Closed Captions
Every word and meaningful sound, on your screen — dialogue, speaker cues and effects — for Deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences.
Closed Captions (CC) show the film's dialogue as text, along with speaker labels and descriptions of meaningful sounds — [door creaks], [tense music] — so the full soundtrack is available to read.
KinoSync displays captions on your phone, synced to the screening so each line appears exactly as it's spoken. You control the text size and contrast, keeping your eyes free to follow the screen.
Closed captions are not the same as subtitles. Subtitles assume you can hear the soundtrack and usually translate dialogue only; captions are written for Deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers and include who is speaking and the non-dialogue sounds that carry meaning — a phone buzzing off-screen, music swelling, a door slamming. That extra information is often the difference between following a scene and guessing at it.
Captions also help far more people than they were first designed for: anyone in a noisy room, anyone watching in a second language, anyone who simply reads along more comfortably. With KinoSync the captions belong to your phone rather than the screen, so every screening becomes a captioned screening — not just the handful a cinema schedules.
Closed Captions: questions answered
What's the difference between closed captions and subtitles?
Subtitles usually translate dialogue only and assume you can hear. Closed captions are written for Deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers — they add speaker labels and descriptions of meaningful sounds, so the full soundtrack is readable.
How do I watch a film with closed captions at the cinema?
Open KinoSync, choose your film, select the closed captions track and press play. The captions appear on your phone in time with the screening — no special showing and no extra hardware required.
Can I change the caption text size?
Yes. You can set the caption text size and contrast so they're comfortable to read, and glance down only when you need to.
Which films have closed captions?
You can see every film available with closed captions on the KinoSync movies page — each title lists exactly which accessibility tracks it offers.
Download KinoSync. Never miss a frame.
Free to download. Bring it to your next screening and turn on the tracks you need — Audio Description, Captions, Sign Language.
Available on iOS & Android · works in any cinema seat