Subtitles in front of your eyes

How to See Subtitles in AR Glasses at the Cinema

CinemaCC can send a dedicated subtitle view from an iPhone to a standard connected display while the movie stays on the cinema screen. It can also reach Even G2 through a dedicated Even Hub app. New glasses such as RayNeo iO use a similar phone-connected heads-up display, but each vendor route needs its own documented integration.

By Haiyi Mei · Published 13 August 2026 · Updated and sources checked 22 August 2026

A warm cinema scene viewed through black display glasses, with two abstract subtitle lines inside the lens.

The short answer

To put CinemaCC subtitles in front of your eyes, use the native iPhone app with glasses that accept a standard video signal and appear to iOS as an external display. CinemaCC keeps the iPhone as the controller and sends only the synchronized subtitle view to the connected display. A USB-C socket alone is not enough: the phone, cable, adapter chain and glasses must all support video output and input.

How the CinemaCC display route works

  1. Connect the glasses to the iPhone and confirm that iOS recognizes a second display.
  2. Open CinemaCC and start the subtitles when the movie begins.
  3. CinemaCC creates a separate black-background subtitle window for the connected display while the iPhone remains the controller.
  4. Adjust timing or subtitle size on the iPhone without putting the full phone interface in front of your eyes.
  5. Disconnecting the display removes the external subtitle window; the iPhone player continues to work.

Check the whole video path

  • The iPhone must support external-display output. Apple currently documents support for iPhone 15 models, iPhone 16 models except iPhone 16e, and iPhone 17 models except iPhone 17e.
  • The glasses must accept DisplayPort over USB-C or another documented video input. USB-C used only for charging, data or a proprietary accessory does not prove display compatibility.
  • Use a cable that carries video, not a charge-only cable. Apple recommends a USB-C cable that supports USB 3.1 or later for high-resolution USB-C displays.
  • Older Lightning iPhones are outside the USB-C display path documented on the Apple page cited here. Consider one only when the glasses manufacturer documents the exact powered adapter chain; do not assume a generic USB-C adapter will work.
  • CinemaCC’s connected-display feature is an iPhone feature. Android and the Web player do not currently send the dedicated external subtitle window.

Three ways subtitles can reach glasses

Wired display glasses

These glasses receive a video signal from the phone and show it as a private virtual display. This is the route CinemaCC can use when iOS recognizes the glasses as a standard external display. CinemaCC supplies the synchronized subtitle view; the glasses supply the optics. On OLED or Micro-OLED displays, black pixels do not emit light, so the black background stays unlit and only the pixels needed for the subtitles light up.

A dedicated app on the glasses platform

Some smart glasses expose an app platform instead of a standard video input. CinemaCC uses this route on Even G2: the paired phone imports a CinemaCC subtitle package or SRT files, controls the synchronized timeline and sends the current cue to the lenses through the Even Hub app. This preserves prepared subtitles instead of recognizing the film audio again, but the integration is specific to Even G2.

Glasses with their own live captions or translation

These glasses use their own microphones, phone app, cloud service or onboard system to turn nearby speech into text. Their captions may be useful, but they are not the same as displaying CinemaCC’s synchronized subtitle view. Cinema audio contains music, effects, reverberation and audience noise, and a product’s conversation-caption feature does not by itself prove movie-subtitle performance.

What the five brands officially document

Even Realities

  • Even G2 pairs with a phone over Bluetooth, while Even Hub supports third-party apps. This is a vendor-platform route, not USB-C DisplayPort.
  • CinemaCC for Even G2 imports a CinemaCC subtitle package or SRT files on the phone, keeps the synchronized timeline there and displays the current cue on the lenses.
  • Even’s built-in Conversate and Translate remain separate live-caption and cloud-translation features.

Rokid

  • Rokid Max accepts a direct connection from sources that support DisplayPort over USB-C 3.1.
  • Rokid Max screen casting does not require the Rokid AR app.
  • Rokid Glasses use their own live subtitles, translation and intelligent captioning. Those features do not prove that every Rokid model accepts an iPhone video signal.

VITURE

  • VITURE Pro 2 lists USB-C as its connection and includes a USB-C-to-USB-C cable.
  • VITURE’s iPhone guide describes compatibility with USB-C iPhones from iPhone 15 onward, so this model follows the standard external-display route.

RayNeo

  • RayNeo Air 4 Pro is a wired display for a DisplayPort-supported Type-C port; RayNeo also publishes a USB-C iPhone compatibility guide.
  • RayNeo X3 Pro instead uses its own on-lens live speech translation, captions and transcription.
  • RayNeo iO, announced on 21 August, is closer to Even G2: the 33 g glasses pair with the RayNeo phone app over Bluetooth and show captions and translations on a transparent monochrome waveguide display. Its Live Captions require a phone network connection.
  • The public RayNeo developer platform currently lists X and Air series rather than iO, and the iO documentation does not describe DisplayPort input. CinemaCC therefore needs an iO app or SDK integration before it can send prepared subtitle cues; iO’s built-in Live Captions are a separate route.

XREAL

  • XREAL One Pro requires a device with a USB-C DisplayPort port and DP output, and lists iPhone among its source devices.
  • This matches the standard external-display route required by CinemaCC.

Set it up before the lights go down

  1. Connect the glasses at home and confirm that the dedicated subtitle view appears, rather than assuming any USB-C connection carries video.
  2. Check focus, prescription inserts, subtitle size and where the text sits in your field of view.
  3. Test the opening dialogue and timing before the screening when possible.
  4. Use the lowest readable brightness, keep the iPhone screen dark and follow the venue’s device policy.
  5. Do not photograph, record or film the movie. CinemaCC does not need to control or capture the cinema screen.
  6. Bring a phone-screen fallback. A cable, adapter or display handshake can fail even when every component is nominally supported.

Related guides

How to Watch a Movie at the Cinema in a Language You Don’t Speak Choose the right screening and compare official captions, synchronized apps and personal subtitles when a film is not in a language you understand. Read the guide I Couldn’t Follow Movies Abroad—So I Brought My Own Subtitles One developer’s honest story of taking personal subtitles into real cinemas—and the routine that made the difference. Read the guide

Sources and further reading

Provider features, device interfaces and phone support can change. Sources were checked on 22 August 2026.