Put an iPad or iPhone on the lectern

What the iPad or iPhone does

Exactly what the room's laptop would do. The Frasiey iOS app listens to the room, turns what is said into text on the iPad or iPhone itself, and sends only the words to Frasiey, so attendees can read along on their phones. The sound never leaves it and is never recorded.

It is one app for both. This page says iPad from here on, because that is what most lecterns get. An iPhone works the same way, for a small room or as a spare, and its own screens say this iPhone.

It connects with the same six-character code, chooses its room the same way, and follows the same schedule. In Frasiey online it wears a name such as iPad 2, beside your laptops.

Its screen faces the speaker, so attendees still scan the printed sign and read on their own phones. The iPad shows the room's QR code too, under Attendees scan this, with the room's address printed beneath it for anyone who would rather type it.

Which iPhones and iPads work

A recent iPad with iPadOS 26, or a recent iPhone with iOS 26. It captions the same nine spoken languages as a recent Mac: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean or Chinese. Attendees read in any of 100 languages, whichever one you use.

The lists below are to be confirmed. We are checking them on real iPads and iPhones before the app comes out, and this page will change if one of them does not hold up. To see which one you have, open Settings, then General, then About, and read its name.

• iPad Pro: 11-inch (3rd and 4th generation), 12.9-inch (5th and 6th generation), and the 11-inch and 13-inch with M4 or M5.
• iPad Air: 4th and 5th generation, and the 11-inch and 13-inch with M2 or M3.
• iPad mini: 6th generation, and the one with A17 Pro.
• iPad: 10th generation, and the one with A16.
• iPhone: iPhone 12 and every iPhone since, and iPhone SE (3rd generation).

Some older iPads and iPhones can install iPadOS 26 or iOS 26 but cannot turn speech into captions by themselves. Frasiey tells you on its first screen: This iPad can't caption. On an iPhone it says This iPhone can't caption. Use a newer one, or a Mac or Windows laptop, for that room.

Set it up in five steps

Do this in the room, the day before if you can, with the iPad where it will sit and plugged in.

1. Open Frasiey and let it hear the room

On the iPad, open the Frasiey iOS app. It explains that it listens on this iPad and sends only the words, and only while it is on the screen. Press Allow microphone access, and when your iPad asks, choose Allow. If you chose Don't Allow by mistake, open Settings, then Apps, then Frasiey, and turn on Microphone.

2. Connect this iPad to your account

Frasiey shows a QR code. Scan it with the phone you are signed in on and the iPad joins your account. No phone handy? Open app.frasiey.com/pair in any web browser you are signed in on and type the six characters under the code. On the iPad itself, Connect using this iPad instead opens that page in Safari.

The iPad then tells you its name, such as iPad 2. That is its name in Frasiey online, so read it out when someone asks which iPad this is.

3. Choose its room

The iPad asks which room it is in. Pick the room you are standing in, and it says the room back to you. Each room has one laptop, iPad or iPhone. If the room already has one, the iPad asks before anything changes, and it can only take the room from one that has been offline for a while. Not sure yet? Choose it later in Frasiey online.

4. Test the microphone

Choose the microphone this room uses, press Test the microphone, and say a sentence from where the speaker will stand. When Frasiey shows back what you said, press Use this microphone. The first time an iPad captions a language, it downloads that language once, and you see it happen on this screen. Do it on good Wi-Fi rather than in front of a full room.

5. Check the last screen and finish

The last screen, You're all set, lists what keeps the room captioned: leave it plugged in, keep the cover open, the screen stays on, know when captions pause, and lock this iPad to Frasiey. An iPhone has no cover, so it skips that one. Each has its own section below.

Press Allow notifications, so the iPad can ask whoever is near it to open Frasiey again if captions pause. If nobody has, Finish setup asks. Press Finish setup and you see the screen the room will show on the day.

It only listens while Frasiey is on the screen

This is on purpose. A microphone on a lectern should never be listening when nobody can see that it is, so Frasiey listens only while it is the app on the iPad's screen. When it is listening, the iPad shows its own small orange microphone light, and Frasiey's screen says Frasiey is listening to this room.

If somebody goes to the Home Screen, opens another app or locks the iPad, captions pause within a second:

• Phones reading the room show Captions are paused.
• In Frasiey online, the room's line says Not on the Frasiey screen.
• A few seconds later, if notifications are on for Frasiey, the iPad shows one: Captions in Ballroom A are paused. Open Frasiey to keep going.

Open Frasiey again and captions carry on by themselves. Nobody has to press Start. Pulling down Control Center or a notification does not pause them, and Frasiey sharing the screen with another app, side by side, still counts as on the screen.

On iPadOS 26 an app opens full screen unless the iPad is set to Windowed Apps. If Frasiey opens in a window, make it full screen with the window's green button.

Leave it plugged in, with the cover open

Leave it plugged in. Keep it charging until the meeting ends. If the charger comes out during a session, Frasiey says This iPad isn't plugged in and about how many hours are left.

Keep the cover open. A closed cover turns off the iPad's microphone, so a folded cover on the lectern means a silent room.

The screen stays on. On meeting days Frasiey keeps the screen on. When nobody has touched it for 10 minutes, it dims to a darker screen with the same sentence on it, and it keeps captioning if it was. Touch anywhere to brighten the screen.

Keep it out of strong sun and away from hot stage lights. An iPad that gets too hot stops captioning to protect itself and carries on once it cools down.

