Questions,
answered.

Just open the operator console in your browser. No account creation, no email signup, no payment — every feature is available immediately. If you'd like to support the project later, see the Donate page.

No. Play & Worship is free for every church to use — every feature, every device, no expiration. Donations are welcome from those who can give, but they're never required and they unlock nothing extra. Your service runs the same whether you give $0 or $500.

Any laptop made in the last 8 years. Modern Chromebooks work. We've tested on Windows 10/11, macOS 11+, and recent Ubuntu. The projector machine just needs a browser that can open a second window — no special graphics card, no Office license, no specific OS.

Open the app, click Live Output in the toolbar (this opens the projector window — must be a manual click because of browser security), then drag that projector window to your second screen and press F for fullscreen. After that, build your schedule and press Space.

Only the first time you load the scripture browser per session (verses are fetched live from a trusted Bible source on demand). Everything else — songs, media, PPTX, video, the projector — runs fully offline. Songs and media are stored locally in IndexedDB, so your library survives reloads and laptop reboots.

The operator console is built for keyboard-heavy use, so it's a poor fit for a phone or tablet as the main interface. There is a dedicated Mobile Remote that pairs to the operator console via QR or a 6-digit code — perfect for the worship leader to control slides from the platform without turning to the tech booth. See the Mobile Remote section below for the full feature list.

Open the remote pairing panel in the operator console — it shows a QR code and a 6-digit pairing code. Open a browser on any phone, scan the QR (or visit the remote URL and type the 6-digit code), and the phone connects via WebRTC (Trystero peer-to-peer over Nostr / MQTT / BitTorrent-tracker fallbacks). The operator approves the device once, and then the remote can push GO, navigate slides, blackout, run countdowns, play music, and trigger announcement / birthday slides. The remote stores its peer ID locally so it auto-reconnects next Sunday.

Generally yes. Trystero's signaling falls back across Nostr → MQTT → BitTorrent tracker until one connects, and the actual data flows over WebRTC peer-to-peer once the channel is established. Most church Wi-Fi setups that block one signaling method still let another through. If pairing stalls completely, the remote surfaces a clear "Operator not available" message with three remediation steps.

Yes — the Mobile Remote has its own PWA manifest separate from the operator console. After a successful first pairing, the phone shows an "Install" banner (or "Add to Home Screen" instructions on iOS Safari). The remote auto-detects in-app browsers like Facebook Messenger and explains how to open the link in real Chrome / Safari so the install banner can appear.

Click Live Output in the toolbar. A dedicated projector window opens. Drag it to your second display, then press F for fullscreen. The operator console stays on your laptop screen; the congregation only sees the projector window. Note: the projector window must be opened by a click — browsers block programmatic window-opening without a user gesture.

Yes to all four. PPTX shows the first image + text per slide (best for simple decks); for pixel-perfect rendering, export the PPTX to PDF first. PDF renders every page at 1920×1080 for instant go-live. Video clips play directly on the projector with loop/mute controls. Images (JPG / PNG / WEBP / GIF / BMP) are added as single-slide decks that you can drop straight into your schedule.

Yes — open a scripture item in the workspace and use the three buttons next to Verses / slide: font size, text color, and background color. Changes save instantly and push to the projector if it's live. Verse numbers are highlighted in gold by default so the congregation can track reference points in multi-verse slides.

Use Import Song and paste lyrics with [Verse 1] / [Chorus] markers. Play & Worship auto-detects section headers and splits the song into slide-ready chunks. Plain lyrics without markers work too — blank lines become new slides.

Preview (the blue monitor) is private to the operator — it shows what you're about to push. Live (the red monitor) mirrors exactly what the projector / congregation is seeing. The transport between them — Prev / Go / Next, or arrow keys + Space — promotes preview to live. This separation is the single biggest reason mistakes don't make it to the screen.

Blackout (B) drops the projector opacity to 0 without clearing state. Press B again and the exact slide you had up returns. Useful for sermon moments, communion, or any "screen off for now" pause. Clear (Esc) actually blanks the live state — you lose your place and have to re-cue. Use Blackout 95% of the time.

Click Live Output again. The projector window re-opens, sends a "ready" message to the operator, and the operator window re-pushes the current state. You don't lose your place. We tested this scenario explicitly because we lived it.

Yes. Click and hold a schedule card, drag it to the new position, and drop. The Live and Selected indices automatically update so you don't accidentally land somewhere else. Drag works inside the same row (e.g., reordering Songs) and across rows (e.g., moving a song from "Songs" to "Closing").

Yes. Press F1 to bring up the countdown overlay on the projector. Set the minutes, and the projector shows a clean countdown. The operator continues to work behind it — when you push the next slide, the countdown fades out.

Yes. Every feature, every page, every module — free for any church to use, forever. There's no premium tier, no operator-account fee, no expiring trial. The whole tool runs in your browser; we don't gate features behind a payment.

Because someone has to pay for it to keep existing — servers, security updates, support emails, and the time to ship new features. Donations from churches that can give cover the cost so churches that can't never have to. It mirrors how a church offering works: those with give, so those without can still receive.

Whatever your congregation can give. Some operators donate $5 once. Some churches give $50/month. Some sponsors cover hardware for a smaller ministry. We don't publish a "recommended amount" because the right number depends on your context — and any amount is genuinely appreciated.

