Text on phones in practice: overflow room, hearing loss, QR code on screen

Text on phones sends the words of the current slide to any phone in the room, with no account and no app. It's a small switch, and it solves problems no projector can. Here are three ways to use it, and what to expect.

Turn it on

In Show, in the MAIN SCREEN panel, switch on Text on phones. You'll see a QR code, the Room code and the address worshippro.net/live/CODE. Click the address to copy it.

Two things to know first:

• It runs over the internet. The computer needs a connection, and so do the phones.
• The room code stays the same for this computer, so a printed QR code keeps working from week to week.

What people actually see

The phone shows songs and Scripture, in large text. Each person can change the size with A− / A+ and pick a light or dark background. The page tries to keep the phone's screen on.

Just as useful is what doesn't go to phones:

• chords, the author and the rest of the plan,
• speaker notes,
• announcements and plan titles, which may contain names. The phone stays blank for these,
• media. Presentation pages stay on the wall too, and the phone shows only Presentation in progress.

If you press Black, Clear or Logo, the phone goes blank as well. So anything you hide from the room is hidden from phones.

The QR code on screen

Before the service, click Show QR on the main screen. You get a big board with the code and an invitation in Polish, English and Ukrainian. It takes over the screen, so click Take the QR off the screen before you start. Leave it up for the five or ten minutes while people sit down.

During the service, Small QR in the corner is the quiet option, over the slides.

Both need the projector to be on. If you see "It will show once the projector is on.", click Go live. On a black screen the QR is hidden too.

Since the code never changes, you can also print it: on the back of chairs, in the bulletin, on a card at the welcome desk.

Situation 1: the overflow room

The hall is full, and some people sit in the next room with a TV or a laptop. Open the address in a browser on that screen. A+ makes the text big enough to read from a distance.

Keep your expectations straight: this is the words, not a copy of the projector. There's no background, and presentations don't appear. If that room needs the full picture, it needs a feed from your stream or a cable from the projector output.

Check the connection on the room's device before Sunday, and make sure that device won't go to sleep.

Situation 2: hearing or sight difficulties

For someone who struggles to hear the singing, the words in their hand can make all the difference. The same goes for someone who can't read the far wall. It helps to tell them personally, before the service, rather than rely on the board.

• Show them how to scan the code with the phone's regular camera, and A+.
• Remind them that it follows the slides. What isn't on a slide doesn't reach the phone, and that includes the spoken sermon.
• Do you have someone who relies on this? Ask the preacher for the main points and passages, and put them in the plan: a song or Scripture item reaches the phone. For points of the sermon, use Bible → Own text: type a Reference and your text, and each paragraph becomes a slide. Then press → as the preacher goes.
• An operator who clears the text during an instrumental also clears it on the phone. That's as it should be, but it's worth knowing.

Situation 3: a service with no projector

This works without any projector at all. The phones follow what's loaded in Show, even when the projector is off. So in a home group, or a room without a screen, one computer with internet and a QR code on paper will give everyone the words.

When something's off

• Not available right now — the server has not confirmed the room code. The computer has no connection. It starts by itself as soon as the server answers.
• The phone says Waiting to begin: nothing is loaded yet. Click Start service. If it stays that way, compare the code in the address with the one on your computer.
• Phones connected: 0 while people are scanning: check that they opened the link, and that their phones have internet.
• room full, and Too many phones at once on the phone: a presentation takes up to 500 phones, and up to 300 from one internet address, which usually means one church Wi-Fi. Ask people to switch to mobile data.

If the internet goes down mid-service, phones wait, and the words return by themselves: The internet went down.

What's next

• Phones in the room: text on phones, remote and leading the musicians
• The smallest setup: one laptop and one person