- Starting price
- Free · Android contains ads
- Free tier
- Yes
- Platforms
- iPhone · iPad · Android
- Developer
- Abenezer Bade / KF System
- Launched
- 2024
- Updated
- Aug 2, 2026
The verdict
Zemare solves a culturally and technically specific problem that broad worship apps rarely address: finding Ethiopian gospel lyrics and selecting songs by musical scale, artist, album, choir, genre or language. It is free, cross-platform, actively useful to worship leaders and listeners, and increasingly supports playback, annotations, sharing and community corrections. Its scale claims should still be treated as vendor claims, not an audited catalog. More importantly, the privacy story is inconsistent: the policy says personal data is not shared and usage is anonymous, while Apple says identifiers may track users across other companies’ apps and Google says activity, performance data and identifiers may be shared. Android also contains ads, and an iOS reviewer says the formerly essential offline experience became online-dependent. Use it as a lyric-discovery and rehearsal reference, verify words and rights before public projection or publication, and ask the developer to reconcile the store disclosures with the written policy.
Try Zemare ↗Opens zemare.org
Zemare—written ዝማሬ in Amharic—is an Ethiopian gospel-music reference app. Its core asset is not multitrack audio, chord-chart licensing or general streaming. It is a large lyric catalog intended to help users locate songs that may otherwise be scattered across recordings, videos, printed notes and memory. The official site positions Zemare as a reference for understanding Ethiopian gospel music and currently claims more than 10,000 songs and more than 100,000 downloads.
The store descriptions say lyrics can be organized by musical scale, genre, album, artist, language and choir. That scale-aware browsing is unusually useful for worship planning: a leader can look for a song that fits both message and musical setting rather than searching only by title. Recent iOS versions added improved search, music playback, lyric annotations and a proposal system through which users can suggest or correct catalog information.
Zemare’s audience and content language should not be inferred from the Apple interface label. Apple lists the app interface as English, while the actual catalog and Android listing are strongly Amharic-centered and the privacy notice refers to multiple content languages. A user should test search, script rendering, transliteration and the exact tradition or repertoire they need. “Ethiopian gospel” is broad and does not mean every Ethiopian Christian tradition, denomination, language or historical chant is comprehensively represented.
This independent review is based on the current official site, privacy and terms pages; exact Apple and Google listings; release history; public store ratings and reviews; and faith.tools. We did not register, inspect the full catalog, compare lyric transcriptions with licensed publications or recordings, submit a proposal, test moderation, play embedded media, test offline behavior, identify ad networks, verify download or song counts, or conduct copyright, doctrinal, linguistic, accessibility, privacy, security or code review.
✓ The good
- Rare cultural focus - Ethiopian gospel lyrics receive dedicated indexing rather than being an afterthought in an English-first song database
- Musically useful organization - scale, artist, album, choir, genre and language filters can support actual song selection and rehearsal
- Large free catalog - the official site claims more than 10,000 songs with no consumer subscription shown
- Community correction path - proposals, points and moderation can help a living catalog improve beyond one editor’s knowledge
- Annotations and playback - newer releases add lyric notes and music access, making the app more useful than a static text list
- Cross-platform reach - iPhone, iPad and Android cover the main devices used by listeners and worship teams
✗ Watch out
- Privacy mismatch - the policy says identifiable information is not shared, but Apple reports cross-app identifier tracking and Google reports shared activity and identifiers
- Android contains ads - advertising may explain some tracking and is a poor context for worship lyrics if targeting and ad categories are unclear
- Offline loss has user impact - an iOS reviewer says a formerly essential offline feature became online-only
- Catalog accuracy is not guaranteed - community proposals and a huge repertoire require visible sources, revision history and expert moderation
- Rights information is thin - lyric display, annotations, videos, projection and copying involve different permissions that the app does not explain prominently
- Small iOS sample - about 18 US ratings and search complaints cannot establish consistent quality across scripts, devices and regions
Best for
- Ethiopian gospel listeners searching for a remembered lyric, singer, album, choir or song in an under-served digital catalog
- Worship leaders who choose songs partly by Ethiopian musical scale and will verify the final words and arrangement separately
- Diaspora communities that want a mobile reference bridging recordings, titles, artists and written lyrics
- Knowledgeable contributors willing to propose corrections and participate in responsible catalog moderation
Avoid if
- You require guaranteed offline access for services, travel or areas with expensive or unreliable connectivity
- Your organization needs licensed projection, chord charts, multitracks, team scheduling or set management rather than lyric discovery
- Cross-app tracking, Android ads or unresolved differences between the policy and store disclosures are unacceptable
- You need an audited academic corpus, comprehensive denominational coverage, cited lyric provenance or guaranteed translation accuracy
What Zemare is
Zemare is a discovery and reference layer for Ethiopian gospel songs. A useful entry connects a title and lyric to an artist, album or choir and may also identify language, genre and musical scale. Search and filters help a user move through the repertoire, embedded or linked media can connect text to a performance, and annotations can explain meaning or context. Community proposals create a path to add or improve entries rather than waiting for a closed editorial cycle.
