Your iPhone can recognize any song with just a tap — here’s how to set it up
Taylor Swift performs at the 2019 American Music Awards in Los Angeles, November 24, 2019.
Mario Anzuoni | Reuters
Apple released a software update for iPhones and iPads earlier this month that includes a built-in music recognition button that can help you quickly identify a song that’s playing.
It’s one way Apple is using Shazam, which it acquired in 2018 for an estimated $400 million. And you don’t need to have the Shazam app installed for this to work. All you do is add a button to the Control Center menu and then, when you hear a song you like and want to know who the artist is, you just tap the button.
It’s fun and easy to set up. Here’s what you do.
- First, make sure you’re running the latest software on your iPhone. To do that, go to Settings > General > Software update. You need to be on iOS 14.2 or newer.
- Once the update is installed open Settings on your iPhone.
- Tap Control Center.
- Scroll down under “More” and tap the green ‘+’ button next to Music Recognition.
That adds the music recognition function to Control Center.
Tap this button to identify songs from your iPhone.
Todd Haselton | CNBC
On an iPhone with Face ID, you just pull down the Control Center shade by swiping down from the top-right of the phone and tapping the Music Recognition icon, which I’ve labeled in the image above. On iPhones with a home button, just swipe up from the bottom of the screen to access this menu and find the icon.
Now you can use it whenever you hear a song, even if it’s while you’re listening to a playlist with headphones on, to see the song title and artist.
