Sky Subtitles Won’t Turn Off, Keep Coming Back? Quick Fix!!

Are you tired of turning off the subtitles on your Sky, but they keep coming back every time you change channels or watch the current one, not being able to properly disable the subtitles?

As you know, you are not alone and hundreds of Sky subscribers are experiencing the same minor yet annoying problem where they are not being able to turn off the subtitles. I too had this problem a short time ago and I’ll be able to help you.

Issue reported on Sky
Issue reported on Sky

After experiencing this issue with my Sky Q, I contacted Sky support and checked multiple forums and social sites to see if others were experiencing the same problem, according to the official support the issue is unknown to them and they advised me to restart my Sky box, which I did although that didn’t resolve the issue.

Later, after doing my own research and re-creating this many times, I found out that it was happening due to a very minor glitch with Sky box, and it was not a major issue at all.

Subtitles for Sky come directly from the broadcaster, which is why Sky doesn’t produce them automatically, although the functionality that enables you to turn off the subtitles in the box can cause them to come back sometimes due to minor glitches in the box settings.

Subtitles on Sky (Image: Streamingstash)
Subtitles on Sky (Image: Streamingstash)

Having said that, let’s look at the steps to take when you are unable to turn off your Sky, Sky Q, or Sky Mini box’s subtitles or when they keep coming back.

How To Turn Off Subtitles on Sky?

Prior to attempting troubleshooting steps, make sure you are following the correct steps to turn them off, as sometimes users weren’t able to perform the correct steps, and the subtitles came back automatically.

In all Sky set-top boxes, you have the option of turning off subtitles on a particular channel or content, as well as permanently turning off subtitles across all channels on the Sky Box.

Sky Subtitle Settings
Sky Subtitle Settings

I’ll show you the steps for turning off subtitles on your current channel and all Sky channels and on-demand content.

Note: If you simply say “Subtitles Off” as a voice command, then the default setting will change to Off. Likewise, if you say “Subtitles On”, the default setting will change to On.

Whereas, if you press the “?” button, then it should only change it for the one program or recording and return to its default setting upon exit or channel change.

Turn Off Sky Closed Captions Permanently?

All supported channels will automatically have closed captions turned off as a result of this process.

  1. Press the setup button on your Sky Q remote.
  2. Choose Audio & Subtitles from the list of options.
  3. Choose your language.
  4. On your remote, press the left/right arrows to choose English or Off.
  5. Once you’ve made the changes, press the green button to save them.

Alternatively, you can disable Subtitles in the accessibility settings.

Navigate to “Home > Settings > Accessibility” and then turn off Subtitles from the right-hand side.

Temporarily Disable Sky Q Closed Captions On Any Channel

Using this procedure, you can only disable closed captions on a particular channel. Changing the channel will override the setting.

  1. Locate and press the ‘i’ button on your Sky Q remote control.
  2. Select yellow or language from the drop-down menu.
  3. With the remote, use the left/right buttons to select a subtitle language.
  4. After that, select Off using the up/down button arrows.

In addition, the subtitles can be temporarily enabled on specific channels by using the same method.

Sky closed caption turning off and on steps

Turning Off Subtitles On Sky Using The Sky Voice Remote

If you have the new Sky Q remote with Voice Control, you can say “Turn subtitles on” into the microphone by pressing and holding the voice button.

Note: Whenever you are watching any show or channel that supports subtitles, subtitles will appear until you turn them off.

Important: For Live TV and On Demand content, subtitles are available in the Sky Go app on all platforms, including Android, iPhone, iPad, Windows, Mac, and games consoles. They are not available for recordings or live TV streams in Sky Go from a Sky Q set-top box connected to Sky Go.

Now that you know multiple ways to turn off and on subtitles on your Sky set-top box, let’s talk about an issue where even if you have followed the above process to turn off subtitles, they either keep popping back on or they don’t get turned off.

How do I fix Sky Subtitles that keep coming back or won’t turn off?

Subtitles that keep coming back or not getting disabled might be due to a glitch in the settings of Sky set-top boxes, which can be fixed simply by performing a cold reboot or by resetting the Skybox.

Sky subtitle turning off steps
Sky subtitle turning off steps

To fix this on your Sky box, here are the different methods to follow, and make sure you follow each method one at a time:

Reboot Your Sky Box:

  1. In order to turn off your Sky box, Sky Glass TV, or Sky Stream puck from the mains, press standby on the remote control attached to the Sky box.
  2. Let it sit for a couple of minutes, then switch it back on.
  3. If you have a Sky box, Sky Glass TV, or Sky Stream puck, turn it back on after at least 4 minutes by pressing standby on your remote. If you are using Sky Q, wait at least 5 minutes for your screen to go blank, then press Home.

As soon as you’ve done this, you can make changes and turn off the subtitles again, and everything will be fine.

So, If you can’t turn off subtitles or they keep coming back on, reboot the SKY Q box by turning off the power at the socket for 30 seconds and then turning it on again.

Wrapping It Up

We need subtitles sometimes and sometimes we don’t, but it should be our choice. I understand what you mean when you can’t turn off subtitles on your Sky box or they keep coming back.

I hope with the help of the above guide, you will be able to get this sorted same as I have done with my Sky Q, to quickly wrap it up here are the key takeaways:

  • To turn off subtitles, make sure you follow the correct process.
  • Sky offers two options for controlling subtitles. One is permanent and the other is temporary.
  • You can try unplugging the Sky box from the main switch for 3-4 minutes to turn off subtitles if you cannot turn them off.
  • In case none of these steps work and you still experience problems, try a hard reset of your Sky box.

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