It is not the same as a hymnal approved by a particular church, a CCLI-style rights service, a complete Ethiopian Orthodox chant archive, a professional chord and multitrack platform, or an academic transcription corpus. Those uses demand documented provenance, version identity, rights, translation method, musical notation and expert review. Zemare can point toward the song; a responsible leader still verifies what will be sung and what may legally be displayed.
Scale-aware Ethiopian lyric search serves a gap global worship databases miss
Most mainstream lyric and worship-planning services are strongest in contemporary English-language catalogs. Zemare begins with Ethiopian gospel music and exposes categories meaningful inside that repertoire. Searching by scale can help a singer or keyboard player identify songs that move together naturally, while artist, album and choir groupings preserve connections that generic web search often loses.
The design matters beyond convenience. Under-resourced languages and music traditions are more vulnerable to misspelling, incomplete metadata, missing attribution and algorithmic invisibility. A well-governed community catalog can preserve access and discoverability. That requires transparent sources, respectful attribution, a correction history and moderation that distinguishes variation from error.
Search, filters and scale categories turn a lyric archive into a worship reference
The app describes browsing by scale, genre, album, artist, language and choir, with search improvements added during 2025. Those fields answer different questions: “What is this song?” “Who recorded it?” “Which choir album contains it?” and “What can follow it musically?” The official catalog claim has grown from 7,500 in the store description to more than 10,000 on the website.
Catalog size is useful only when metadata is consistent. The developer should show alternate spellings and scripts, transliterations, exact recording or publication source, contributor, last review, variant lyrics and why an entry changed. Users should save the exact service version rather than assuming a live record will never be edited or removed.
Annotations, music links and proposals add context—and moderation work
Recent iOS releases added music playback and lyric annotations, while the privacy policy describes a point-based proposal and moderation system. An annotation can explain a biblical allusion, unfamiliar word, translation choice or performance note. Proposals can surface missing songs and local knowledge faster than one central team.
The same tools can introduce disputed translations, unattributed commentary, duplicate songs, spam or doctrinal claims presented as neutral fact. Publish contributor standards, moderator qualifications, source requirements, voting rules, conflicts of interest, appeals and revision history. Separate transcription, translation, interpretation and devotional application so readers know which kind of statement they are seeing.
Offline access and privacy are the practical fault lines
One current iOS review specifically asks why an essential offline feature became online-dependent. Worship settings often have unreliable church Wi-Fi, expensive mobile data or no safe time to troubleshoot. At minimum, saved songs and setlists should open without a connection and show when they were last synchronized.
The December 2024 privacy notice says registration may use email, Google, Apple or phone; anonymous usage may support trends and recommendations; proposals may be logged; Firebase provides notifications; YouTube links have separate rules; and identifiable data is not shared. Apple nevertheless reports identifiers used to track users plus unlinked email, IDs and diagnostics, while Google reports sharing activity, performance and identifiers. The developer should reconcile these disclosures and offer an ad-free, non-tracking path.
Pricing
Zemare app
$0
Apple and Google offer the app free. The official materials do not show a consumer subscription or one-time unlock for the lyric catalog.
Android advertising
Attention and data trade-off
Google labels the app as containing ads. The public pages do not identify ad providers, personalization controls, frequency or an ad-free purchase.
Worship-team use
Verify rights separately
Free app access does not itself grant permission to project, print, translate, record, livestream or redistribute a song’s lyrics.
Zemare is genuinely easy to try because no paid plan is presented. The hidden cost is not a surprise renewal but advertising, connectivity, data use and the time required to verify a song. Android users should inspect ad behavior and privacy settings; iOS users should review tracking permission and disable cross-app tracking if they do not want it.
A worship team should budget for the tools Zemare does not replace. Depending on use, that may include licensed projection, chord charts, notation, multitracks, arrangement rehearsal, translation review, rights reporting and a stable offline setlist. Finding a lyric at no charge is different from obtaining every permission and artifact needed for a public service or recording.
Organizations supporting the project should ask whether the developer has a sustainable model for hosting, moderation, rights requests and regional support. A transparent donation, sponsorship or inexpensive ad-free option would be easier to assess than unknown third-party ad economics.
Where Zemare falls behind
Disclosure consistency. Explain why the policy says no identifiable third-party sharing while Apple reports tracking and Google reports several shared categories. Name analytics and advertising providers and purposes.
Offline reliability. Restore or document downloadable lyrics and setlists, storage limits, synchronization, deleted-song behavior and a clear offline indicator for worship settings.
Catalog provenance. Add lyric source, recording or publication, contributor, reviewer, language, transliteration method, variant status, edit history and correction rationale to every record.
