Every feature and setting
Lyrimuse is an open-source (GPL-3.0) Mac app for word-by-word synced lyrics, for macOS 14 or later on Apple Silicon and Intel. It shows lyrics for Apple Music, Spotify, QQ Music, NetEase Cloud Music, Kugou, Soda Music, KKBOX, Amazon Music, LX Music, Kaset, reAMP, and YouTube Music or Spotify Web playing in a browser: floating on the desktop, beside the notch, in the menu bar, on the Touch Bar or in a full lyrics window, with translations and romanization (pinyin, Cantonese Jyutping, Japanese romaji, Korean romanization). It scrobbles to Last.fm and ListenBrainz and can show what you play on Discord. The interface is in English, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese.
This page lists every Lyrimuse feature: what it does, where it lives in Settings and whether it is on after you install, followed by every setting in the Settings window. The same list is on GitHub as Markdown.
1 Off until you turn them on
These features stay off after you install. Turn them on in Settings first (some also need an account or a permission):
| Feature | Where to turn it on |
|---|---|
| Apple Music's own lyrics | Settings › Lyrics › Sources › Lyrics Sources |
| Use the lyrics your player already saved | Settings › Player › Permissions & Services › Full Disk Access |
| Lock hand-picked lyrics | Settings › Lyrics › Sources › Lock Hand-Picked Lyrics |
| Translate when none is provided | Settings › Lyrics › Translation › Translate When None Is Provided |
| Split long lines, join short ones | Settings › Lyrics › Adjust › Split Long Lines |
| Notch lyrics | Settings › Lyrics Display › Notch › Notch Lyrics |
| Menu bar lyrics | Settings › Lyrics Display › Menu Bar › Menu Bar Lyrics |
| Touch Bar lyrics | Settings › Lyrics Display › Touch Bar › Touch Bar Lyrics |
| Lyrics window HDR highlight | Settings › Lyrics Display › Lyrics Window › Text › HDR Highlight |
| Mini window hides when paused or in full screen | Settings › Lyrics Display › Lyrics Window › Behavior › Hide When Paused |
| Line transition | Settings › Lyrics Display › Floating Lyrics › Layout › Line Transition |
| Fade when the pointer is over it | Settings › Lyrics Display › Floating Lyrics › Behavior › Fade on Hover |
| Lock position, long-press to drag | Settings › Lyrics Display › Floating Lyrics › Behavior › Lock Position |
| Hidden from screenshots and screen sharing | Settings › Lyrics Display › Floating Lyrics › Behavior › Hide in Screenshots |
| Hide or shrink when paused | Settings › Lyrics Display › Floating Lyrics › Behavior › Hide When Paused |
| Hide for instrumentals and songs without lyrics | Settings › Lyrics Display › Floating Lyrics › Behavior › Hide for Instrumentals & No Lyrics |
| Floating lyrics step aside in full screen | Settings › Lyrics Display › Floating Lyrics › Behavior › Hide in Full Screen |
| Web lyrics: a phone or tablet as a second screen, or an OBS browser source | Settings › Lyrics Display › Lyrics Window › Web Lyrics |
| YouTube Music and Spotify Web in your browser | Settings › Player › Web |
| Skip YouTube Music ads automatically | Settings › Player › Web › Skip YouTube Music Ads Automatically |
| Start and quit together with your player | Settings › Player › Linkage › Launch When Lyrimuse Opens |
| Last.fm scrobbling and listening profile | Settings › Last.fm › Settings › Scrobble Rules |
| Scrobble to ListenBrainz too | Settings › Labs › ListenBrainz › Account Info |
| Show what you're playing on Discord | Settings › Discord › Show on Discord |
| A shareable now-playing web page | Settings › Labs › Web Push › Connection Info |
| Daily, weekly, monthly and yearly listening digests | Settings › Labs › Push Alerts › Push Channels |
| Launch silently | Settings › General › Startup & Notifications › Launch Silently |
| Notify when the song changes | Settings › General › Startup & Notifications › Notify When the Song Changes |
| Automatic updates and betas | Settings › Software Update › Update Settings › Check Automatically |
2 Finding lyrics
Fourteen lyric sources, searched automatically
NetEase Cloud Music, QQ Music, Kugou, Kuwo, Migu, Musixmatch, LRCLIB, LyricFind, Deezer, AMLL, Soda Music, VIBE, Genie and Apple Music. Each source can be turned off, reordered, or tested to see whether it is reachable right now.
Apple Music's own lyrics
Connect your Apple Music account under Lyrics Sources to use Apple Music's own lyrics, many of them timed word by word. Needs an Apple Music subscription.
