User Manual

1. Start here

What Hummingly does

Hummingly turns words you choose—affirmations, gratitude, a vision, a feeling, free writing, or your own finished lyrics—into a personal song. You can shape the lyrics, choose the musical direction, listen in the app, build playlists, and privately share a song with specific Hummingly accounts.

Hummingly is designed for personal wellbeing, reflection, and entertainment. It is not a medical device, health-care service, or substitute for professional advice.

Age requirement

Hummingly is available only to adults age 18 and older. This requirement reflects restrictions that apply to third-party artificial-intelligence services used for song creation.

Before sign-in, account creation, or guest access, enter your date of birth in the neutral age screen. Hummingly uses the date only to calculate eligibility and does not retain it or use it for any other purpose. You must separately confirm that you are at least 18 and the date is accurate, then select the unchecked legal-acceptance box to confirm that you reviewed and agreed to the Terms and acknowledged the Privacy Policy. Hummingly records the adult eligibility result, confirmation time, and applicable age-gate, Terms, and Privacy Policy versions.

First launch

1. Read the short introduction and tap Get started.
2. Complete the age screen and legal acknowledgement. The date field starts empty and must contain your accurate date of birth.
3. Choose Sign in or Create account.
4. Use email and password, Continue with Apple on supported iPhones, Continue with Google when available, or Continue as guest.
5. After sign-in, the Home screen opens. Tap Create a song or the large + button at the bottom.

2. Accounts, sign-in, and your profile

Sign-in choices

• Email: create an account with an email address and a password of at least 12 characters containing at least three of these four groups: lowercase letters, uppercase letters, numbers, and symbols; or sign in to an existing account.
• Apple: available on supported Apple builds when Sign in with Apple is configured. Apple may provide a private relay email if you choose Hide My Email.
• Google: available on configured iOS and Android builds. The Google account used for app sign-in does not have to be the same account you later select for Google Drive Backup.
• Guest: useful for trying the app on one device, but not eligible for account sync, backup, or private sharing.

Keep your sign-in method secure. Do not share passwords, one-time codes, provider approvals, or private sharing links in public places.

Your username

Every saved account can have a unique public Hummingly username. Open You → Username to view or edit it. Usernames use lowercase letters, numbers, periods, underscores, or hyphens, are between 3 and 30 characters, and must be available. Hummingly may generate a relevant username from your profile name when one has not been chosen.

A username helps other signed-in users find the right recipient for private sharing. Your username is public, but it does not expose your private library. Former usernames remain reserved to the same account for safety; an older profile link or QR code may continue resolving to that account’s current profile.

Profile links and QR codes

• Open You → My QR code to show, copy, or share your public Hummingly profile link.
• Open You → Scan a profile to scan another Hummingly user’s QR code. Camera access is requested only when you use the scanner.
• A profile link or QR code identifies an account for recipient selection. It does not grant access to a song.

3. Navigate the app

Creation screens and the full player open above the main tabs. Use the back control to return without losing a completed library item. During an unfinished creation, leaving the flow can discard unsaved edits, so finish or intentionally return before starting another song.

4. Create a song

Choose how to begin

Tap Create a song and choose the writing mode that best matches what you have:

• Free write: describe anything you want the song to express.
• Affirmations: beliefs or statements you want to reinforce.
• Gratitude: people, moments, or experiences you appreciate.
• Vision board: a life, goal, or future you want to picture.
• Feeling I want: describe a feeling you want more of and what it means to you.
• I already have lyrics: paste lyrics you wrote and go straight to musical styling without AI lyric generation.

Write a useful prompt

Specific, personal language usually produces more meaningful lyrics. Say what is true now, what you are working toward, the point of view you prefer, and any phrases you definitely want included. Avoid entering another artist’s name, an existing song title, copyrighted lyrics, private information about someone else, or content you do not have permission to use.

Pick the target length

Choose approximately 1, 1½, 2, 2½, or 3 minutes. The 3-minute option is included with Cozy and Glow memberships. The selected length is a target, not a hard cutoff; Hummingly may add a few seconds so the final line can finish naturally. You can adjust length again in Music Studio. If the lyrics are too long for the target, choose a longer duration or shorten the text.

