Shazam is one of the best go-to apps for identifying music from different entertainment sources – advertisements, music, movies, radio, TV shows and more. The London-based app was purchased by Apple in 2018 for a reported fee of US$ 400 million (GBP 300 million), however, it remains widely available on the App store (iOS, macOS, watchOS), Google’s Play Store (Android, wear OS) and Samsung’s Galaxy Store (Android) as a standalone app.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Shazam was originally integrated into Siri in 2014 as one of the features of iOS 8. Fast forward to 2020, Apple integrated the service into the music recognition feature on iOS 14 (no app required). Once toggled on, the feature recognises audible songs playing in the surrounding and on apps on the phone. It can also identify music playing through headphones or airpods.
Use Shazam on iPhone and iPad
The Shazam-powered music recognition feature requires the iPhone to be running at least iOS 14.2 (or higher) and the iPad must be running iPadOS 14.2 (or higher). To get started:
- Navigate to Settings and click on Control Center.
- Scroll down to ‘More Controls’ and Tap the (+) button next to Music Recognition to add the icon to Control Center.
- Tap and hold the three-line handle in front of the Included Controls to re-arrange the buttons in the Control Center.
- To remove the feature, just repeat all the steps and tap (-) next to Music Recognition to Remove.
Settings > Control Center > (+) Music Recognition
To figure out which music is playing, swipe down the top-right of the iPhone or iPad to open Control Centre (or swipe up from the bottom of the screen of older device with Touch ID).
- Tap the Shazam Music Recognition icon to toggle on.
- Once a song or tune is playing in the background, the feature pops-up the name of the Artist and song. You can also click on the pop-up to learn more about the artist and song.
- If the feature couldn’t recognise the song (after 10 to 15 seconds), the feature pops-up a similar notification with No Result (we were unable to find anything).
Another alternative to using the Shazam app on the iPhone or iPad, is to ask Siri: ‘What Song is Playing’?. The virtual assistant will listen to the music playing and pop-op a notification showing the track information and artist. Siri can also queue up similar tracks on Apple Music, all you have to do is ask to “Play or More Songs Like This“.