LDS Music 1.0 for iOS, released in October 2011, is available for free download in Apple’s App Store.

LDS Music contains the content of the LDS Hymnbook and Children’s Songbook, with each song presented in two views: the sheet music or simply the text of the verses. The songs are listed by number as well as alphabetically, by topic, by author, and by composer.

Authors and composers are listed by first or last name. There is a search option that covers not just song titles but also each song’s content. The application also plays instrumental music for each song, which is especially useful when there is no pianist around.

Future Plans

The purpose of this application is to expand the availability of Church music rather than just having it on the web. Hilton Campbell, a senior engineer on the project, says that the goal of this application is to provide members with access to Church music at church, at home, on the commute, or wherever they may be.

Hilton explained that the LDS Music app is just getting started, and this first version is only the basics of what the team would like to do. Future plans for the application include adding music from Seminary video soundtracks and Young Women camp songs, incorporating new features like playlists and audio controls, and making this application available in several languages, starting with Spanish, French, and Portuguese.

Assistance Needed

For the app’s language requirements, the team needs help from the community. “The real need is to get the words for the music,” says Hilton. The team has PDF versions of the songs in Spanish, French, and Portuguese and needs community members to transfer the words to text files. The work does not require high technical skill, it just takes time, and yet it has great capacity to affect the lives of saints globally.

If you’re interested in participating in this project, join the project on LDSTech by signing to the site, click Projects in the top navigation bar, click the LDS Music for iPhone/iPad project, and then click Join.