Safety screening

Hummingly screens inputs, generated lyrics, returned music text, and a private temporary transcript of the sung audio for prompt manipulation, profanity, hateful or harassing language, explicit sexual material, graphic violence, instructions for wrongdoing, and other prohibited or unsafe content. Unsafe content is rejected rather than passed through the song pipeline. If the words indicate a crisis, the app may pause generation and encourage real-world help. Contact local emergency or crisis services if you or someone else may be in immediate danger.

If generated lyrics or music is offensive, unsafe, misleading, or potentially infringing, open You → Report AI content, choose the content type and reason, and submit it without leaving the app. Add only the minimum useful context and do not include passwords, private links, payment details, or other sensitive information.

5. Lyrics Studio and history

Compare lyric takes

After lyric generation, Lyrics Studio presents one or more takes. Read each version, select the one you prefer, and edit the words before making music. Generated text can contain mistakes or unexpected language, so review every line. You are responsible for deciding what to keep and share.

Edit and regenerate

You can change generated lyrics directly, request another take, or go back and adjust the original idea. Regeneration is non-deterministic: the same prompt can produce different results. Finished edits are carried into Music Studio and become the final lyrics stored with the song.

Your lyrics & history

Open You → Your lyrics & history to revisit saved generation sessions. A history card can include the original draft, intent mode, alternate takes, chosen version, style, length, and link to a completed song. Tap a card to reopen and regenerate it, or use its delete control to remove that history entry.

If only final song metadata could be recovered, the page may show Final lyrics from your songs without reconstructing prompts or alternate takes that were never backed up.

6. Music Studio

Start with a vibe

Vibe cards provide coordinated starting points such as Cozy Folk, Soulful, Ambient Calm, and Cinematic. Tap the sample control to hear a short, bundled style example. Samples are illustrative; they do not predict the exact generated song and do not consume generation quota.

Use advanced controls

Open Fine-tune your sound to set the musical direction in detail:

• Genre: Folk, Pop, Hip-Hop, Broadway, Classical, Soul, Ambient, Cinematic, Lofi, Gospel, Acoustic, Electronic, or Jazz.
• Mood: Calm, Uplifting, Hopeful, Powerful, Peaceful, Joyful, Reflective, or Tender.
• Energy and tempo: adjust intensity and pace independently.
• Vocal style: Warm, Soft, Soulful, Airy, Bright, or Soaring.
• Voice preference: Female, Male, or Any. This is a preference; provider availability and the generated result can vary.
• Binaural layer: Delta, Theta, Alpha, or Beta, or turn it off before generation.

Do not use artist names or ask Hummingly to imitate a specific living or historical artist. Describe musical qualities—instrumentation, energy, mood, and vocal character—instead.

Style presets

Save a custom combination as a reusable preset in Music Studio. Rename, update, or delete presets from the preset controls. Presets are part of full-library metadata sync after Backup has been enabled, and are included in provider Backup snapshots.

Binaural bands

Binaural labels describe intended listening moods—deep calm, relaxation, calm presence, or focus—not medical outcomes. The effect works best with stereo headphones because each ear receives a different low-level tone. You can turn it off or adjust its strength during playback.

7. Preview and full-song generation

Preview

Hummingly creates the complete Lyria song once, then plays an exact 10-second window as the preview. Because the complete song is created, starting a preview uses one creation. Choose Use this song to promote the exact recording you heard, Try another take to create a different song and use another creation, or Back to edit to change lyrics or style. An unaccepted preview is temporary.

Accepting the preview never counts twice. A technical generation failure returns the reserved creation automatically; a successful song you decide not to keep is still a completed creation.

While the song is being created

Keep Hummingly open and online while the progress screen is active. Generation uses external AI services and can take several minutes. Network interruption, provider capacity, content screening, or quota can delay or stop a request. Retrying can create a different track.

When generation finishes

The device downloads and verifies the finished audio and saves the song and lyrics to the current account’s local library. If a saved account is eligible for Library Sync, its private account copy is then reconciled. If Backup is enabled and connected, an updated provider recovery snapshot is scheduled.

8. Library, search, themes, and Favorites

Songs

The Library combines songs you created and shared songs you chose to keep. Search by title or use theme/favorites filter chips. Shared items are labeled Shared so their source remains clear, but use the same list layout and common menu as other songs.

Common song menu

Tap … beside a song in a list to find the common actions:

• Create a similar song starts a new creation with reusable style and lyric context.
• New playlist creates a playlist and adds the song.
• Add to favorites or Remove from favorites updates the automatic Favorites playlist.
• Remove from Library removes a retained shared song. For a song you created, the player’s owner menu provides the permanent delete action and other owner controls.