Smart matching
By default every result is scored on title, artist, length and version (live, instrumental and so on), and the best fit for the song that is playing wins. You can switch to source order instead: no scoring, the first source in your order that has lyrics is used.
Re-pick lyrics when matching improves
When a new version improves matching or scoring, lyrics you already have are re-checked in the background and replaced if a better version turns up. Turn it off to keep lyrics once they are chosen.
Lyrics ready before the next song
Reads your player's queue and finds lyrics for the next few songs ahead of time; when there is no queue to read, it works through the rest of the album. QQ Music, NetEase Cloud Music, Kugou and Soda Music need Full Disk Access for this.
Use the lyrics your player already saved
Lyrics that QQ Music, NetEase Cloud Music, Kugou, KKBOX, Amazon Music and LX Music already saved can be used directly: the same version the player shows, and faster. For reAMP, the lyrics inside the playing file or a .lrc file of the same name are used. QQ Music, NetEase Cloud Music and Kugou need Full Disk Access for Lyrimuse in System Settings; without it lyrics are still found online.
Warns you when a lyric source misbehaves
When a lyric source has lately found almost nothing, far less than usual, or keeps failing or timing out, a warning appears next to it under Lyrics Sources; click it for the numbers behind it. The other sources keep searching, and the counting happens only on your Mac.
Lock hand-picked lyrics
When on, lyrics you pick by hand from search results are locked, so later automatic matching and re-matching never replace them.
Lyrics Manager
Browse, edit, delete or search again for any song's lyrics, delete in bulk, and clear out the empty entries ads and podcasts leave behind. Give a single song its own timing offset. Retry every song that has no lyrics yet in one go, or re-match the whole library under the current rules, with an adjustable pause between songs; anything you edited by hand is left alone.
Entries for the same song
The same song played in different players or from different releases is recognized as one song: its entries share one set of lyrics, hand edits and timing fixes carry over, and play counts are added up. In Lyrics Manager, Entries for This Song compares each entry's lyrics line by line, and an entry matched by mistake can be split off and merged back later. Turn the sharing off to have each entry matched on its own.
Swap or fix lyrics on the spot
From the lyrics window's ⋯ menu, search for other lyrics, run matching again, or edit them in your own text editor. Editing word-timed lyrics changes only the words, never their timing.
Works offline; lyrics are plain .lrc files
Every lyric found is cached on your Mac and shows without a connection. Each song has an .lrc file, plus .tr.lrc and .roma.lrc for translations and romanization, and word timing in .yrc. They live in ~/.config/lyrimuse/lyrics/ by default, and the folder can be moved.
3 Translation, romanization and line handling
Translations
Translations that come with the lyrics appear under each line. NetEase Cloud Music, QQ Music and Kugou translate into Chinese; Musixmatch and machine translation follow the translation language you pick, from 17. Floating lyrics, the lyrics window, the notch, the menu bar and the Touch Bar each decide whether to show them. Shown by default when your Mac's languages include Chinese.
Translate when none is provided
When no source has a translation, the lyrics are translated by machine. On macOS 15 or later with the language downloaded, Apple Translation does it on your Mac and the lyrics stay there; otherwise the lines to translate are sent to Google Translate, then MyMemory. Translation languages are downloaded from the same card.
Romanization
Japanese romaji, Korean romanization, Mandarin pinyin and Cantonese Jyutping, word by word above the lyrics. Language is judged line by line, so a Japanese line inside a Chinese song is the only one marked. Choose which languages to mark here; with a Chinese interface, pinyin starts off. Each display decides whether to show them.
Simplified or Traditional Chinese
Shows all Chinese lyrics in Simplified or Traditional characters, whatever language the app itself is in.
Split long lines, join short ones
Floating lyrics, the notch, the menu bar and the Touch Bar split lines too long for their width and join lines that flash by too quickly, each by its own width. The lyrics window keeps one line per line. Two separate switches.
Timing offset
Move all lyrics earlier or later, optionally for one player only. Single songs get their own offset in the Lyrics Manager, and shortcuts can advance, delay or reset it on the fly.
4 Where lyrics appear and how they look
Desktop floating lyrics
Lyrics floating above every window, always on top, lit up word by word. Leave them wherever you drag them, or pin them to the top centre of the screen or just above the Dock. With several displays they can stay on one screen or follow the screen of the window you are using. Romanization, translation and the next line can show alongside.
Notch lyrics
A Dynamic Island-style capsule beside the notch at the top of the screen; Macs without a notch and external displays get one too. Each side can show the title, artist, album, artwork, playback controls, or elapsed or remaining time, next to a moving audio wave. Hover to expand it for controls, a seekable progress bar, lyrics timing and quick buttons such as like and search lyrics. During ads it counts down the time left.
