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SmartFrame: Automatically get Lyrics for a song playing from any Sonos speaker

  • July 22, 2026
  • 8 replies
  • 130 views
C

Hey hey! My name is Nate, and this is my first post here! I wanted to describe what I’m working on, and see if anyone’s interested in it!

 

It started out as a little project for me. I love having lyrics displayed for songs, and I wanted to figure out a way to have them display automatically. Turns out, it’s possible! 
 

The current state of the project: 

•Seamless integration with any Sonos ecosystem

•Connects to both Sonos and/or HomePods AUTOMATICALLY 

•Syncs with Philips Hue and Nanoleafs

•Weather and photo Idle screens (Kinda like Aura Picture Frames)


What you need:

•Computer connected to WiFi/LAN, or Docker Container
•Device that can access the internet browser (currently laggy on a fire stick, buy if you’re able to stick a mini pc behind a device it works like magic. I’ve gotten it to work on smart TVs, Xbox’s, and even just a chrome tab)

 

(Do note that the help of AI was included in the making of this)

I would love to hear feedback on the project, and if anyone would like to test, please let me know!

 

    8 replies

    Jamie A
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    • Jamie A
    • Sonos Staff
    • July 23, 2026

    Hi ​@Coolkidnate, welcome to the Sonos Community!

    When I listen to my system using Spotify Connect, I usually have the lyric section of the app open, so I could see other users being interested in something like this. If you haven’t already, I would recommend also posting this to the Sonos Reddit community.

      L
      • Lein
      • Lyricist I
      • July 25, 2026

      Amazing idea! Is it going to be available for Android TV? 

        C
        • Coolkidnate
        • Author
        • Contributor I
        • July 25, 2026

        Amazing idea! Is it going to be available for Android TV? 

        Hey hey! It would need to be running on a computer that’s always running, but as long as you can access the internet on your tv, yes! I’ve side loaded a browser on my Sony tv and it works great!

          C
          • Coolkidnate
          • Author
          • Contributor I
          • July 25, 2026

          Hi ​@Coolkidnate, welcome to the Sonos Community!

          When I listen to my system using Spotify Connect, I usually have the lyric section of the app open, so I could see other users being interested in something like this. If you haven’t already, I would recommend also posting this to the Sonos Reddit community.

          Yeah! Thanks for the suggestion Jamie! Yeah I know Apple Music/Spotify has their own lyrics, however this will automatically pull from any music playing from any Sonos speaker. I loved the Aura home pictures frames, but always wanted more customization. This was the project I ended up making. Got it up in my kitchen as a picture frame when no music is playing, with the weather too! 

          L
          • Lein
          • Lyricist I
          • August 22, 2026

          Amazing idea! Is it going to be available for Android TV? 

          Hey hey! It would need to be running on a computer that’s always running, but as long as you can access the internet on your tv, yes! I’ve side loaded a browser on my Sony tv and it works great!

          Is it already available?

          F
          Forum|alt.badge.img+1
          • fforssell
          • Trending Lyricist I
          • August 22, 2026

          Hey hey! My name is Nate, and this is my first post here! I wanted to describe what I’m working on, and see if anyone’s interested in it!

           

          Nice project — the automatic lyrics pull from whatever the Sonos zone is playing is exactly the right idea.

          One question about display handling before I'd consider testing it: how does SmartFrame deal with the screen itself when nothing is playing? I see there are weather/photo idle screens, which suggests the display stays lit around the clock. On an OLED TV a permanently lit static-ish screen is a burn-in risk, and even on an LCD you get a glowing panel in the room at night. Turning the TV on and off by hand works, but then it stops being an appliance.

          So concretely: is there (or is there planned) any way for SmartFrame to manage display state itself — for example a true black/off idle mode when playback stops, a night schedule, or HDMI-CEC / display power control from the host so the screen wakes on playback and sleeps on idle? That's the piece that would make it viable on an OLED.

          Thanks — happy to hear how you've handled this on your own setup.

            C
            • Coolkidnate
            • Author
            • Contributor I
            • August 22, 2026

            Amazing idea! Is it going to be available for Android TV? 

            Hey hey! It would need to be running on a computer that’s always running, but as long as you can access the internet on your tv, yes! I’ve side loaded a browser on my Sony tv and it works great!

            Is it already available?

            So yes, if your android tv has a web browser it would work! However you do need either Linux, docker, or macOS to run the server! 

            C
            • Coolkidnate
            • Author
            • Contributor I
            • August 22, 2026

            Hey hey! My name is Nate, and this is my first post here! I wanted to describe what I’m working on, and see if anyone’s interested in it!

             

            Nice project — the automatic lyrics pull from whatever the Sonos zone is playing is exactly the right idea.

            One question about display handling before I'd consider testing it: how does SmartFrame deal with the screen itself when nothing is playing? I see there are weather/photo idle screens, which suggests the display stays lit around the clock. On an OLED TV a permanently lit static-ish screen is a burn-in risk, and even on an LCD you get a glowing panel in the room at night. Turning the TV on and off by hand works, but then it stops being an appliance.

            So concretely: is there (or is there planned) any way for SmartFrame to manage display state itself — for example a true black/off idle mode when playback stops, a night schedule, or HDMI-CEC / display power control from the host so the screen wakes on playback and sleeps on idle? That's the piece that would make it viable on an OLED.

            Thanks — happy to hear how you've handled this on your own setup.

            Hey thank you for the comment! Theres already a “OLED” toggle that shifts the pixels a little every couple of minutes. Im also incorporating a “sleep time” where you can set it so that if there’s nothing playing during that time, that it just idles to black, or just a clock that jumps around the screen every couple of minutes. Since the project uses a server as the “brains” and a firestick browser or android rv browser as the display, i havent considered  any HDMI-CEC. 
             

            if you would like to text, shoot me a dm! Would love more people to try it and get opinions! 
             

            some new updates recently have improved homekit stability, onkyo/stereo receiver support, and overall usability, with also integration with a immach server! 

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