Themes

The Themes segment groups songs using their saved theme. Tap a theme to jump back to a filtered Songs list.

Favorites

Favoriting any eligible song automatically adds it to the Favorites playlist. Removing the favorite removes it from that playlist; it does not delete the song. Shared songs can be favorited while the share remains active. If the sender revokes access, the song is removed from the recipient’s library, Favorites, playlists, and playback surfaces.

9. Playlists

Create and manage a playlist

1. Open Library → Playlists.
2. Tap New playlist and enter a name.
3. Add songs from a song’s … menu or from the full player.
4. Open the playlist to play it, reorder songs, or remove a song from that playlist without removing it from the Library.

The Favorites playlist is automatic and cannot be manually ordered like a regular playlist. Change it by favoriting or unfavoriting songs.

A shared song can be placed in a playlist while access is active. Revocation removes that song’s references automatically; it does not delete the playlist or its other songs.

10. Player, queue, lyrics, and enhanced audio

Playback controls

The full player provides seek, play/pause, previous, next, repeat, favorite, and queue controls. Repeat cycles through off, repeat all, and repeat one. Home shows a compact player or Continue Listening card with the most recent position.

Queue

Tap Queue to see upcoming songs. Drag to reorder, remove an item, or tap another item to play it. The queue is based on the list or playlist from which playback began.

Synced lyrics and Follow along

When timing data is available, Follow along highlights lyrics with playback. If timing appears wrong on a song you created, open the player’s … menu and choose Re-sync lyrics. Hummingly sends the song audio and lyrics only to its private internal Whisper alignment service; temporary files are deleted after timestamps are rebuilt.

Binaural

Use the Binaural button to turn the optional stereo tone layer on or off. Adjust Binaural volume to keep it comfortable. Stereo headphones are needed for the intended effect. Stop listening if audio causes discomfort, and never use sound that distracts you while driving or operating machinery.

Karaoke

Karaoke prepares an instrumental-style version by reducing vocals. Preparation can take time and requires the song’s local audio. It is processed by Hummingly’s internal Demucs separation service using transient working files. Separation is imperfect, especially with layered voices, effects, or dense arrangements. A completed karaoke render can be included in Library Sync and Backup when available.

Saved and streaming songs

Songs you created normally use verified local audio after download and can play offline while that audio remains available on the device. A shared song streams through Hummingly’s private media service and requires an active recipient grant and internet connection. The app does not provide an audio-export feature for shared songs.

Background and connected controls

Where the platform and current audio route support them, playback controls can appear on the lock screen, in iOS/Android media controls, through compatible headphones or accessories, and in CarPlay or Android Auto. Available buttons and artwork can vary by device, connection, operating system, and whether the current song is local or privately streamed.

Owner actions

For a song you created, the player’s … menu can include Share privately, Rename song, Create a similar song, Re-sync lyrics, playlist actions, favorite, and Delete song. Deleting is different from removing a shared song from your library: owner deletion also revokes sharing and schedules Hummingly-held copies for deletion.

11. Private sharing

Share a song you created

1. Open your song and choose Share privately.
2. Search by username or display name. An exact email address can match an eligible account, but results do not reveal that account’s email. You can also open a user’s profile from a QR code or profile link.
3. Select one or more recipients—up to 20 per sharing batch. Check each username and display name carefully. Hummingly prevents sharing a song to your own account.
4. Create the private invitations. Hummingly makes a separate, account-bound invitation for each person and adds it to Private sharing → Sent.
5. Use the system share sheet to send each recipient’s generic Hummingly link through Messages, SMS, email, or another app, or copy the link. Do not combine different recipients’ links.

Receive a song

A pending targeted invitation appears under You → Private sharing → Received → Incoming requests, even if you have not tapped the external message yet. Accept or decline it there. If the matching signed-in account opens its link, Hummingly can accept the targeted invitation and open the song automatically.

Accepted songs appear in Received history and in Library’s Shared with you area. Choose Add to Library when shown, then favorite it, add it to playlists, create a similar song, or remove it from your library. The shared source remains labeled.