Menu bar lyrics
The current line right in the menu bar, scrolling when it is too long instead of being cut off. Add a second line for the next line, the translation or romanization.
Touch Bar lyrics
On a MacBook Pro with a Touch Bar, the current line scrolls along as it is sung, with optional artwork and playback controls. The lyrics can be white, follow the artwork or use your own color, with adjustable brightness for the unsung part. They can expand when playback starts and fold away when paused, and a More button brings up timing, like, shuffle and repeat, volume and a progress slider.
Lyrics window
Full-page lyrics modelled on Apple Music's lyrics view: blurred artwork behind, the whole song scrolling to the current line, duets split by singer, background vocals on their own line, held notes that swell and glow. The background can follow the artwork or be solid, a gradient or frosted glass, and the text weight, sung color and alignment can be changed. Open it from the menu bar icon or a shortcut.
Lyrics window HDR highlight
On an HDR display, the sung part of the current line in the lyrics window is brightened past normal white. Off by default and uses more power when on. Full size only.
Mini lyrics window
The lyrics window shrunk to a small card: just the current line, the current and next line, or a full scrolling page. Background, text colour, font, weight, sung colour and the title, artwork and time at the top are all set separately.
Mini window hides when paused or in full screen
The mini window can disappear while paused or idle and come back when playback starts, and step aside while an app is full screen on its display (a video, a game). Each is a separate switch.
Animated artwork
Albums with animated artwork on Apple Music move in the full-size lyrics window too. It pauses in Low Power Mode or with Reduce Motion on. You can see how much space the downloaded animations take and clear them.
Listening overview between songs
When nothing is playing, the lyrics window shows the last song with a line from its lyrics and a Resume button. With Last.fm connected it also shows how much you listened today, in the last 7 days and in total, a 30-day trend, On This Day and your recent plays with artwork.
Appearance
Font (the system's, or your own .ttf / .otf), size, weight, text and background colours, outline and frosted glass. Floating lyrics come with colour themes and can save your own; text colour can follow the album artwork. Shortcuts, or scrolling over the lyrics with ⌘ held (mouse wheel or two-finger swipe), can also make floating lyrics bigger or smaller on the fly.
Word-by-word karaoke fill
Each word lights up as it is sung. Floating lyrics, the notch, the menu bar, the Touch Bar and both sizes of the lyrics window each have their own switch; off means the whole line lights at once.
Line transition
When floating lyrics move to the next line, the old line slides up and the new one follows, instead of swapping in place.
Fade when the pointer is over it
Floating lyrics turn see-through while the pointer is over them, so they never block what is underneath. The mini lyrics window has its own switch, and can also let clicks through to the window underneath while faded; hold ⌥ to use the mini window.
Lock position, long-press to drag
Lock floating lyrics in place, or require a long press before dragging so they never move by accident.
Controls on hover
Pointing at floating lyrics brings up a row of quick buttons. Menu bar lyrics can show playback controls on hover too.
Hidden from screenshots and screen sharing
Screenshots, recordings and shared screens leave the lyrics out while you still see them. Floating lyrics and the notch each have a switch.
Hide or shrink when paused
Floating lyrics and the notch disappear while paused or idle; the notch can instead shrink back to the size of the notch.
Hide for instrumentals and songs without lyrics
When a song is instrumental, or the search is done and found no lyrics, floating lyrics can hide, and the notch and the Touch Bar can fold their lyric row away. Nothing hides while the search is still running. Each has its own switch.
Notch steps aside in full screen
Notch lyrics tuck away while a video, game or any app is full screen.
Floating lyrics step aside in full screen
Floating lyrics normally stay on top of full screen apps. Turn this on and they hide while a video, game or any app is full screen, then come back when you leave it.
Title drops in on song change
Each new song's title and artist slide out of the notch for a moment, then tuck back in.
Listening milestones
When a song reaches its 100th, 1,000th or 10,000th play, or your Last.fm total passes a milestone, the notch opens up to celebrate. Needs Last.fm connected.
Web lyrics: a phone or tablet as a second screen, or an OBS browser source
Lyrics in a web browser. Web Lyrics shows exactly what the lyrics window shows; OBS Output has a transparent background and the same fonts and colors as the floating lyrics. Each has its own port and local network setting. Both are available only on this Mac until you turn on "Allow Local Network Access"; then devices on the same network can scan a QR code to connect, using a link with an access key. With "Allow Remote Control" on, the page can also control playback and jump to a line.
5 Players and playback
Eleven players, pick several or detect automatically
Apple Music, Spotify, QQ Music, NetEase Cloud Music, Kugou, Soda Music, LX Music, KKBOX, Amazon Music, the Winamp-style reAMP and the YouTube Music app Kaset. Choose several at once, or leave it on automatic to follow whatever macOS shows as Now Playing. Apple Music radio works too, showing the station name and logo while the host talks.
