Accessibility features on HBO Max
You can use accessibility features to get around HBO Max and stream shows and movies. HBO Max supports the following:
Captions
Some shows and movies on HBO Max can be watched with captions. Closed captions are only available in English. During playback, you can turn captions on or off by choosing the Audio and Captions button in the video player.
For more info, go to Subtitles, captions, and audio.
Audio Description (Narration)
Audio description is an alternate audio track that describes what's happening on screen in between dialogue (for example, a detailed narration of the scene or action that's taking place).
Audio description may only be available in English. Shows and movies with audio description will have an Audio Description indicator on the details page.
Turn Audio description on or off
You can turn on Audio Description for select shows and movies. When you turn on Audio Description, it plays as the default audio track for other shows and movies you watch (if available). Here's how:
- Start playing a show or movie, then bring up the player controls.
- Choose the Audio and Subtitles menu
. - In the Audio section, choose English - Audio Description (if available), then select the close subtitles and audio popup button (X) to close.
To turn off audio description, re-open Audio and Subtitles menu and choose any other language in the Audio section.
If you've turned off audio description in HBO Max but it keeps playing, check your device settings. For example:
- On your phone or tablet, go to Settings > Accessibility and turn off Audio Description.
Finding shows and movies with Audio Description
In HBO Max, choose the Search icon 
and then type DVS or Audio Description.
Screen readers
You can use screen readers to help you find and play titles. HBO Max supports the following screen readers:
- Android phone or tablet, Android TV: TalkBack
- Apple iPad, iPhone, Apple TV: VoiceOver
- Fire TV: VoiceView *
- Hisense VIDAA TV: Text-to-Speech
- Samsung: Voice Guide ***
- Web: NVDA, JAWS, VoiceOver, TalkBack
*Fire TV's VoiceView does not support Dolby Audio in playback. You may need to disable Dolby Audio on your Fire TV device to control playback with VoiceView.
**If you use a Samsung Android device and you use the Samsung Voice Assistant, you may need to install TalkBack to get full support for the screen reader.
You can also stream using AirPlay or Chromecast and use the screen reader on your phone or tablet to control playback.
Keyboard navigation
You can use an external (hardware) keyboard to get around HBO Max and control playback on the web, phone or tablet. Here's how:
Get around HBO Max
- Press Tab or the Arrow keys to move between items.
- Press Spacebar to choose the selected item.
- Press Enter to activate links.
- Press Esc to close the menus and overlays.
Are you using a keyboard on a streaming player?
- Use the Arrow keys to navigate and the Enter key to select.
- Keyboard shortcuts aren't available at this time.
Photosensitivity warnings
Some shows and movies with intense flash patterns have a photosensitivity warning on the title details screen and in the video player when you first start watching. The photosensitivity warning in the video player appears in the top corner after the ratings. A portion of our shows and movies have gone through our new process of receiving these warnings.
Some devices automatically play previews while you browse HBO Max. The autoplay previews don't include photosensitivity warnings. When you first encounter an autoplay preview on the web, you can stop it by hitting the Spacebar. On TV devices, you can stop an autoplay preview by navigating left to one of the global navigation items. You can turn off Autoplay Previews in the HBO Max app settings on your device. For instructions, go to HBO Max settings.
