Okay, so the other day I was trying to binge-watch “The Last of Us” on HBO Max (amazing show, by the way), and the captions were stuck on. Like, super glued on. I’m not hard of hearing, and I didn’t turn them on, so I was pretty annoyed.
First thing I did, like any normal person, was grab the remote. I mashed the little settings button, scrolled around the on-screen menu, but nothing. No option to turn the darn things off. I felt like I was going crazy!
Then I thought, “Maybe it’s the TV?” So I messed with my actual TV settings – picture mode, sound, everything. Still no luck. Captions were still there, mocking me.
Next, I tried the HBO Max app on my phone. Figured I could maybe control it from there. Opened the show, looked for any kind of settings icon… nope. Nothing to turn off captions.
I even tried exiting the app completely on my TV, thinking maybe a fresh start would help. Rebooted the whole thing. Still there! Those stubborn captions just wouldn’t quit.
My Solution(Finally!)
Finally, after what felt like hours (probably more like 20 minutes), I stumbled upon the solution. It’s a little weird, but it worked.
- I started playing the show.
- During Playback. I pressed the up button on my Fire TV remote. Some other remotes might be the down button or even a dedicated captions button. Check your remote.
- I found a icon on the top left. it’s like a speech bubble or a little text box. I think it might be a Fire TV remote control thing.
- I selected the speech bubble, and it gave me options for audio and subtitles.
- I switched the subtitles to “Off”.
Seriously, that’s all it took. A hidden menu that only appears during playback! Who knew? Anyway, I finally got to watch in peace, caption-free. Hope this helps someone else avoid the same frustrating experience!