YouTube Music and Spotify Web in your browser
Pair your browser once and music playing in it gets lyrics too, following the page's own progress. A one-click check tells you first whether that browser can be controlled. During ads the notch shows the time left and which ad it is.
Skip YouTube Music ads automatically
YouTube Music in your browser has its ads skipped the moment the Skip button appears. With it off, you can still skip from the notch yourself. Needs the Accessibility permission.
Add other players
Players not on the list can be added to your trusted players from Applications, and Lyrimuse asks when it notices an unfamiliar player making music.
Permissions, only where needed
Apple Music, Spotify and Kaset need Automation permission to read what is playing. QQ Music, NetEase Cloud Music and Kugou need Full Disk Access for their saved lyrics and queues, and Soda Music for its queue. Amazon Music's progress calibration, the shuffle, repeat and like buttons of QQ Music, NetEase Cloud Music, Kugou Music, Soda Music, Amazon Music and reAMP, and the playback buttons of QQ Music, NetEase Cloud Music and Soda Music while another app holds Now Playing need Accessibility. Web players need Automation for the browser and its Allow JavaScript from Apple Events option. The other players need nothing. Settings shows the current state of each.
Playback controls and seeking
Play, pause, skip and drag the progress bar from the lyrics window or the expanded notch. Shuffle, repeat, like and volume depend on the player: Apple Music, Spotify, Kaset, QQ Music, Amazon Music and YouTube Music in a browser each support some or all of them, and NetEase Cloud Music, Kugou Music, Soda Music and LX Music have like, with LX Music volume too once Open API is on in its settings. Play, pause, skipping and like can have global shortcuts. While something like a browser video holds Now Playing, play, pause and skipping for QQ Music, NetEase Cloud Music and Soda Music go through their own menus or play bar, and seeking isn't available.
Open the song's page in one click
One click in the ⋯ menu opens the song, its album or its artist on the platform you are playing from. Apple Music and KKBOX open in their own apps, and Spotify jumps to the song in its app; the rest open on the web: Spotify albums and artists, QQ Music, Soda Music, Amazon Music and YouTube Music. NetEase Cloud Music has the song page only; Kugou has none.
Song, album and artist notes
Click the title, artist or album in the lyrics window or the expanded notch to read about it. Album and artist notes come from Apple Music first; failing that, from Soda Music and NetEase Cloud Music (Chinese interface only), then Wikipedia via YouTube Music, then Last.fm. Song notes come from QQ Music (Chinese interface only) or Last.fm. Last.fm needs your account connected.
Start and quit together with your player
Per player: open the player when Lyrimuse opens, open Lyrimuse when the player opens, or quit Lyrimuse once every player it follows has quit.
6 Scrobbling, Last.fm and sharing
Last.fm scrobbling and listening profile
Connect Last.fm in one click, no token to copy. See today's, this week's and all-time listening, artist, album and track charts with movement, and Footprints: a year heatmap where clicking a day lists its most played songs, listening hours, where your artists come from, and On This Day. Love any recent track with a click.
Custom scrobble rules
Count a play at 50%, 75%, 90% or only at the end; decide on tracks under 30 seconds; by default featured artists, Chinese script variants and suffixes like “- Single” are matched to Last.fm's catalogue entry, or send everything as is; leave any player out of Last.fm entirely.
Every play is logged locally first
Plays made while Last.fm is not connected are recorded on your Mac; once connected, click Backfill under Pending Scrobbles on the Last.fm page. A play that may not have reached Last.fm while connected is checked against Last.fm and resent automatically. Last.fm only accepts plays from about the last two weeks.
Scrobble to ListenBrainz too
Each play goes to Last.fm and ListenBrainz from the same reading, so the two agree. Plays your iPhone sends to Last.fm can be copied into ListenBrainz as well. Under Labs in the sidebar.
Show what you're playing on Discord
Your profile and friends list show the player, title, artist, artwork and a progress bar; clicking the title or artist opens the player's web page. The album line can show the line being sung, and up to two buttons can be added. Choose how the text is laid out, which players count, whether it stays while paused and which badge sits on the artwork, show only the player without naming the song, or hide it for a while.
A shareable now-playing web page
A public page with what you are playing and your history, with optional guestbook, reactions, visitor count, top 10 artists and a vinyl look. ListenBrainz alone gives live playback and history; deploy a Cloudflare Worker from the guide for the rest. Under Labs.
