> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.lightloop.app/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Voice Follow

> Let the Remote listen: spoken scripture appears on the Apple TV automatically, and your prepared slides follow the speaker.

Sooner or later every operator hears it:

> "…and this one won't be on the screen, but **Genesis 3:12** says, 'The woman whom you gave to be with me…'"

**Voice Follow** is the answer to that moment. Turn it on and the LightLoop Remote listens through your iPhone's microphone, recognizes spoken scripture references, and displays the verse on your Apple TV — in your translation, styled with your Bible template — then follows along verse by verse as it's read.

It also works the other way round: when the words being spoken match a slide you already prepared, Voice Follow jumps the live presentation to it.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Live Scripture" icon="book-bible">
    Spoken references that **aren't** in your deck are fetched and shown as an overlay on top of whatever is playing.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Follow Slides" icon="wand-magic-sparkles">
    Spoken words that **match** a prepared slide — a sermon point, a quote, a lyric — jump the presentation to that slide.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

<Note>
  All speech is transcribed **on the iPhone**, using Apple's on-device speech engine. No audio is recorded, uploaded, or sent to any server. References are matched by a deterministic grammar, not an AI model — the same words always give the same result.
</Note>

***

## Requirements

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="iOS 26 or newer" icon="mobile">
    Voice Follow uses Apple's on-device **SpeechAnalyzer**, introduced in iOS 26. The rest of LightLoop Remote still works on iOS 17+ — the buttons simply don't appear on older versions.
  </Card>

  <Card title="App versions" icon="arrow-up-right-dots">
    LightLoop Remote **1.3.2+** and the LightLoop Apple TV app **1.3.2+**.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

The Remote must stay in the **foreground** while listening — iOS doesn't allow reliable background microphone access. In practice the phone sits on the podium, at the sound desk, or in the operator's hand.

***

## Turning it on

<Steps>
  <Step title="Enable Voice Follow for the feed">
    In the web app, open **Feeds → your feed → Settings** and switch on **Voice Follow**. It's **off by default** and set per feed, so you can enable it for the sanctuary without affecting lobby signage.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set your translation and template">
    Voice Follow uses your account's **default Bible translation** and **default Bible theme** (background, fonts, colors). Set these once in the Bible editor — see [YouVersion & Bible translations](/integrations/youversion).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Tap the button in the Remote">
    Connect [LightLoop Remote](/ios-remote/overview) to your Apple TV. Two buttons appear in the toolbar: a **bible** icon (Live Scripture) and a **viewfinder** icon (Follow Slides). Tap either — or both.
  </Step>
</Steps>

Each button fills bottom-up with a live **microphone level meter** while listening, so you can always tell it's hearing the room. A rolling transcript appears below the toolbar showing the words being recognized.

<Tip>
  Choose a **Free Use Bible** translation and LightLoop preloads the entire Bible to the Remote in the background the first time it's used — after that, lookups are instant even on poor Wi-Fi.
</Tip>

***

## What it understands

Voice Follow is built for the way people actually speak a reference aloud:

| Spoken                                                       | Recognized as      |
| ------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------ |
| "John three sixteen"                                         | John 3:16          |
| "First Corinthians chapter twelve, beginning in verse three" | 1 Corinthians 12:3 |
| "The second chapter of Acts"                                 | Acts 2             |
| "In Genesis one, one through three"                          | Genesis 1:1–3      |
| "In John ten, Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice"            | John 10 → verse 27 |

Book names, ordinal prefixes ("first", "second"), the words "chapter" and "verse", and number words are all weighted — and every number is validated against the **real** chapter and verse counts of that book. A reference to "Genesis fifty-two" is rejected, because Genesis has 50 chapters.

<Note>
  This validation is why ordinary speech doesn't set it off. Phrases like "three points this morning", "for the love of God", or "chapter of my life" contain no valid book-plus-number combination, so nothing happens.
</Note>

### Chapter-only references

If a chapter is cited without a verse, Voice Follow loads the whole chapter and shows the first verse immediately — then **jumps to the right verse when it hears the text being read**. Saying *"in John ten, Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice"* puts John 10:27 on screen.

