Accessibility features on Max
You can use accessibility features to get around Max and stream shows and movies. Max supports the following:
- Closed captions
- Sign Language
- Audio description
- Screen readers
- Keyboard navigation
- Alexa voice commands
- Photosensitivity warnings
Closed captions
Most shows and movies on Max can be watched with closed captions. During playback, you can turn closed captions on or off by choosing the Audio and Captions button in the video player.
For more info, go to Subtitles, captions, and audio.
Sign Language
Some shows and movies on Max offer American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation. To find programming that supports ASL, search for "ASL" in Max. If a show or movie supports ASL, you'll see (with ASL) along with a badge on the image.
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). Max provides more than 8,500 viewing hours of Audio Descriptive Content. Our library is always growing.
- On the Max Home screen, find the Browse by Genre row (the last row on the Home screen), then choose Audio Description.
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 descriptions, re-open Audio and Subtitles menu and choose any other language in the Audio section.
Roku: Play a show or movie, then press the Star button (*) on your Roku remote to bring up the Accessibility and Captions options.
Finding shows and movies with Audio Description
Search:
- In Max, choose Search from the Home screen. You can search for Audio Description or DVS.
-or- - On the search page, scroll down to the Browse by Genre row and choose Audio Description. Here you'll find the full collection of Audio Description content.
From the Home Page:
- On the Max Home page, scroll down to the Browse by Genre row (the last row on the Home screen). Choose the Audio Description tile. Here you'll find the full collection of Audio Description content.
From the Series or Movies Page:
- In Max, select the Series or Movies tab at the top of the page.
- Scroll down to find the Browse by Genre row (a series of tabs that describe every genre) and select the Audio Description tile. Here you can find all Series and Movies with Audio Description. In the Audio Description collection, you can filter titles alphabetically or by genre.
- Select the series and movies you would like to explore.
From Max.com:
Signed in to Max.com? You can find the Audio Description collection at play.max.com/audio-description.You can also find the Audio Description collection this way:
- On the Max.com Home page, press Tab to bring up the focus. Then, press Tab again to focus on Browse Audio Description.
- Press Space to select Browse Audio Description. This will take you to the Audio Description collection.
- Android phone or tablet, Android TV: TalkBack
- Apple iPad, iPhone, Apple TV: VoiceOver
- Comcast: Voice Guidance
- Cox: Voice Guidance
- DIRECTV: TalkBack
- FireTV: VoiceView *
- Hisense VIDAA TV: Text-to-Speech
- PlayStation 5: Screen Reader **
- Roku: Screen Reader
- Samsung: Voice Guide ***
- Web: NVDA, JAWS, VoiceOver, TalkBack
- Xbox: Narrator
- 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.
- Use the Arrow keys to navigate and the Enter key to select.
- Keyboard shortcuts are not available at this time.
- Amazon Fire TV device
- Alexa enabled device, Alexa voice remote, or a paired Echo device
- Make sure your Amazon Fire TV is up to date. To do this, go to Settings > Device > About > Check for System Update.
- Make sure your Alexa device is linked to your Fire TV. Find out how at Use Your Alexa Device to Control Your Fire TV.
You can find the Browse Audio Description button at the top of most pages on Max.com (the menu is hidden until you access it via keyboard navigation). Skip to Main Content and Browse Audio Description aren’t available while you watch programming.
Screen readers
You can use screen readers to help you find and play titles. Max supports the following screen readers:
*FireTV's VoiceView does not support Dolby Audio in playback. You may need to disable Dolby Audio on your FireTV device to control playback with VoiceView.
**Support for PlayStation 4 is coming soon. Please check back for updates.
***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 Max and control playback on the web, phone or tablet. Here's how:
Get around Max
Are you using a Keyboard on a Connected TV or Gaming Console?
Alexa voice commands
You can use Alexa voice commands to find and play Max shows and movies, as well as control video playback. For example, you can say commands like "Alexa, find dramas on Max" or "Alexa, play House of the Dragon."
What you need:
You can use the following Alexa commands with Max. If you're using an Alexa Voice Remote, press and hold the Voice button and then talk to Alexa.
To open Max, use open or launch. For example, say "Alexa, open Max." Then, choose a profile and start streaming.
To search for a show or movie, use find. For example, say "Alexa, find The Last of Us."
Playback controls
To play a movie or the next episode in a series, use play or watch. For example, say "Alexa, play The White Lotus."
To play a specific episode in a season, specify the season and episode. For example, say "Alexa, play Game of Thrones Season 1 Episode 2."
To pause playback, use pause. For example, say "Alexa, pause."
To resume playback, use resume, play, watch, or unpause. For example, say "Alexa, resume."
To stop playback, use stop. For example, say "Alexa, stop."
To skip ahead 30 seconds, use fast forward. For example, say "Alexa, fast forward."
To skip back 30 seconds, use rewind. For example, say "Alexa, rewind."
For more info, go to Alexa Help.
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-left corner after the ratings.