Daily, weekly, monthly and yearly listening digests
Pushed to the channels you set up, as many as you like: Bark, ntfy, ServerChan, Feishu, DingTalk, WeCom, Telegram, Discord, Slack or a generic webhook. Each channel can send a test, and the delivery history shows whether each push arrived, with a resend for the ones that didn't. Each of the four has its own switch. Under Labs.
7 Everyday
First-launch setup
The first time you open Lyrimuse, it walks you through choosing players, pairing a browser and picking where lyrics appear, and checks each permission you need so you can fix anything missing on the spot.
English, Simplified and Traditional Chinese
Follows your system by default; switching takes effect at once, without a restart.
Light, dark or automatic
Settings, the Lyrics Window, Lyrics Manager and the menu bar panel can stay light or dark; by default they follow your system. Floating lyrics still follow the system, and the notch is always dark.
Global keyboard shortcuts
Showing or hiding each kind of lyrics (or all of them at once, for meetings and screen sharing), opening the lyrics window and Lyrics Manager, searching, timing, playback, like and switching to the player can all have shortcuts. None are assigned by default.
Deep links (lyrimuse://)
lyrimuse:// links open any Settings page, the lyrics window or Lyrics Manager, and run every action that can have a shortcut, such as playback, like or hiding all lyrics, from Shortcuts, Raycast, Alfred and similar tools. Opened with x-callback-url from Shortcuts, a link can also send back the title, artist, album and current line. The Deep Links card on the Shortcuts page lists every link, ready to copy.
Searchable settings
Type at the top of the settings sidebar to jump straight to a setting, highlighted, even inside collapsed sections. Search in English or Chinese.
Menu bar icon
Twelve icons to choose from, moving with the music while it plays. Everyday actions live in its menu.
Show in Dock
Turn it off to keep only the menu bar icon.
Launch at login
Opens Lyrimuse when you log in to your Mac.
Launch silently
Starts without opening any window, just the menu bar icon.
Notify when the song changes
A system notification for every new song.
Back up settings, move to a new Mac
Export all your settings to one file, saved to iCloud Drive by default or to a folder you choose; when a new Mac first opens Lyrimuse and finds it in iCloud, it offers to import it.
Automatic updates and betas
Checks for new versions by itself; read the notes and install from the Software Update page. Turn on Beta Updates to try new things early.
One-click diagnostics and bug reports
Bundles logs, crash reports and app state into one file with credentials and your user name removed. Report an Issue opens a GitHub issue with your version, macOS and player filled in.
8 Every setting
Every setting in the Settings window, by where it lives: 270 in all. Type a name into the search field at the top of the Settings sidebar to jump straight to it.
Lyrics › Sources
- Lyrics Sources
- Matching Algorithm
- Re-Pick After Algorithm Updates: On (default): when the matching algorithm or scoring rules change, existing lyrics are re-evaluated in the background and may be swapped for a better match Off: once chosen, lyrics are never swapped automatically; first-time lookups, manual re-searches and manual edits are unaffected
- Share Lyrics Across Entries of a Song: On (default): entries of the same song from different players or album editions that are confirmed to be the same recording use the same lyrics, and manual edits apply to all of them Off: each entry is matched on its own, and entries that were synced go back to their original lyrics
- Pre-Resolve Upcoming Tracks
- Lock Hand-Picked Lyrics: Off (default): replaces the lyrics this time only; later automatic searches or scoring changes may replace them again On: locks this song’s lyrics so automatic matching no longer changes them Turning it on also locks songs you chose manually before (except those already replaced automatically)
Lyrics › Translation
- Translation Language: Whether each place shows translations is set in Lyrics Display
- Translate When None Is Provided: Translates on this Mac first, and online when that isn’t possible
- Translation Languages: Only languages that can be translated into your translation language are listed, so there may be fewer than in System Settings. Click a language that isn’t downloaded to download it
Lyrics › Adjust
- Chinese Script: Show Chinese lyrics in Simplified or Traditional characters
- Romanization Languages: Adds pronunciation for the selected languages; whether it shows is set in Lyrics Display
- Split Long Lines: Lines too long to fit are split and shown in parts
- Join Short Lines: Adjacent short lines are merged when they fit on one line
- Timing Offset: Positive shows lyrics earlier, negative later
