Google Duo to soon roll out closed captions: Here’s how it works

Google was earlier found working on closed captions for its video calling app, Duo. This feature is currently being tested and a preview of it shows that closed captions are available for the voicemail feature on Duo.

Reverse engineer Jane Manchun Wong had first revealed about this feature in February this year. XDA Developers has now managed to get a preview of it and how it works on Duo. For now, closed captions are available only for voicemails and not for live video calling as one would expect. Google Duo lets users record videos that can be sent out as voicemails.

Once the video message is recorded on Duo, users will see a "CC" option on top for closed captions. Users can tap on this to turn on the feature and closed captions for the audio will appear on the video. XDA explains that the captioning isn't very accurate on Duo.

There's also a separate settings menu for closed captions which users can toggle on/off. Along with this users can also save these messages like videos, voice messages, photos and notes locally. Google doesn't remove these messages until deleted by the user.

Google hasn't rolled out this feature for Duo as yet. It might be available first for Pixel users who already have closed captioning available on their phones. Google has been making some improvements to Duo recently like using artificial noise to improve voice calls on the app. Google is using this tech called WaveNetEQ which removes audio jitter often heard while making calls online, by using artificial noise that mimics human speech.

Google Duo also rolled out support for 12 participants in video calls as demand for video calling apps surged with people across the world in lockdown.