Yes. Email donate@playandworship.app with your preferred monthly amount. Recurring gifts are the most helpful kind because they let us plan ahead, but a one-time gift is just as appreciated.

Currently bank transfer, PayPal, or a one-time card payment link. Click Give to Play & Worship on the Donate page and we'll email you a link. In-page card donations are on the way.

Yes — every donation gets an emailed receipt within 24 hours. If you need a tax-deductible receipt for your accounting, just mention it in your donation note and we'll send the appropriate documentation.

If you donated by mistake or wish to reverse the gift within 30 days, email us and we'll refund in full. No survey, no awkward gate. After 30 days, refunds are case-by-case but we've never refused a reasonable request.

Please use the tool anyway. That's the whole point. The operator's chair is meant to be ministry-affordable, and a church that can't give shouldn't feel guilty about that. Tell another worship team about Play & Worship, send us a story, or pray for the work — those gifts matter just as much.

Any Chromium-based browser (Chrome, Edge, Brave, Opera, Vivaldi) on Windows / macOS / Linux. Firefox and Safari work too, with slightly slower PPTX parsing. We test on the latest two versions of each. Internet Explorer and pre-Edge legacy browsers are not supported.

Songs, the current service schedule, and your settings (translation, last book, last chapter) are stored in localStorage. Media blobs (PPTX, PDF, video, images) are stored in IndexedDB. Core worship data — songs, schedules, and media — stays on your device and is never uploaded for remote control. Two features reach the network: scripture lookups may call a public Bible API, and Mobile Remote pairing uses peer-to-peer signaling (or, if you configure one, a secure realtime relay) to carry small control commands between the operator and the phone — not your presentation media. No telemetry. If you clear your browser data, you'll lose your local library — use File → Export Schedule for backups.

They communicate via BroadcastChannel('worship-projector'). The operator sends render messages with the current slide and blackout state; the projector sends a ready message when it loads or regains focus. When the projector says ready, the operator re-sends state — so reloading the projector mid-service picks up exactly where you were.

Yes. In Chrome or Edge, look for the Install icon in the address bar (or use the menu) and add Play & Worship as a Progressive Web App. It gets its own launcher icon, opens in its own window, and works offline after the first load. No actual installer to run — but it feels like a native app.

Mostly yes. The only outbound traffic is to the public-domain Bible API for scripture fetches. Once a chapter is cached in memory, no further requests are made. Everything else (songs, PPTX, video) is local-only. If your network blocks all outbound requests, scripture won't auto-fetch — you can still pre-load chapters during the week when the network is open.

IndexedDB quotas vary by browser, but typically you get several GB per origin. We've tested libraries with 500+ songs and 8 GB of mixed media (mostly video) without issues. For very large video libraries, consider keeping the master files on disk and only loading the ones you need for the upcoming service.

PPTX rendering is text-based, so any system font installed on the operator's machine will render. If your deck uses an exotic font, install it on the operator laptop. For absolute pixel-fidelity (corporate decks, complex layouts), export the PPTX to PDF first — PDFs embed fonts so they always render the same way.

Nine translations total: 5 free and bundled offline (KJV, ASV, BBE, YLT, plus Tagalog Ang Biblia 1905), plus 4 premium translations via API.Bible subscription (NIV, NLT, WEB, plus Tagalog Ang Salita ng Diyos / ASND). The free translations are cached by the service worker, so they work after the first launch even with no network. Premium translations require a separate API.Bible subscription that you bring yourself.

Copyright. The five free translations are all public-domain, which means we can bundle and redistribute them legally. NIV, NLT, ESV, NKJV, and others are commercially licensed — your church (or you personally) need to license them directly from the rights holder. Play & Worship supports NIV and NLT through API.Bible, which handles the licensing on your behalf; ESV / NKJV are on the request list.

No. Song slots are empty containers — you add your own CCLI-licensed content. We don't distribute lyrics because we don't have the licensing rights to do so, and you (or your church) almost certainly do via your CCLI subscription.

Not directly. You enter the CCLI number in the song metadata, but the app doesn't submit usage reports to CCLI. Most congregations track usage manually or via a separate CCLI tool — Play & Worship's CCLI field is there so the worship pastor and operator can see the number at a glance.

Yes. File → Export Schedule downloads a JSON file with your songs, schedule, and settings. Another operator runs File → Import Schedule and gets the same library. Songs are matched by ID, so importing again later merges instead of overwriting.

None. No Google Analytics, no usage tracking, no error reporters in the operator window. The marketing site (the page you're on now) uses no third-party trackers either. We can't tell you how many people use it because we genuinely don't know — and we like it that way.

Email support@playandworship.app with a short description, your browser version, and (if possible) a screenshot. We typically respond within 24 hours. For urgent Sunday-morning issues, mention "Sunday morning" in the subject line and we'll get back faster.

For most teams, no training is needed — the console is built to learn itself. For multi-campus rollouts or 10+ operators, we offer a one-hour Zoom walkthrough with your team. Contact hello@playandworship.app to set one up.

Yes — email us with the request. Operators have shaped most of the recent features (the countdown overlay, the Tagalog filter, the smart Go Live behavior, the mobile remote). If a feature is useful for one church, it's usually useful for many.

Yes. If you have an existing library in EasyWorship, ProPresenter, or OpenLP, send us a sample of your data and we'll help you figure out the cleanest import path. Songs are usually the easiest to migrate — media files often need to be re-organized.