Lyrics › Library
- Lyrics Library
- Auto-Match Missing Lyrics: Only songs without lyrics or with plain-text lyrics only
- Re-Match Whole Library: Songs that already have lyrics are re-matched too; manually edited, calibrated and instrumental songs are left unchanged
- Scan Interval: Seconds between songs; at least 2 seconds is recommended to avoid rate limits
- Lyrics Folder: Existing files stay where they are when you change the location
Player
- Music Apps
- Web: Lyrics also work for music playing in a browser. Click + to pair the browser you use; the position is read directly from the page, so lyrics sync immediately after a song change
- Other Apps: Apps not listed above can be used as players too: once added, their songs show lyrics and count toward your listening history. Click a tile to remove it
- Add App…: Pick one from Applications — no need to wait until it’s playing
- New Player Alerts
Player › Web
- Skip YouTube Music Ads Automatically: Skippable ads are skipped as soon as they appear
Player › Permissions & Services
- Automation Permission
- Full Disk Access
- Accessibility
- LX Music Open API: Lyrimuse reads LX Music’s playback position and adjusts its volume through this API
- Lyrics Engine: Reads playback state and fetches lyrics and artwork
Player › Linkage
- Player Linkage: Each item is checked per player. Only the selected players are listed; with Auto-detect selected, the ones installed on this Mac are added
- Launch When Lyrimuse Opens
- Launch When Your Player Opens
- Quit With Player
Lyrics Display › Floating Lyrics
- Desktop Floating Lyrics
- OBS
- Width
- Position
- Screen
- Reset to Defaults: Content, layout, behavior, position, OBS and width are left alone
Lyrics Display › Floating Lyrics › OBS
- OBS Output: Overlay the lyrics on your stream as a browser source. Set its width and height to your OBS canvas size
- Browser Source URL
- Allow Local Network Access: Devices on the same network can connect with a link that includes an access key
- Access Link
- Fallback Link (IP Address)
- Reset Access Key: Links you've already shared will stop working
- Port: After changing it, update the URL in OBS
Lyrics Display › Floating Lyrics › Theme
- Color Theme
- My Themes
Lyrics Display › Floating Lyrics › Type
- Font
- Weight
- Font Size
Lyrics Display › Floating Lyrics › Color
- Karaoke Effect
- Text Color
- Text Outline
- Stroke Color
- Unsung Color
- Background Color
- Frosted Glass Background
- Glass Density
Lyrics Display › Floating Lyrics › Content
- Romanization
- Translation
- Next Line
Lyrics Display › Floating Lyrics › Layout
- Alignment
- Long Lines
- Line Transition: When the lyric changes, the next line moves up into place. When off, lines switch instantly
- Romanization Spacing
- Translation Spacing
- Next Line Spacing
Lyrics Display › Floating Lyrics › Behavior
- Lock Position
- Long-Press to Drag
- Fade on Hover
- Controls on Hover
- Hide in Screenshots
- Hide When Paused
- Hide for Instrumentals & No Lyrics
- Hide in Full Screen
Lyrics Display › Notch
- Notch Lyrics: Tucked compactly beside the notch at the top of the screen
- Style
- Display
- Left Ear
- Right Ear
- Width
- Expanded Width
- Reset to Defaults: Width and the master toggle are left alone
Lyrics Display › Notch › Style
- Corners
- Expanded Corners
Lyrics Display › Notch › Left Ear
- Audio Wave
Lyrics Display › Notch › Lyric Row
- Show Lyrics: When off, the resting card keeps only the notch-height row and shows no lyrics; hovering to expand still shows playback controls, the scrubber, and the next-line preview as usual
- Alignment
- Second Line
- Preview Next Line When Expanded
- Height
- Karaoke Effect
- Show Artwork
- Artwork Position
Lyrics Display › Notch › Font
- Font
- Weight
- Font Size
Lyrics Display › Notch › Expanded State
- Show Playback Controls
- Show Lyrics Calibration
- Quick Actions
- Track Info
Lyrics Display › Notch › Behavior
- Shrink When Paused
- Hide in Screenshots
- Hide When Paused
- Collapse Lyric Row for Instrumentals & No Lyrics
- Hide in Full Screen
- Listening Milestones
- Show Title on Song Change
Lyrics Display › Menu Bar
- Menu Bar Lyrics
- Max Width
- Reset to Defaults: Width and the master toggle are left alone
Lyrics Display › Menu Bar › Layout
- Width Mode: Fixed: every song uses the set width. Adaptive: each song gets its own width from its lyrics, up to the set width
- Alignment
- Second Line
- Icon Beside Lyrics: Shows the menu bar icon at the far left or right of the lyrics area, filling from the bottom up to show playback progress: the filled part uses Sung Color and the rest Unsung Color. Appears only while lyrics are shown
Lyrics Display › Menu Bar › Color
- Karaoke Effect
- Text Color
- Sung Color
Lyrics Display › Menu Bar › Font
- Font
- Weight
- Font Size
Lyrics Display › Menu Bar › Behavior