Copyright workflow. Publish how rights holders can claim, license, correct or remove material and tell users what personal reading, projection, printing, streaming, translation and redistribution rights are not included.
Interface and accessibility. Declare supported interface and content languages separately and document dynamic text, VoiceOver, TalkBack, keyboard, contrast, focus, transliteration and Ethiopic-script rendering tests.
Public product metrics. Reconcile 10,000+ songs and 100,000+ download claims with store-visible numbers, define active usage and avoid presenting unaudited marketing figures as independently established facts.
Zemare vs. SongSelect vs. OnSong
Zemare is strongest as an Ethiopian gospel lyric and meaning reference, especially where scale, artist, album, choir and Amharic-centered discovery matter. SongSelect is a licensing-connected worship-song catalog with lyrics, chord sheets and reporting for participating rights holders, but its coverage and cultural center are different.
OnSong is a musician’s personal chord-chart library and live-performance tool with transposition, annotations, setlists and pedal or MIDI control; it does not supply Zemare’s community catalog. MultiTracks adds licensed stems, charts, rehearsal and service playback for commercially supported songs at a much higher cost and complexity.
Use Zemare to discover and understand repertoire it uniquely serves, SongSelect for covered licensing and standardized charts, OnSong for organizing a team’s own legal library, and MultiTracks for production assets. A church may need two of these because discovery, rights, charts and performance are separate jobs.
The bottom line
Zemare deserves credit for serving a catalog and audience mainstream worship technology often overlooks. Thousands of Ethiopian gospel lyrics, scale-aware browsing, artist and choir organization, annotations, music links and community proposals can support listeners, diaspora families and worship teams at no direct cost. The strongest recommendation is still conditional. Store disclosures contradict the written privacy promise, Android includes ads, offline access has drawn a serious complaint, catalog metrics are vendor claims, and lyric provenance and permission boundaries need more visibility. Use Zemare as a discovery and rehearsal reference, verify every public-use lyric and right, save critical material before a service, and press for a clear non-tracking, offline-capable and source-transparent product.
Alternatives to Zemare
CCLI SongSelectA licensing-linked catalog of covered worship lyrics and chord sheets with reporting, but a very different repertoire and commercial model.
OnSongAn Apple-focused chord-chart library, setlist and live-performance tool for musicians organizing material they already have rights to use.
MultiTracksProfessional worship stems, charts, rehearsal and playback tools for supported commercial songs and production-oriented teams.
WorshipToolsChurch service planning, team scheduling, music charts and presentation tools rather than an Ethiopian lyric reference.Frequently asked questions
What is Zemare?
Zemare is a free Ethiopian gospel-music reference app centered on searchable lyrics, with organization by artist, album, choir, language, genre and musical scale plus annotations and community proposals.
Is Zemare free?
Yes. Apple and Google list it free and no subscription is presented. Google says the Android version contains ads, and no public ad-free purchase is shown.
How many songs does Zemare have?
The current official website claims more than 10,000 songs; older store text says more than 7,500. We did not independently audit unique songs, variants or completeness.
Does Zemare work offline?
Do not assume it. A recent iOS reviewer says a previously important offline feature became online-dependent. Test saved lyrics on airplane mode before relying on the app during worship.
Does Zemare track users?
Apple says identifiers may be used to track users across other companies’ apps and sites. That conflicts with the privacy policy’s broad no-sharing language and should be clarified by the developer.
Can I project Zemare lyrics in church?
App access alone does not establish projection, printing, livestream or recording rights. Verify the song, rights holder and your applicable license before public use.
Is Zemare only for Ethiopian Orthodox music?
The product describes itself broadly as an Ethiopian gospel and spiritual-song lyric reference. Do not assume complete coverage or official status for any one church tradition; inspect the catalog you need.
Sources & further reading
More Worship Apps
Nepali Christian Lyrics & ChordsA rare, actively maintained songbook built around the real needs of Nepali-speaking worship teams—but privacy and song-rights documentation lag far behind the app.
OnStageA modern all-in-one workspace for worship charts, setlists, rehearsals, schedules, chat, and live performance—but conflicting prices and missing legal pages make due diligence essential.
Unceasing WorshipIHOPKC’s niche streaming service preserves spontaneous prayer-room worship, intercession, live archives, and 76 legacy albums—valuable for listeners who want that exact charismatic worship tradition, but not a general Christian music replacement.MultiTracks.comThe officially licensed stem library and Playback session player behind most touring worship rigs and large-church Sunday mornings - and the closest thing the industry has to a default.WorshipTools ChartsA free, full-featured chord chart manager in a category dominated by paid apps - and the rare worship tool that doesn’t nickel-and-dime you on the basics.
Praise BreakPraise Break puts a compact gospel praise-band soundboard and organ-style preaching chords on a phone—joyfully specific and inexpensive, but far less documented or flexible than a real accompaniment platform.