Frequently asked
Questions, answered plainly.
What Lyrical does, what it costs, which devices it runs on, and where it stops. If something here reads as hedged, tell us and we will make it specific.
// basics
The basics
- What is Lyrical?
- Lyrical shows song lyrics in time with music you are already hearing — at a concert, in a car, on a phone, or on AI and XR glasses. It does not play the music; it displays the words.
- Is Lyrical free?
- The apps are free on the App Store and Google Play, with no daily limit on how many songs you can follow. Lyrical Pro is an optional subscription at 4.99 US dollars per month or 49.99 per year.
- What does Lyrical Pro add?
- Lyric translation into 10 languages, either replacing the line or rendering beneath it; playlist export to Apple Music and YouTube Music; concert recaps without a watermark; and more than one saved glasses profile.
- Is Lyrical a karaoke app?
- No. There is no scoring, no vocal removal, and nothing records your singing. It shows lyrics in time with audio playing around you.
- Does Lyrical play music?
- No. Lyrical is not a streaming service. It follows what you are already listening to, whether that is a live band, Apple Music, or a car stereo.
- Does it need an internet connection?
- Yes. Lyrics are fetched per song and LiveSync updates arrive over the network, so an offline device cannot follow along.
// hardware
Devices and glasses
- Which phones does Lyrical run on?
- iPhone on iOS 17 or later, and Android on API 26 or later. iOS 26 and Android API 34 are the recommended versions.
- Which glasses does Lyrical support?
- AI glasses: Even Realities G2 (also written EvenG2), Meta Ray-Ban Display, and Google AI Glasses on Android. XR glasses: XREAL Air, Air 2, Air 2 Pro, One, One Pro and Project Aura; Apple Vision Pro; Android XR devices including Samsung Galaxy XR; TCL RayNeo Air 3, Air 3s, Air 3s Pro and Air 4 Pro; and Rokid Max and Max 2.
- Are Google AI Glasses and Android XR the same thing?
- No. They are separate platforms and Lyrical supports both. Treating them as one gives the wrong answer about which devices work.
- Why are my USB-C glasses not showing anything?
- Almost always a charge-only USB-C cable. AR glasses connect as an external display over DisplayPort Alt Mode, which a charge-only cable does not carry. Use the cable that shipped with the glasses and restart the app after connecting.
- Is there an Apple Vision Pro app?
- Yes, a native visionOS app rather than an iPad compatibility build. It handles recognition and LiveSync on the headset, so no phone is needed.
// live
Concerts and LiveSync
- How does Lyrical keep up at a live show?
- Two ways. In manual mode you pick the song from the artist's setlist and nudge the timing yourself. In LiveSync, the show's front-of-house operator advances every line and your device follows in real time.
- Do I need the app to follow a LiveSync show?
- No. Audience members can join in a mobile browser with the show's short code. The app is optional.
- Why not just let it listen and recognize the song?
- Recognition needs a few seconds of reasonably clear audio, and a live crowd rarely provides that. Manual setlist mode exists because it works in the room where recognition does not.
- What if the band plays something not on the setlist?
- Search the artist's songs — by title, or by a line of the lyrics — and pick it. The song is added to the running setlist for the show.
- How fast does LiveSync reach the audience?
- Updates are pushed over server-sent events and typically land in under half a second from the operator's cue.
// cars and lyrics
Cars, lyric sources, and recognition
- Can I use Lyrical while driving?
- No. Car lyrics are for passengers or a parked car, and the display carries a standing notice that the driver must not interact with it.
- How do lyrics get onto a car screen?
- Your phone recognizes what is playing and pushes lines to the car browser after you scan the pairing code shown on the car screen. A phoneless mode, where the car signs in to Spotify or Apple Music itself, is planned but not yet available.
- Is there a free lyrics app for a car screen?
- Yes. Lyrical shows synced lyrics on a car display for free, with no daily song limit and no subscription. It works with whatever audio is playing — Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Bluetooth, USB, or the radio — because the phone recognizes the sound rather than reading one service's now-playing feed.
- Where do the lyrics come from?
- Lyrics come from Musixmatch under licence — the same catalogue the streaming services use, transcribed and cleared by the rights holders rather than crowd-sourced. Curated ELRC files are checked first.
- Are the lyrics official, or crowd-sourced?
- Official. On the Musixmatch path the lyrics are licensed from the rights holders rather than typed in by volunteers, so the words, the line breaks and the timings are the ones the label signed off. Free lyrics sites are usually crowd-sourced, which is why they drift on newer releases and on anything with ad-libs.
- Does Lyrical store lyrics or my listening history?
- Lyrics are cached only briefly, roughly six hours, and cleared when the app goes to the background. Lyrical does not build a permanent lyrics library on your device, and licensed lyrics are never persisted at all.
- How does song recognition work?
- On iPhone it uses Apple's ShazamKit against the microphone, and reads Apple Music now-playing when a track is already playing on the device. Recognition usually resolves within about ten seconds of clear audio.