Replace “Now Playing” with Shazam on Android Phones

Imagine the time before smart music ID services were available on smartphones. We just heard music and thought “I like it, too bad I don’t know what it is and will probably never be able to figure out the singer or group”. A complacent life, but a life minus a bit of verve and, of course, music discovery. It was about 2008 when Shazam showed up on Apple iPhones and changed everything.

Trivia: Shazam actually launched in 2002 and it used to be a shortcode-based service! You’d dial their special code then hold your phone up to a speaker and it would sample the music and offer back an ID, if possible.

Shazam showed up on Android just a few months after iOS and was immediately a hit, followed by a competitor called SoundHound (which itself was originally called Midomi). Almost ten years later Google introduced its Now Playing feature with the Pixel 2, but it’s different because it doesn’t require an active Internet connection to work, rather amazingly. Until recently, when an update to Android 15 on the Pixel broke Now Playing, as reported by the Android Police news site.

I encountered it myself on my Google Pixel 8a when I tried to use it to identify a few songs playing at a local coffee shop. It was just completely missing from the lock screen, but didn’t work at all. App updated, OS updated, restarted, still no joy and, of course, no song identification. To fix it, I switched things around to use Shazam instead. Here’s how that went…

INSTALL SHAZAM ON YOUR ANDROID PHONE

It’s hard to know how widespread the problem with Now Playing is in the Android world, but you can utilize Shazam on any Android phone, regardless of OS version or device manufacturer. Start in the Google Play Store and find Shazam in the directory:

The app also tracks concerts by your favorite musicians, but you can easily ignore that feature if you just want to use it for music ID purposes. Install the app, then start it up…

This is about the easiest interface you’ll ever use. Play some music, then tap on the big button on the screen to have the app listen and identify it.

It’s that easy. In less than ten seconds it will either ID the song or warn you that it has failed. In my case, it correctly identified a favorite track by British singer Kate Bush:

Notice that it offers quite a bit of information and a convenient link to lyrics. This also reveals that Shazam is now an Apple product, the company being acquired back in 2018. This means that the links point to Apple Music, but you can easily ignore the entire Apple universe if all you seek is song ID.

HOW TO ENABLE ALWAYS ON AUTO SHAZAM

Helpful if you want songs identified on demand, but what if you really want to emulate the Now Playing feature of having it always listening instead? Can do. Back on the main (blue) screen, instead of tapping once on the big blue button, double tap.

Choose ‘Continuous mode” and you’ve got just what you seek, an app that listens to whatever your phone is exposed to, identifying each song as it goes and building a neat list of everything it’s heard. This appears a bit different in the app:

In this mode, song identification information shows up as a notification, like this:

This only stays on the screen for a few moments (depending on your Notification settings), then vanishes.

CHECKING OUT YOUR SHAZAM LIBRARY

It hasn’t completely vanished; it’s just a new entry in your ever-growing Shazam library. Tap on “Library” on the top left to view it:

Okay, there’s an advert for Apple Music here, but compared to the advertising on a lot of “free” Android apps, it’s pretty benign, right? Anyway, You can see the songs I’ve been listening to, from Megan Roberts, Laurie Anderson, Genesis, Peter Gabriel, and Kate Bush. All nicely displayed and easily heard again. At the bottom of this view, however, is a button that offers a switch to what I consider an even more convenient layout:

Simple, straightforward, and a very pleasant organization that makes it easy to share one or more tracks with friends too.

NOW PLAYING WHILE NOT IN THE APP?

We started this adventure wanting to have songs identified even when we weren’t in the app, however, so let’s see how that works if you leave Auto Shazam running and switch to another app or, in this instance, your Home screen. A new song comes on and…

A notification pops up upon recognition and stays for a few moments. If I’m not paying attention to the phone – The Horror! – then it goes away unseen. But now you know it’s also entered into the Library that can be viewed at any time from within the Shazam application.

Where this is really cool is that if the phone’s locked it can still ID songs and pop up notifications:

That’s it. Done with the song ID feature? Go back to Shazam and turn off Auto Shazam. Easy.

Now the question is whether you’ll stick with Shazam once the Android team fixes Now Playing, or whether you’ll switch back. What do you think?

Pro Tip: There are lots of ways to manage your Android devices and ensure the best possible experience. Learn more by checking out my extensive Android help area while you’re here!