Live Captions / Captions for WhatsApp, Teams and Telegram calls

How to get live captions for WhatsApp, Teams and Telegram calls on a PC

Updated October 27, 2026

Microsoft Teams has built-in live captions for Teams meetings, but WhatsApp desktop and Telegram desktop have no captions for calls at all. To read every call on a Windows 10 or 11 PC, whichever app it's in, run Live Captions & Transcribe: it captions the sound your PC plays, about one second behind the speaker, in a window that stays on top of the call.

Most of us don't take calls in just one app. Work is in Teams, the family is on WhatsApp, a club or a group of friends is on Telegram. Each app does captions differently, or not at all, so it helps to have one place where every call turns into text.

What each app offers on its own

App on the PC	Built-in call captions	With Live Captions & Transcribe
Microsoft Teams	Yes, for Teams meetings, inside Teams only	Captions, speaker colors, history and TXT/SRT export
WhatsApp desktop	No	Captions, speaker colors, history and TXT/SRT export
Telegram desktop	No	Captions, speaker colors, history and TXT/SRT export
Zoom, Google Meet, Discord	Depends on the app and your plan	Captions, speaker colors, history and TXT/SRT export

Option 1: Teams' own captions (Teams meetings only)

If all you need is a Teams meeting, try the built-in captions first. During the meeting, open the More (…) menu in the meeting controls and turn on live captions. The exact menu names change between Teams versions, and your organization's settings may affect what's available.

They stop the moment you leave Teams: a WhatsApp call with family or a Telegram group call afterwards gets no captions at all.

Option 2: one app for all your calls

Live Captions & Transcribe doesn't plug into any call app. It listens to what your PC plays through its speakers or headphones and turns that into text. So it works the same way for WhatsApp, Telegram, Teams, Zoom, Google Meet and Discord, and also for YouTube, podcasts and lectures between calls.

Install it from the Microsoft Store. Open the Live Captions & Transcribe page in the Microsoft Store and click Get. It runs on Windows 10 and 11 (x64). No account or card is needed to try it.
Open the app and pick computer sound. That's the setting for calls: the app hears the other people exactly as you do.
Place the window. Put the caption window under or beside the call window. It stays on top, so it won't disappear behind WhatsApp or Teams. Turn on click-through if you want to click the call buttons underneath it.
Press Start, then take the call. Captions appear as people speak. The language is detected automatically from 60 speech languages, so a call in another language needs no extra setup.
Make the text comfortable. Set the size up to 64 pt and choose a light, dark or high-contrast style. Each speaker gets their own color and starts on a new line.
Look back after the call. The session is saved in the history on your PC. Search it, rename "Speaker 1" to a real name, copy a quote, or export it to TXT or SRT.

Tips for WhatsApp and Telegram calls

Use the desktop apps or the web versions in a browser; either way the sound plays on the PC, so the captions work.
Calls on your phone are a different device: the app captions only what plays on the PC.
If you also want your own words in the transcript, switch the source to the microphone. The app listens to one source at a time.

Tips for Teams

If you turn on Teams' own captions too, you'll read the same words twice. Pick one.
Teams meetings, Teams calls and webinars all play through the PC's sound, so Live Captions & Transcribe handles them the same way.

Privacy in calls

Nothing is installed into WhatsApp, Teams or Telegram, no bot joins the call, and the other people don't see your captions or get any notice. The app needs an internet connection: while captions are running, the audio is sent to a cloud speech recognition service to turn it into text. The audio is not recorded, and transcripts are saved only on your PC, where you can delete them. More in the privacy policy.

Captions are in the spoken language only; the app does not translate. If you need a call translated in real time, use the sister app Live Subtitles. Large text and speaker colors also make family calls easier for relatives who are hard of hearing.

Try Live Captions & Transcribe free on Windows 10 or 11. No account, no card.

Get it from Microsoft Store

Questions and answers

Does WhatsApp desktop have live captions for calls?

No. WhatsApp desktop has no live captions for voice or video calls. To read a WhatsApp call on a Windows PC, run an app that captions the PC's sound, such as Live Captions & Transcribe.

Does Telegram desktop have captions for calls?

No. Telegram desktop has no live captions for calls. Live Captions & Transcribe captions Telegram calls on Windows 10 and 11 by listening to the sound the PC plays.

Does Microsoft Teams have built-in captions?

Yes, Teams meetings have built-in live captions that you turn on from the meeting controls. They work only inside Teams. If you also take calls in WhatsApp, Telegram or Zoom, a system-wide app such as Live Captions & Transcribe captions all of them in one window.

Will the other people in the call know I am using captions?

No. Live Captions & Transcribe installs nothing into WhatsApp, Teams or Telegram, no bot joins the call, and the captions are visible only on your screen.

Can I save what was said in the call?

Yes. Live Captions & Transcribe keeps each session in a history on your PC, where you can search it, rename speakers, copy the text or export it to TXT or SRT. The audio itself is not recorded.

Will the captions be translated?

No. Live Captions & Transcribe shows captions in the language being spoken, detected automatically from 60 languages. For real-time translation of calls, the sister app Live Subtitles shows the original and a translation together.