- Show Controls on Hover: Hover over the menu bar lyrics to turn them into Previous / Play-Pause / Next; move away and the lyrics return. Doesn't take over once the lyrics shrink back to the icon after pausing, or when the slot is too narrow for three buttons. Clicking outside the three buttons still opens the panel
- Show Title When No Lyrics: While a song has no lyrics or is still being searched, keep the lyrics slot with the song title instead of collapsing to the icon; the line is swapped in as soon as lyrics arrive. Still collapses when paused, and never shows during ads
Lyrics Display › Touch Bar
- Touch Bar Lyrics
- Reset to Defaults: The master toggle is left alone
Lyrics Display › Touch Bar › Lyrics
- Second Line
- Font Size
- Alignment
Lyrics Display › Touch Bar › Style
- Karaoke Effect
- Lyrics Color: White, cover art color or a custom color
- Dimmed Text Brightness: Brightness of unsung words and the second line
Lyrics Display › Touch Bar › Layout
- Show Artwork
- Artwork Position
- Show Playback Controls: Previous, Play/Pause and Next, plus a settings button
- Controls Position
- Show More Button: Tap it to switch to playback position, lyrics timing, Favorite, Shuffle/Repeat and Volume. Items the current player doesn't support are hidden
- Hide Control Strip While Expanded: Lyrics fill the whole Touch Bar. To reach brightness, volume and other system buttons, tap ✕ on the left to collapse the lyrics first
- System Control Strip: Add, remove or reorder the brightness, volume and other system buttons on the right of the Touch Bar in System Settings › Keyboard › Touch Bar Settings…
Lyrics Display › Touch Bar › Behavior
- Expand When Playback Starts: Shows the lyrics when playback resumes from pause. Switching songs during playback doesn't expand them, and lyrics you collapsed stay collapsed
- Collapse When Paused: Collapses to the Control Strip button after 10 seconds paused, and expands again when playback resumes
- Collapse for Instrumentals & No Lyrics: Collapses only after confirming there are no lyrics, and expands again once lyrics are found. Stays shown while searching
Lyrics Display › Lyrics Window
- Lyrics Window
- Web Lyrics: Show the Lyrics Window in a web browser
- Reset to Defaults
Lyrics Display › Lyrics Window › Web Lyrics
- Local Address
- Allow Local Network Access: Devices on the same network can connect with a link that includes an access key
- Allow Remote Control: Control playback and jump to lyrics from other devices
- Access Link
- Fallback Link (IP Address)
- Reset Access Key: Links you've already shared will stop working
- Port: After changing it, scan the QR code again to reconnect
Lyrics Display › Lyrics Window › Background
- Background: The lyrics window's background: follow artwork, solid, gradient, or frosted glass
- Direction
- Glass Density: Frosted glass material density (five levels)
- Bottom Color
Lyrics Display › Lyrics Window › Text
- Font Size (mini size only): Ceiling for the mini size's lyrics font size
- Karaoke Effect
- Text Color: The lyrics window's text color. Auto switches between light and dark based on the background's brightness
- Custom Color
- Font: Lyrics font for the lyrics window (main text, translation, romanization)
- Weight
- Sung Color
- HDR Highlight (full size only): Brightens the sung part on HDR displays. Uses more power when on
Lyrics Display › Lyrics Window › Layout
- Long Lines (mini size only): Whether long lines wrap or scroll in the mini size
- Lyrics Layout (mini size only): One Line: only the current line. Two Lines: the current line and the next one. Multi-Line: a scrolling page of lyrics, like the full size
- Alignment (full size only): Lyrics alignment in the full size; Automatic follows the duet parts
Lyrics Display › Lyrics Window › Behavior
- Fade on Hover (mini size only)
- Click Through While Faded (mini size only): While faded, clicks pass through to the window below. Hold ⌥ to make it opaque and interact with it
- Hide When Paused (mini size only)
- Hide in Full Screen (mini size only)
Lyrics Display › Lyrics Window › Content
- Romanization
- Translation
Lyrics Display › Lyrics Window › Header
- Title (mini size only): Show the title, artist, and album at the top of the mini size
- Artist (mini size only)
- Album (mini size only)
- Artwork (mini size only): The small artwork thumbnail beside the mini size's top info
- Time (mini size only): Shows elapsed time and track length at the top of the mini size
- Width (mini size only): How much of the window's width the mini size's header takes up
- Height (mini size only): How much of the window's height the mini size's header takes up; the text and artwork scale with it
Lyrics Display › Lyrics Window › Artwork
- Animated Artwork (full size only): Available on some albums only; pauses in Low Power Mode or with Reduce Motion on
- Animated Artwork Cache (full size only): Disk space used by downloaded animated artwork; anything cleared downloads again the next time it's shown
