Church bells, free for small churches.
Getbells is a church-bell program that runs on an inexpensive Raspberry Pi. It rings quarter-hour chimes, strikes the hour, and plays hymns through the amplifier and speakers your church already has — on a schedule you control from your phone.
- —Free for churches. The program and its sound library are a gift, not a product.
- —98 sounds included — 23 hymns, chimes and strikes, and a patriotic set.
- —No new sound system needed. It plugs into your existing amp and speakers.
What the program is
Many small churches once had bells — or a bell program on an aging computer — and lost them when the equipment gave out. Getbells brings them back on modern, inexpensive hardware. A small Raspberry Pi sits with your sound equipment and plays the right sound at the right time, all day, every day.
Chimes, strikes & hymns
Westminster-style chimes at the quarter hours, a toll for each hour, and hymns at the times you choose — mornings, before services, at noon, in the evening.
Seasons built in
The schedule follows the church year: Christmas carols in December, Easter hymns in Easter week, patriotic music on national holidays — set once, and it changes itself.
Edited from your phone
A built-in web remote lets you change what plays and when from any phone or computer on the church's Wi-Fi. Tap an event, pick a sound, save — it takes effect right away.
Your songs, your sounds
Every sound is a plain WAV file. Add a hymn your congregation loves, or replace the bell voice with a recording of your own — just drop the file in and point the schedule at it.
Uses your speakers
The Pi connects to the amplifier and outdoor speakers your church already has — the same hookup an older bell system or announcement system would have used.
Made to be given away
The sounds were created for this program from public-domain hymns and music, in an original synthesized bell voice — so the whole package can be shared freely with any church.
Setting it up
Setup is a one-afternoon job for anyone comfortable plugging in a computer. There are five parts:
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1
Get a Raspberry Pi
Any recent Raspberry Pi — the small, inexpensive single-board computer — will do, along with its power supply. It is the only computer you need; it runs quietly alongside your sound equipment and stays on around the clock, sipping power.
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2
Put the program on an SD card Image coming soon
The whole system — the program, the schedule, and all 98 sounds — will ship as a single SD card image. You copy it onto a microSD card with a free flashing tool, slide the card into the Pi, and the bells are installed. The finished image is still being prepared; see the download section below.
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3
Connect it to your amplifier and speakers
The Pi's audio output connects to an input on your church's existing amplifier — the same amplifier and outdoor speakers an older bell system would have fed. If your church already plays anything over outdoor speakers, you almost certainly have everything this step needs.
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4
Give it a way to keep time
A bell system lives and dies by its clock. If the Pi is on a network with internet access, it keeps its clock accurate automatically, checking and correcting itself continuously — nothing to do. If your Pi will live completely offline, add an inexpensive battery-backed real-time clock (RTC) module instead; it keeps accurate time through power outages, and the network becomes optional.
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5
Edit the schedule from your phone
Once the Pi is on your church's Wi-Fi, open its web remote in any phone or computer browser on the same network — no app, no account, no internet required. Pick a season, tap a day, tap an event, and change the time or the sound. You can also test a bell or hymn on the spot, pause the bells, or change the chime pattern.
Download
Everything above ships as one SD card image: flash it, plug in the Pi, and your bells are running.
Placeholder — download not yet available
The SD card image is coming soon
The program and sound library are finished and in daily use, and the downloadable package is being finalized. When it is ready, the download button will appear here. Nothing is available to download yet — please don't go looking for the image elsewhere.
The sound library
All 98 sounds are included with the program, rendered in the program's own bell voice from public-domain sources. Every sound is a plain WAV file, so each one can also be replaced with a recording of your own.
No sound matches that search. Try a shorter word — “Grace”, “Chime”, or “Strike”.
Questions
The ones churches ask first. If yours isn't here, the support section below explains how answers will work once the package launches.
What hardware do we need?
Four things: a Raspberry Pi with its power supply, a microSD card for the program image, a way to connect the Pi's audio to your amplifier, and your church's existing amplifier and speakers. If the Pi won't have internet access, add the inexpensive RTC clock module described in the setup section. That's the whole list — no special bell hardware.
Can we add our own songs, or replace sounds we don't love?
Yes — that's by design. Every sound is a plain WAV file in a music folder; nothing is baked into the program. To add a song, drop its WAV file in the folder and pick it for a schedule event in the web remote. To replace a sound, give the new recording the same file name, or point the event at a different file. Churches are encouraged to experiment — a different bell voice, a favorite hymn arrangement, even a recording of real bells.
How does the clock stay accurate? Does it need the internet?
If the Pi is connected to a network with internet access, it synchronizes its clock automatically and continuously — not just when it starts up — so chimes and strikes stay on time with no attention from you. A completely offline Pi slowly drifts, which is why offline installs should add a cheap battery-backed RTC clock module; it keeps time accurately for years, through outages, and makes the network optional.
Do we need internet at the church to run it?
No. The program runs entirely on the Pi. The schedule editor works over your church's local Wi-Fi with no internet involved. The network matters only for automatic time sync — and the RTC module covers that for offline churches.
What does it cost?
The program and sound library are free for churches. Your only costs are your own hardware — the Pi, its power supply, the SD card, and the clock module if you need one.
How do we change what plays — and when?
From your phone. The built-in web remote shows the schedule by season and day; tap any event to change its time or its sound, and changes apply right away. The schedule already knows the seasons of the church year, so Christmas and Easter music can be set once and left alone. You can also pause the bells entirely — for a funeral, a wedding, or a quiet week — and resume when ready.
How does support work?
Support will be handled personally, by the people behind the program, with most questions answered directly — setup, the schedule editor, adding sounds, the clock question, and the amplifier hookup are all familiar ground, and common answers will be gathered into this FAQ as they come in. Some problems live in the physical world — a failed amplifier or a wiring issue, for example — and those may need someone on site; in that case you'll get a clear summary of what's been checked and what to look at, rather than a guess. Contact details will be posted in the support section below when the package launches.
Support
Questions are welcome
When the package launches, this is where you'll reach the people behind Getbells. Most setup and software questions can be answered directly, and the answers that help one church will be added to the FAQ above to help the next one.
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Support contact details will be posted here at launch.