Hitokara
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How Hitokara works

Hitokara follows the song playing in the Music app, finds its lyrics, adds readings and displays them in time with playback. Here is the flow, step by step.

  1. 1. Play a song in the Music app

    Hitokara has no music of its own; it follows what is playing in Apple Music. When you pick a song in Hitokara, playback starts in the Music app and Hitokara reads the current song and playback position.

  2. 2. Find and assemble the lyrics

    Your device fetches the lyrics directly, preferring versions with per-character or per-word timing. If only line timing exists, lyrics are shown line by line.

  3. 3. Add furigana

    Lyrics are split into words by morphological analysis (the process of dividing Japanese text into words), readings are assigned from a dictionary and shown above the kanji. All of this happens on your device. Unusual readings, such as those unique to lyrics, are covered by an exceptions dictionary.

  4. 4. Display in time with playback

    Hitokara reads the playback position and estimates the time in between so the color advances smoothly. In KTV style, a few lines are shown per page and the page changes as you sing.

  5. 5. Request songs on Apple TV (optional)

    Install Hitokara on Apple TV and a 4-digit connection code appears on screen. Enter it on an iPhone on the same Wi-Fi and you can request songs from the iPhone; they appear on Apple TV in order. The connection stays on your local network.