Churches, Synagogues, Mosques & Faith Communities
Zip Captions for Places of Worship
Provide free real-time live captions for sermons and worship services on sanctuary screens, congregation smartphones in the pews, and OBS or vMix livestreams.
Practical Use Cases
Why Faith Communities Use Zip Captions
Simple, dignified communication access that works with your existing sanctuary soundboard and volunteer team.
Follow from Any Seat on a Personal Phone
Using Broadcast mode, members can scan a QR code on a pew card or welcome poster to read live captions right on their own phone or tablet without sitting in a special section.
Works with Sanctuary Screens and Projectors
Display high-contrast open captions on side monitors, stage screens, or main sanctuary projectors alongside your service slides.
Connects to Online Livestreams and Cable TV
Send live captions straight into OBS Studio via WebSockets or into vMix title graphics using our free vMix Extension for homebound viewers.
Zero Software Budget Required
Core browser-based live captioning is 100% free with no monthly minute limits, making it practical for congregations of every size.
Simple for Weekly Volunteer AV Teams
Plug an aux send from your soundboard into a laptop (using a standard USB sound card), open zipcaptions.app, and start captioning in seconds.
Multilingual Support for Diverse Congregations
Supports dozens of spoken dialects and free on-device translation in Google Chrome for multilingual fellowship communities.
Simple Workflow
How Sanctuary Setup Works
Connect your soundboard once and let volunteers run it every week.
Connect Your Soundboard Aux Feed
Route your speaking microphones (pulpit, lectern, wireless pastor mic) from an aux output on your mixer into your laptop via a USB sound card.
Start Your Static Broadcast Room
Open zipcaptions.app in Chrome and turn on Broadcast mode so your printed pew cards and lobby posters connect automatically.
Feed Sanctuary Screens and Livestreams
Display the caption window on your sanctuary screen or connect directly to OBS Studio or vMix for your online broadcast.
Free Printable Resources
Posters, Signs, Cards, and Checklists
Download ready-to-print PDF files (with a built-in QR code for zipcaptions.app) or use the customizer below to add your own room name and broadcast code before printing.
Sanctuary Entrance & Welcome Poster
A welcoming large-print poster for sanctuary doors and foyers explaining how congregation members can scan a QR code or enter your room code to read on their phones.
Pew Card & Weekly Bulletin Insert
A compact guide for pew racks or weekly bulletins with your static broadcast code, QR code, and a gentle reminder to silence phone ringers.
Volunteer Sound Booth Checklist
A step-by-step pre-service checklist for volunteer sound operators covering mixer routing, muting music channels in the caption feed, and testing the broadcast room.
Zip Captions Available Here Sign
A clean 1-page sign for any door, reception counter, or bulletin board showing that live captions are available on screen and on personal mobile devices.
Customize a Poster with Your Organization Name and Broadcast Code
Pick a sign template, type in your room or organization name and your Zip Captions broadcast room code, and click Print Custom Sign.
Grace Community Sanctuary
Follow Today’s Service with Live Captions
Read the sermon, readings, and announcements in real time right on your own smartphone or tablet.
How to Follow Live Captions:
- 1Put your phone ringer on silent before the service begins.
- 2Scan the QR code above or open https://zipcaptions.app in your phone browser.
- 3Enter our Sanctuary Broadcast Code shown above and adjust the text size for your eyes.
YouTube Video Guides
See Zip Captions in Action
Short step-by-step demonstrations from the official Zip Captions YouTube channel.
Broadcast Live Captions to Phones in the Pews
Learn how to set up a broadcast room so congregation members can read live captions on their own smartphones or tablets.
Add Open Captions to Your Service Livestream in OBS
Step-by-step guide to connecting Zip Captions directly into OBS Studio using WebSockets.
Real-Time Translation for Multilingual Services
How members can translate live captions in Google Chrome using local On-Device AI.
Real Impact in Faith Communities
"When sound is available but not understood, it is as if you are listening to a foreign language. With this closed caption I can follow the service and hear The Message. What a wonderful experience!"
"Zip Captions makes it very easy to add live open captions to our service broadcasts for our livestream and our leased cable tv channel. We also incorporate live open captions on our in-person presentation screen."
Kevin Bouwman
AV Coordinator, Rock Valley First Reformed Church & Advisory Board Member
See How Rock Valley Set Up Zip Captions
Helpful Extensions, Guides, and Services for This Sector
USB Sound Card Setup Guide
How to connect an audio cable from your sanctuary mixer into a laptop.
Zip Captions vMix Bridge
Send live caption text straight into vMix lower-thirds and titles.
Zip Captions Companion (Stream Deck)
Give sound booth volunteers a single physical button to start and pause captions.
Practical Answers
Frequently Asked Questions: Places of Worship
How do we stop choir music or instruments from confusing the captions?
Route only your speaking microphones (such as the pulpit and pastor lapel mic) to a dedicated aux send on your soundboard, and pause captioning during musical worship sets.
Can congregation members use both sanctuary screens and personal phones at the same time?
Yes. A single Zip Captions session can display open captions on your main sanctuary projector, feed your livestream, and broadcast to personal smartphones simultaneously.
Do congregation members need to download an app in church?
No. They simply scan the QR code or open zipcaptions.app in Safari or Chrome on their phone and enter your room code.
Is Zip Captions a good replacement for WebCaptioner in churches?
Yes. Many churches switched to Zip Captions after WebCaptioner retired because Zip Captions works directly in the browser for free and adds mobile broadcasting, OBS WebSockets, and vMix support.
Ready to Use Zip Captions in Your Space?
Launch Zip Captions for free right in your web browser, or get in touch with our team if you have questions about your setup.