Subtitle problems
What to do when a video has no subtitles, the track list won’t load, subtitles are out of sync or the text is wrong in PlayLingo.
PlayLingo builds lessons from a video’s YouTube subtitles. Most problems are solved by picking another track or opening the video again. Find the message you see below.
How to pick another subtitle track
- Open the video page.
- Tap the Subtitles row.
- Choose a track. The preview shows the First line of this track, so you can check it before watching.
- Tap Watch.
Tracks are grouped into Language of this video, Your languages and Other languages.
“No Subtitles — This video can’t be used for learning”
The video has no subtitles on YouTube at all, neither from the author nor automatic ones. It can’t be opened for learning — choose another video.
“Subtitles unavailable — Couldn’t load the track list”
PlayLingo couldn’t get the list of tracks from YouTube. Check your connection, close the video page and open it again. If it keeps happening, see Region restrictions and VPN.
“Couldn’t get this track”
This particular track didn’t load. Pick another track in the list.
“Can’t prepare subtitles”
Try another track. If you see “Subtitles are gone — open the video again”, close the video and open it once more.
Subtitles are out of sync, have no punctuation or wrong words
The text quality depends on the track type:
- Enhanced — adapted for learning: split into sentences, with punctuation. Preparing takes a few seconds the first time.
- Auto — YouTube’s speech recognition as it comes: no punctuation, lines cut by time.
- Channel — uploaded by the author; quality ranges from excellent to very poor.
Switch to Enhanced if it’s available. To tell us about a bad track, tap ⓘ in the Subtitles screen and then Report a problem.
Clear saved subtitles
Subtitles are saved on your device. If they look broken, delete them and they’ll load again:
- For one video: in your history, tap ⋯ next to the video and choose Delete Subtitles.
- For all videos: Settings → App → Storage.
Common questions
Why are subtitles in the wrong language?
A different track was selected. Open Subtitles on the video page and choose a track under Language of this video.
Can I add my own subtitle file?
No. PlayLingo uses the subtitles available on YouTube.
Related guides
- Subtitle tracksHow to pick the subtitle language and track type for a YouTube video in PlayLingo — Enhanced, Auto and Channel — and report bad subtitles.
- Video won’t openWhat to do when a YouTube video won’t open in PlayLingo — “Video Unavailable”, “No Subtitles”, “Sign In Required” and region restrictions.
- Subtitles and translationWatch YouTube with two lines of subtitles — the original and a translation into your language — and switch the translation or original on and off.
- Storage and cacheSee how much space PlayLingo’s cached images, subtitles and web data take, and clear them without losing your words or progress.