A church translation app nobody has to download

How it works on a Sunday

You start a session from any phone or laptop near a microphone — or plug into your sound desk. Vonal shows a QR code. Listeners scan it, pick their language, and follow along as live captions on their own phone, or hear translated audio through their own earbuds. When the service ends, you tap one button. That's the whole routine.

Why "no app" matters for churches

Your listeners are visitors, elderly members, and people borrowing a phone — not tech staff. Every step between the door and the translation loses people. A QR code that opens a web page works on any phone, any age, any app store account, and it's gone when they close the tab. Nothing to update, nothing to delete.

What you get

• Live captions in 40+ languages at once — every listener picks their own
• Optional translated audio through the listener's own earbuds
• A time-stamped transcript after every service
• A custom dictionary for names and terms your church uses often
• Automatic pause after 10 minutes of silence — no wasted minutes

What it costs

Plans start at $20 a month, and your first hour is free so you can test it during a real service before spending anything. Compare that to a headset-based church translation system — hundreds to thousands up front, plus an interpreter every week — or a human interpreter at $50–$150 an hour.

A note on accuracy

Vonal handles names, scripture references, and the rhythm of preaching well, and it's been used live in churches since September 2025. It's a tool to widen the door — not a replacement for a trained interpreter on weighty pastoral moments.