Keyboard Shortcuts
- Deep Links: Open these from Shortcuts, Raycast, Alfred and similar tools. Hover over a shortcut above to copy the link for that action
- Show/Hide Floating Lyrics
- Show/Hide Notch Lyrics
- Show/Hide Menu Bar Lyrics
- Expand/Collapse Touch Bar Lyrics
- Hide/Restore All Lyrics
- Lock/Unlock Position
- Show/Hide Translation
- Show/Hide Romanization
- Increase Floating Lyrics Font Size
- Decrease Floating Lyrics Font Size
- Open Lyrics Manager
- Open Lyrics Window
- Switch Mini / Full Size
- Search Lyrics
- Open Settings
- Switch to Player
- Advance Lyrics
- Delay Lyrics
- Reset Lyrics Offset
- Step: Amount per press
- Play/Pause
- Next Track
- Previous Track
- Favorite/Remove Favorite
General › Menu Bar & Dock
- Menu Bar Icon
- Animate Icon
- Show in Dock
General › Appearance & Language
- Appearance: Colors of Settings, the Lyrics Window, Lyrics Manager and the menu bar panel
- Language
General › Startup & Notifications
- Launch at Login
- Launch Silently
- Notify When the Song Changes
General › Backup & Migration
- iCloud Backup
- Settings File: Contains credentials in plain text; exports two files, settings and lyrics library; importing replaces all settings
- Erase All Settings: Erases settings on this Mac only; backups and exported files are kept. Can’t be undone
Software Update
- Software Update
Software Update › Update Settings
- Check Automatically: Checks for a new version once a day
- Download and Install Automatically: Downloads in the background and installs when you quit Lyrimuse
- Beta Updates: Pre-release builds; may be unstable
About › Updates & Help
- Report an Issue: Opens a new GitHub issue with your version, macOS and player filled in
- Get Help: Ask in the Q&A category of GitHub Discussions
- Feature List: Every feature, where to find it in Settings, and its default state
About
- Discord Community: Chat with other users, ask questions or suggest features
- Telegram Group: Chat with other users, ask questions or suggest features
- Copyright Notice
- Third-Party Licenses: Open-source components and dictionaries
- Open-Source License: GPL-3.0
About › Diagnostics & Data
- Export Diagnostics: Logs, crash reports and app state in one file, with account credentials removed. Track names and local paths stay in, so review it before posting publicly
- Activity Log: The lyrics engine’s raw log, for your own troubleshooting
- Config Folder: Plain text with account credentials. Appearance and shortcuts aren’t included; to migrate everything, use Backup & Migration
Labs › ListenBrainz
- Account Info
Last.fm › Settings
- Scrobble Rules
- Matching Mode: The artist and title sent to Last.fm Smart: uses the most-listened spelling on Last.fm, or sends it as-is when there’s no match. Albums drop “ - Single” / “ - EP” Custom: set title and artist separately Raw: sends exactly what the player reports
- Title
- Artist
- Scrobble Point
- Tracks Under 30 Seconds: On: also scrobbled once half played Off: not scrobbled (Last.fm’s rule)
- Players to Scrobble
Labs › Web Push
- Connection Info: Deploy the web app first and get an access token. Setup steps are in the project README: https://github.com/Yudaotor/lyrimuse
Labs › Push Alerts
- Push Channels: Reports are pushed to every enabled channel. Click a row to edit it or send a test; right-click to delete
- Listening Digests
- Data Source
- Weekly Listening Digest
- Daily Listening Report
- Monthly Listening Digest
- Yearly Listening Digest
- Delivery History
Discord
- Show on Discord: When on, the song you're playing shows on your Discord profile and in your friends list. If friends can't see it, go to User Settings › Activity Privacy in Discord and turn on activity sharing
- What's Shown
- After “Listening to”: The “××” in “Listening to ××” on your profile. Discord on iOS and the web ignores this and keeps showing the player With Title or Artist here, “Shown Under Your Name” can’t show the player
- Shown Under Your Name: Discord can only show the first line, the second line, or what follows “Listening to” under your name. If neither the title nor the artist is in one of those, that option is unavailable
- Cover Badge
- When Paused
- Song Info
- Status Text
- Cover and Progress
- Label Artist and Album: Adds “by” before the artist and “on” before the album. Not added when the title and artist share a line
- Buttons
- Custom Button
- “Listen on Player”: Opens this song’s page on the current player’s website, same as clicking the title. Hidden when no page is available
- “Get Lyrimuse”
- Privacy
- Hide Temporarily
- Hide Song Details: Shows only the player you’re using and the progress. The title, artist, album, lyrics, links and the “Listen on Player” button aren’t sent
- Show Progress Bar: When off, there’s no progress bar; Discord shows the elapsed time instead, which can’t be turned off
- Players Shown