Device: iPhone 18 Pro
iOS Version: 27.2
Reddit App Version: 2026.41.0
Platform: iOS
Description:
YouTube videos embedded directly within the Reddit iOS app automatically enable closed captions (CC), despite captions being disabled in both iOS accessibility settings and the YouTube app.
The issue appears to be related to session persistence. Disabling captions works temporarily, but the preference resets every time Reddit is fully closed and reopened.
Steps to Reproduce:
Open the Reddit iOS app.
Navigate to a post containing an embedded YouTube video.
Play the video. Closed captions are enabled automatically.
Tap the CC button to disable captions.
Navigate to another Reddit post containing an embedded YouTube video. Captions remain disabled.
Force-close Reddit using the iOS app switcher.
Reopen Reddit and play another embedded YouTube video.
Captions are automatically enabled again.
Expected Behavior:
The embedded YouTube player should remember the user’s caption preference across Reddit app sessions. Once captions are disabled, they should remain disabled unless manually re-enabled.
Actual Behavior:
The caption preference persists only while Reddit remains open. Force-closing and reopening Reddit resets the preference, automatically enabling captions again on embedded YouTube videos.
Troubleshooting Performed:
Verified that Closed Captions + SDH is disabled in iOS settings.
Disabled all three iOS Automatic Subtitles options: Show When Muted, Show on Skip Back, and When Languages Don’t Match.
Confirmed captions are disabled in the YouTube app.
Confirmed YouTube’s Show When Muted setting is disabled.
Reproduced the issue with multiple embedded YouTube videos across different subreddits.
Confirmed that caption preferences persist within an active Reddit session but reset after restarting the app.
Confirmed the issue occurs on Reddit version 2026.41.0.
Additional Information:
This appears to be an issue with how Reddit’s embedded YouTube player initializes or persists caption preferences between app sessions.
Is this a known issue? Is there a way to permanently disable captions for embedded YouTube videos within Reddit?