In the past, iPhones could only identify music playing from external speakers. But with iOS 14.2 and later, your iPhone can identify music playing right on the device. This means you can easily identify a song you liked in a web video or a live stream, even through headphones!
Learn how you can use Shazam to identify audio that’s coming from your iPhone.
Add the Shazam Option to Control Center
Before you can use the native Shazam button, you’ll have to add it to Control Center by following these steps:
- Open Settings and select Control Center.
- Check whether Music Recognition is already listed in the Included Controls section. If it is, you can skip the rest of these steps.
- If it’s not there, find it in the More Controls section at the bottom.
- Tap the green plus button next to Music Recognition to add it.
Now you can access it in Control Center to quickly identify music playing through headphones or your iPhone’s speakers.
How to Use the Shazam for Music Playing on Your iPhone
Once you’ve added the Control Center widget, follow these steps to use the Shazam functionality:
- Play a song, a video with background music, or some other music source on your iPhone using the built-in speakers or headphones.
- Swipe down from the top-right corner of your iPhone’s screen to reveal Control Center. If your iPhone has a Home button, swipe up from the bottom of the screen.
- Tap the Shazam icon to activate music recognition. The icon will turn blue while it’s listening.
- Wait for it to listen and search. Your iPhone will vibrate when it’s finished and show a notification with the result.
View the Results and Play the Full Song
If your iPhone couldn’t identify the song, the notification will say No Result. Otherwise, the notification will display the song, its artist, and a thumbnail of the album artwork.
Tapping the notification will open a Shazam results page in Safari, from which you can play a preview or tap Listen in Apple Music to enter that app.
Tapping and holding on the notification presents an option to Listen on Apple Music directly from Notification Center.
Your iPhone Knows Its Music
With your iPhone’s music recognition capabilities, you have the power to find the music you love from just about any source. Whether it’s in a video, a podcast, or somewhere else on your device, your iPhone can recognize it!
Keep exploring and you’ll find that there are other great Control Center widgets available for quick access, too.
