Frequently Asked Questions

The SW1 is SermonWave's dedicated hardware device. It sits next to your sound mixer, connects with a single audio cable, and joins your church's network by Ethernet or Wi-Fi. It sends the sermon audio securely to SermonWave's own AI servers, which handle speech-to-text transcription, translation and text-to-speech, and it can play the translated audio for FM headsets. No laptop, and no one needs to operate it.

The process has three steps: (1) The SW1 or your web device captures the sermon audio, and AI speech recognition converts it to text. (2) Neural translation models convert the text into each target language. (3) The translated content is delivered to listeners on their phones (as captions and audio) or through FM headsets (as spoken audio). The entire process happens in under 2 seconds.

No. Phone access works through a web page — listeners scan a QR code and the translated sermon appears in their browser. No app store, no account creation, no downloads. Works on any phone with a web browser.

About 15 minutes. Connect one audio cable from your mixer to the SW1, plug in power and your network, and place QR code cards in the pews. The device ships pre-configured — there's no software to install.

No. That's the entire point. The SW1 turns on automatically, detects audio, and starts transcribing and translating. Your sound booth volunteers don't need to touch it, launch anything, or even know it's there. Set it up once and it works every service.

No. The SW1 is a dedicated device, so there's no laptop, no Windows updates, no login screens, no "who has the password" problems. (Prefer to use a computer you already have? The Web plan runs in any browser.)

The SW1 connects to any sound system that has an auxiliary output, monitor send, or direct out. If your mixer can send audio to a recorder or a livestream, it can send audio to the SW1. We include the right cables and adapters for your specific setup.

No. The SW1 is included in the SW1 hardware plan's monthly price and remains SermonWave's property. It ships pre-configured and ready to use. If you ever cancel, just ship it back. There's no upfront hardware purchase.

Yes. SermonWave's transcription and translation run on our own servers, so the SW1 or web device needs an internet connection (wired Ethernet or Wi-Fi). Phone listeners need Wi-Fi or cell signal. Listeners using FM headsets don't need any connection themselves.

Modern AI transcription achieves 95%+ accuracy for clear audio. Translation quality depends on the language pair, but neural translation has improved dramatically. It's not perfect — no translation is, including human interpreters. But listeners consistently report they can follow the sermon far better than having no translation at all.

Today the pastor can preach in English, Spanish or French. SermonWave translates live into Spanish and French, and into English when the pastor speaks Spanish or French. Captions always show the original language too, and the spoken voice is available in Spanish, French and English. Need another language? Tell us which one.

A few seconds. Captions appear shortly after each sentence is spoken, and the spoken translation follows once the sentence is translated and voiced. In practice listeners follow along much like simultaneous interpretation.

Yes. Transcription, translation and speech run on SermonWave's own AI servers — your sermon audio is never sent to third-party AI services — and audio travels over encrypted connections. You choose whether each sermon is public, unlisted or private. Our Privacy Policy has the details.

No. The pastor can preach in English, Spanish or French. When the pastor speaks Spanish or French, SermonWave can translate into English (and into the other of the two). You can set the speaking language for each device, or let SermonWave detect it automatically.

The SW1 plays the translated audio through its audio output, which connects to an FM transmitter that broadcasts on a specific frequency. Listeners wear a small FM receiver headset (like a pocket radio with an earpiece), tune to the right channel and hear the sermon in their language. No phone needed, and no battery concerns beyond the headset itself.

We recommend both. Keep FM headsets at the welcome table for listeners who prefer screen-free worship (especially older congregants). Place QR code cards in the pews for phone users. Over time, your congregation will settle into their preferences.

Absolutely. FM headsets provide amplified audio directly to the ear — similar to existing assistive listening systems. Phone access provides real-time captions, which function as live closed captioning for the sermon. Both serve the hearing-impaired community, in any language.

Every sermon is automatically saved as a searchable transcript in the original language and all translated languages. You can access transcripts through the SermonWave dashboard, download them as PDFs, share sermon summaries, or publish them to your church website.

Search engines can't listen to audio or watch video. If your sermons only exist as YouTube recordings, Google has no idea what your pastor said. Transcribed sermons become searchable text on your website — meaning when someone searches for a topic your pastor preached about, your church can show up in results. Multilingual transcripts multiply this effect by making your content discoverable in other languages. Read more about why this matters.

After each service, AI generates a concise summary of the sermon — key points, scripture references, and takeaways. These can be shared with your congregation via email, posted on your website, or used for Bible study groups. Summaries are available in all supported languages.

Plans start at $100/month for Web. The SW1 hardware plan is $150/month with the SW1 device included, and the Video plan is $200/month. Plans stack on one account, extra devices are +$25/month (web), +$75/month (SW1) or +$100/month (video), and every account starts with a free 14-day trial with 1 device. No per-language fees, no hidden costs. See full pricing details.

No contracts. Month-to-month billing. 30-day money-back guarantee. If it's not right for your church, cancel anytime and ship back any SW1 device.

Add a device for each campus to any plan, and all data flows into a single dashboard so leadership can see sermon content across all locations. For larger deployments, talk to us.

When you subscribe to the SW1 hardware plan, you enter a shipping address and we ship the SW1 to your church pre-configured and ready to plug in, with a power supply, an audio cable and a quick-start guide.