Lock this iPad to Frasiey with Guided Access

Guided Access is a setting every iPad and iPhone has. It keeps the iPad on one app until someone types a passcode, so nobody at the lectern can leave Frasiey by accident and pause the captions. It takes a minute.

1. Open Settings, then Accessibility, then Guided Access, and turn it on. Under Passcode Settings, set a passcode the people running the room will know.
2. Open Frasiey, then press the top button three times quickly. On an iPad with a Home button, press the Home button three times instead, and on an iPhone, the side button.
3. Tap Start. The iPad now stays on Frasiey.

To leave, press the same button three times again and type the passcode. While Guided Access is on, Frasiey says Locked to Frasiey under Show more. If you look after many iPads through your company's own management tools, you can lock them to Frasiey from there instead. Write to us and we will help.

Choose the microphone

On the iPad, hold anywhere on the screen for a second to open the controls, and choose Microphone. The list shows what is plugged in, each by its own name:

• iPad microphone. The one built in. Fine for a speaker who stands at the lectern and speaks toward the iPad, with the cover open.
• A USB microphone or audio interface, plugged into the iPad's port. Best when the room has a sound desk, because it takes the same feed the speakers do.
• A headset microphone, when one is plugged in.
• Bluetooth headset, marked Lower quality. It works, but it sends the iPad a thinner sound and captions come out worse, so use a USB receiver instead.

If the microphone you chose is unplugged, Frasiey switches to the iPad microphone and tells you: The chosen microphone was unplugged, so Frasiey is using the iPad microphone. Plug it back in and choose it again.

Kits that work

You do not need any of this: the iPad's own microphone captions a speaker at the lectern. When the room has a sound desk, or the speaker walks around, these are the two setups we would reach for. Frasiey does not sell them. Prices are as of October 2026, in US dollars, from the makers and large stores, and they change, so check before you buy.

With a sound desk: take the house feed

A USB audio interface that takes the desk's microphone cable and plugs into the iPad, such as the Shure MVX2U Gen 2 (about $139 as of October 2026). Add a USB-C hub with a port for the charger, so the interface and the charger share the iPad's one port. Ask the sound team for a feed of the speakers' microphones.

No sound desk: a wireless microphone on the speaker

A clip-on wireless microphone whose receiver plugs into the iPad, such as the RØDE Wireless Micro ($86 to $99 as of October 2026) or the RØDE Wireless GO Gen 3 ($170 to $299 as of October 2026), with the same hub so the iPad stays charged.

A stand that locks the iPad to the lectern is optional on a flat lectern, and costs about $350 to $600 as of October 2026 when you want one.

When something goes wrong

The iPad says what is happening in one sentence, in a color you can read from across the room: green is fine, amber is fixing itself or needs a small fix, red needs you, and gray is off or waiting. Where there is something to press, it is the one button on the screen.

Gray: nothing is wrong

• Waiting for the 2:00 PM session. Captions start by themselves when the session does.

Amber: it fixes itself, or needs a small fix

• Captions are paused on phones, and Not on the Frasiey screen in Frasiey online. Someone left Frasiey. Open Frasiey on the iPad and captions carry on. Guided Access stops it happening again.
• Captions paused. Something else is using the microphone. Captions come back by themselves when it's free. A phone or FaceTime call, Siri or an alarm took the microphone. Finish it, or press Keep going.
• Can't hear the room. Is the cover closed? Is the microphone plugged in? Open the cover, check the microphone's cable, then press Test the microphone and say a sentence.
• Offline for a moment. Frasiey reconnects by itself. If this is still here in two minutes, check that this iPad is on the venue's Wi-Fi. Press Reconnect now once it is, and make sure the venue has not moved it to a guest network that wants a sign-in page.

Red: it needs you

• This iPad is offline. Captions aren't reaching attendees. Check that this iPad is on the venue's Wi-Fi. The same fix as above, after longer: join the venue's Wi-Fi, then press Reconnect now.
• Captions are off, with the reason under it, such as Your free hours for this month are used up. Someone with the account can fix this in Frasiey online. Press Open Frasiey online and the iPad shows a QR code: Scan with your phone to open Frasiey online. Someone with the account fixes it there, and the room carries on by itself.
• This iPad is too hot to caption. Move it out of the light and it will carry on by itself. Move it into the shade or away from the stage lights.
• This iPad can't caption. It's too old to turn speech into captions by itself. Use one of the iPads listed above, or a Mac or Windows laptop, for this room.

A line under the sentence

• This iPad isn't plugged in. Plug the charger back in.
• Low Power Mode is on, so captions may slow. Turn it off in Settings. Open Settings, then Battery, and turn Low Power Mode off.

To stop captions on purpose, hold anywhere on the screen for a second to open the controls, then press Stop captions. The iPad asks whether to stop until the next session, until someone presses Start, or to keep them on, and if nobody chooses within 30 seconds, nothing changes.

Update Frasiey

Update Frasiey on this iPad the way you update any other app on it. Updating closes Frasiey, and captions pause while it is closed, so do it between sessions, never while the room is captioning.

Then open Frasiey again and captions carry on by themselves. Frasiey online stops saying Needs an update once the iPad is back.

Still stuck

Write to hello@frasiey.com and tell us the room name and the iPad's name, such as iPad 2. It is what lets us look at the right thing straight away.