If a link opens the website

• Install Hummingly on the device.
• Sign in to the exact account selected by the sender.
• Return to the original message and tap the link again, or use the explicit Open Hummingly button on the generic page.
• You can also check Received → Incoming requests directly.

The website cannot play the song and does not reveal its title, creator, lyrics, artwork, or audio. Forwarding the link to another person does not give their account access.

Manage Sent and Received

• Sent shows each recipient and invitation status, such as pending, accepted, declined, expired, or revoked.
• Received separates incoming requests from accepted/history items.
• The sender can revoke a recipient. The recipient then loses playback and the shared song is removed from recipient library surfaces.
• Blocking an account prevents new sharing in either direction and revokes affected active access. Manage blocks from the sharing screen’s Blocked accounts control.
• Report content or a user when available if the share is abusive, unsafe, or infringes rights. A report may quarantine playback while reviewed.

Limits of app-only playback

Hummingly provides authorized playback only inside the signed-in app and uses short-lived credentials for private streaming. No mobile system can prevent an authorized recipient from making an external recording or using a compromised device. Share only with people you trust and revoke access when it is no longer appropriate.

12. Library Sync across devices

What Library Sync is

Library Sync is Hummingly’s private, account-scoped service that keeps devices signed in to the same saved Hummingly account current. It is the cross-platform bridge between iPhone and Android. It is not the same as iCloud or Google Drive Backup, and it does not make your library public. Transfers are encrypted in transit and private service storage is protected at rest, but Library Sync is not end-to-end encrypted: Hummingly can process files as needed to verify, deliver, support, secure, and delete them.

What syncs

• Created song metadata, final lyrics, primary audio, and available karaoke audio.
• When full-library metadata sync has been enabled through Backup: playlists and order, favorites, lyric-generation history, style presets, deletion state, continue-listening progress, and selected appearance/audio preferences.
• Shared inbox/grants remain server-authoritative under Private sharing rather than becoming portable Library Sync content.
• Wellness-minute history stays local per account and does not sync.

How often it runs

While Hummingly is open, local library changes are normally queued within a few seconds. The app checks for changes from other devices periodically—about once a minute while active—and checks again when returning to the foreground. Network, account, server, large audio, battery, or operating-system conditions can delay completion.

View status or retry

Open You → Library Sync. Status can show Checking, Syncing with item progress, Up to date, Sign in/Save account, Needs attention, or Unavailable. The panel shows the latest successful time and a retry/sync action when appropriate.

Conflict and deletion behavior

Hummingly reconciles account-scoped versions and uses durable deletion records. Deletion wins over an older offline copy so a stale device or provider snapshot should not silently recreate removed content. Downloads are verified before replacing a local file. If a local item is missing while offline, leave the app open online and retry Library Sync before deleting or recreating it.

13. Cloud Backup and recovery

Backup is separate from Library Sync

Cloud Backup writes a recovery mirror to a provider you choose: Google Drive’s private Hummingly app-data area on iPhone or Android, or Hummingly’s private iCloud container on supported Apple devices. Android does not offer iCloud Backup. The provider copy is governed by the selected Google or Apple account. Backups use encrypted transport and the provider’s at-rest protections, but they are not end-to-end encrypted by Hummingly.

Enable Backup

1. Use a saved Hummingly account, then open You → Backup.
2. Choose Google Drive or, on an eligible Apple device, iCloud.
3. Complete the provider sign-in or permission screen. Google Drive uses only its Hummingly app-data folder; it does not browse your normal Drive files.
4. Keep Hummingly open and online through verification. Wait for Up to date and confirm the displayed last successful backup time.

What a complete provider snapshot includes

• Created songs, available primary and karaoke audio, final lyrics, timing, names, styles, favorites, and playback state.
• Lyric prompts, drafts, variants, edits, and history.
• Playlists, order, style presets/templates, deletion state, and selected appearance/audio preferences.
• Account sync checkpoint data needed to merge safely.

It deliberately excludes passwords, app/provider tokens, raw device identifiers, private-share grants, blocks/reports, subscription authority, and wellness-minute history.

Hummingly maintains up to the latest three verified, account-scoped snapshot revisions in your selected provider account so a newly verified recovery point does not immediately remove every older one.

Automatic backup timing

After the first successful provider connection, durable library changes normally schedule another provider snapshot after a short coalescing delay while the app is open and the provider session is ready. Rapid playback-position changes are backed up less frequently, roughly every 15 minutes, to avoid continuous uploads. Returning to the app also prompts a check. Use Back up now before a reinstall, device replacement, or other important transition.

