again, you must toggle the Video Override for each one to the OFF position.
  19. toggle switch for Video Override in the off position

  20. When you’re happy with the final result, open the Netflix App on your iPhone/iPad, launch a movie or show and turn on Subtitles. Ta-ta!
  21. a Netflix screen on an iPhone with custom subtitles
    click to enlarge

If you want to change the subtitles for Netflix on other devices (Smart TV’s etc) check out this guide.


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