Apple has updated the standalone Shazam app it acquired in 2017 with support for background listening via Live Activities and Dynamic Island.
As of v17.11, the Shazam app for iPhone and iPad can continuously search for music in the background while multitasking. This lets you identify songs playing in other apps, such as TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. Before, the app had to be in the foreground as a listening session stopped if you quit the app.
Noteworthy, background listening has been available using the Shazam-powered Music Recognition feature in the Control Center on an iPhone, iPad and Mac. This feature is now supported in the standalone Shazam app with today’s update.
The Shazam app gains background listening
If the app is installed on your iPhone or iPad, get the latest version by opening the Shazam page on the App Store and touching the Update button.
Then open the refreshed app, touch the Shazam button to start listening and switch to another app. Shazam will continue running in the background, shrinking into the Dynamic Island (available on the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro models).
Shazam can also run in the background on the Lock Screen via the Live Activities feature, which provides real-time updates from apps that support it. The first time you use Live Activities with Shazam, you’ll see a prompt seeking permission to use this feature (you can also manage this in Settings > Shazam).
Live Activities support
“Shazam now supports Live Activities to keep you updated when searching for music in the background,” read the update notes. “his feature is particularly handy when multitasking or identifying songs in other apps.”
A recent update brought support for the Dynamic Type feature, making the app honor your preferred reading size set in Settings > Display & Brightness > Text Size.
In January, the Shazam app gained the ability to identify music while wearing headphones (also possible with Music Recognition in the Control Center).