***

## Following the reading

Once a verse is displayed, Voice Follow tracks the reading:

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Advances verse by verse" icon="forward">
    As the passage is read aloud, the display moves to the next verse automatically.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Responds to verse cues" icon="hashtag">
    Say "verse six" and it jumps straight there.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Fades out on its own" icon="circle-half-stroke">
    When the speech drifts away from the remaining text for about five seconds, the verse fades out. Nobody has to clear it.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Handles a new reference" icon="rotate">
    Cite a different passage and it becomes the new context — fetched, displayed, and followed.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

***

## Follow Slides

With **Follow Slides** on, Voice Follow matches what's being said against the text of every slide in the **currently running playlist** — song lyric slides, Bible verses, and sermon text and quote slides — and navigates the live presentation to the best match.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Your slides win" icon="crown">
    If a verse is already a slide in your sermon, Follow Slides shows **your** slide rather than fetching one. Your design is always preferred.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Stays a step ahead on songs" icon="music">
    As the **last words** of a lyric slide are sung, the next slide is already up — like a teleprompter that listens.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Repeats don't drag it back" icon="repeat">
    A repeated chorus won't send the screen backwards. It only moves when another slide matches **better** than the one on screen, and it prefers moving forward.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Undo on every move" icon="arrow-rotate-left">
    Each automatic jump shows a banner on your phone — tap it to return to exactly where you were.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

### Say "next"

Say **"next"** or **"next slide"** on its own — with a beat of silence either side — to advance manually. If a Live Scripture verse is on screen it moves to the next verse; otherwise it advances the presentation.

The silence on both sides is what makes this safe: a mid-sentence "next week we'll be looking at…" won't move anything, because words follow immediately.

### Sensitivity

Tap the **transcript preview** below the toolbar to reveal a **sensitivity slider**. It sets how many matched words are needed before Voice Follow acts — from *Sooner* (react as soon as it hears a match) to *Precise* (wait until more of the line has been read). Navigation always uses a stricter threshold than the scripture overlay, because moving the live presentation is more disruptive than showing a verse.

***

## Staying in control

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Tap to dismiss" icon="hand">
    Tap the verse banner on your phone to clear the verse from the Apple TV.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Long-press to pin" icon="thumbtack">
    Long-press to keep the verse on screen indefinitely — for a responsive reading or a moment of reflection. It stays until you tap it again. A pinned banner is visually distinct from a temporary one.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Two independent switches" icon="toggle-on">
    Run Live Scripture alone, Follow Slides alone, or both. The microphone runs whenever either is on.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Off by default" icon="lock">
    Voice Follow is opt-in per feed and never enabled without you switching it on.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

***

## Troubleshooting

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="The buttons don't appear in the Remote">
    Check three things: **Voice Follow** is switched on for that feed in **Feeds → Settings**; the iPhone is running **iOS 26 or newer**; and both apps are on **1.3.2+**. The buttons are hidden entirely when any of these isn't met.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="It hears me, but no verse appears">
    Watch the transcript preview. If the words are being recognized but the reference isn't firing, the book name is probably being misheard — check the transcript for what it actually captured. Numbers and less common book names are the usual culprits in a noisy room.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="The verse takes a few seconds the first time">
    The first reference into a chapter has to be fetched. Switching your default translation to a **Free Use Bible** translation enables the full-Bible preload, after which lookups are instant. YouVersion translations are fetched per chapter on demand.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="The background from my Bible theme isn't showing">
    Voice Follow uses your **default** Bible theme. If that theme's background isn't already cached on the Apple TV it's downloaded on first use, so the very first verse may appear over a dimmed screen before the background arrives.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="It jumped to the wrong slide">
    Tap **Undo** on the banner to go straight back. Then raise the **sensitivity** slider toward *Precise* so more of a line must match before it acts.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="The meter is moving but nothing is transcribed">
    The meter reflects raw microphone input, so it moves for any sound. If no words appear, the speaker may be too far from the phone — move it closer to the platform or the sound desk.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

***

## Privacy

Voice Follow processes speech entirely on the iPhone:

* Audio is **never recorded**, stored, or transmitted.
* No audio is sent to LightLoop's servers, Apple's servers, or anywhere else.
* The only network requests it makes are ordinary Bible verse lookups — the same requests the web app makes when you add a Bible item.
* Transcription uses Apple's on-device speech model; the reference parser and slide matcher run locally in the app.