Lock Screen
The track and the lyric on your Mac's lock screen. macOS only.
With your Mac locked, the screen usually shows a clock and a photograph. 9xLyrics can put the song and its current line there too, so a track you want to name does not need the machine unlocked.
macOS only. There is no Windows or Linux equivalent, and none is planned: on Windows the lock screen is a separate desktop that ordinary applications cannot draw on, and Linux lock screens vary by desktop environment. The page is absent on those systems rather than broken.
Lock Screen is Pro — see Free and Pro.
Turning it on
Show on the lock screen starts a small helper that draws the card. It runs only while the feature is on and you have a licence for it, stops when your Mac sleeps and when you quit, and does nothing between lyric lines.
The first time, macOS may ask for permission. If the card never appears, Troubleshooting has the checks.
Layout
Three layouts — Card, Wide and Vinyl — applying both to the preview here and to the real thing. Vinyl draws a grooved record with the album art on it, still rather than spinning: nothing animates continuously on a locked screen.
Colours follow Appearance rather than being set here.
Where it sits
Drag the card in the preview. It saves when you let go, and the reset button in the Lock position row puts it back near the top.
Lock position stops it being dragged on the real lock screen. You can always drag the preview here.
What it shows
- Show the current track — cover, title and artist.
- Show the current lyric line — the line, kept in sync with playback.
- Hide when paused — takes the card away while nothing is playing.
- Play a sound on unlock — a short sound when you come back.
A caveat worth knowing
Drawing over a locked Mac uses a private macOS interface. It works, and it is tested on current macOS, but it is not something Apple publishes or promises. A macOS upgrade could stop it, and if it does the fix is a 9xLyrics update rather than a setting. Nothing else in the app depends on it.