Restore and multi-device behavior

When Backup connects, Hummingly checks the provider copy, verifies that it belongs to the current Hummingly account, validates its manifest and audio hashes, merges recoverable data, and writes a new verified snapshot. It does not blindly overwrite the current library. Library Sync remains the cross-platform source for convergence even if one device uses iCloud and another uses Google Drive.

Status meanings

Turning Backup off or deleting an account

Choosing Off stops future provider backups and full-library metadata traffic from that device. It does not erase a snapshot already stored by Google or Apple. Deleting a song or Hummingly account also does not automatically delete local device files or provider-held backups; manage those copies through the device or provider account as needed.

14. Wellness minutes and health integration

What counts

Hummingly counts real audible song playback. Time begins only when audio is ready and playing and excludes paused, loading, buffering, or failed playback. Very short fractions can be rounded for display, so the visible total may not change immediately. Both created and authorized shared-song playback can count while actually audible.

View history

Open You and tap the wellness-minutes card. Choose Day, Week, Month, Year, or All time to see account-scoped local listening totals. These totals remain on that device for the current account; they are excluded from Hummingly Library Sync and Google Drive/iCloud Backup.

Connect Apple Health

1. On iPhone, open Wellness and enable Apple Health.
2. Grant Hummingly permission to write Mindful Minutes.
3. Play a song, then use Sync now if a completed session has not appeared.
4. Manage permission or delete written sessions in the Apple Health app and iOS privacy settings.

Connect Health Connect on Android

1. Make sure Health Connect is available and current. On newer Android versions it is part of system Settings; on some supported older versions it is a Google system app.
2. Open Wellness, enable Health Connect, and grant permission to write Mindfulness sessions.
3. Play a song and use Sync now if needed.
4. Manage access or delete written sessions from Health Connect.

What Hummingly writes

With your explicit permission, Hummingly writes each listening session’s start/end time, timezone-offset context, and a Hummingly session identifier used to prevent duplicate exports as Apple Health Mindful Minutes or a Health Connect music Mindfulness session. It does not write the song title, lyrics, prompt, audio, or account details, requests write-only health permission, and does not read your other health history.

If health sync stops

Local wellness totals continue even if provider permission is missing. Re-enable write access through the health provider, return to Hummingly, and tap Sync now. Queued eligible sessions are exported without intentionally duplicating sessions already confirmed.

15. Settings, subscriptions, and your data

Appearance

Use You → Appearance to select Light or Dark. The Home theme button switches the current appearance quickly. Hummingly also respects platform accessibility settings where the interface supports them.

Membership

Open You → Membership. First Hum includes one welcome song for the lifetime of the account. Cozy includes 20 creations each calendar month, and Glow includes 50. Cozy and Glow also unlock the 3-minute target. Both are available monthly or yearly; yearly payment covers a year, while creation allowances still reset each month and do not roll over.

The Apple App Store or Google Play purchase sheet shows the localized price before you confirm. Membership renews automatically until canceled through the store. Use Restore Purchases after reinstalling and Manage Subscription to change or cancel. Deleting the app or Hummingly account does not cancel the store subscription.

Sign out

Signing out ends the current app session but does not delete the account. Account-scoped local data remains separated from another account. Before signing out during a device move, confirm Sync and Backup status.

Delete your account

Open You → Delete account, read the warning, and confirm. Account deletion revokes sessions and private shares, removes server-side account and library metadata, and queues Hummingly-held synced/shared audio for deletion, subject to limited legal, security, and protected-backup retention. It does not automatically erase local files or an existing Google Drive/iCloud provider backup. See Delete your account & data.

Privacy requests

For access, export, correction, deletion, consent withdrawal, a state-law privacy request, or help identifying provider-held data, email hello@hummingly.app. Never send your password, provider token, or private invitation credential.

16. Troubleshooting

Contact support

Email hello@hummingly.app with your device model, iOS/Android version, Hummingly version, the approximate time, exact error text, network type, and steps that reproduce the issue. Screenshots are helpful. Do not send passwords, sign-in codes, provider tokens, or full private sharing links. Send prompts, lyrics, or audio only if support specifically requests them and you are comfortable doing so.

For more focused fixes, see Help & Support. For data practices and service rules, read the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.