Use Shazam on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple Watch, or Mac

: June 7, 2024
: Apple

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Use Shazam on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple Watch, or Mac

Use Shazam on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple Watch, or Mac

Use Shazam to find out what you’re hearing on the radio, in a store, or anywhere else you hear a song. Then check your Shazam library to find songs you’ve identified, and discover new music based on what you’ve Shazamed.

Shazam identifies a song by creating a unique digital fingerprint to match what you’re hearing with one of the millions of songs in the Shazam database.

Use the Shazam app

If you have the Shazam app installed on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac, you can use the app to identify music and save them to your library.

Open the Shazam app on your device.
Tap or click the Shazam button to identify what’s playing around you.

When Shazam identifies the song, it’s saved in My Music, along with all your other previous Shazams.

After you identify a song, you can connect to Apple Music and other music services to listen to your Shazam.

If you don’t have an internet connection, the app still creates a unique digital fingerprint to match against the Shazam database the next time your device is connected to the internet. If a song can’t be identified, it will disappear from your pending Shazams.

Use Auto Shazam

To have Shazam automatically identify what’s playing around you, touch and hold (or double-click on Mac) the Shazam button . When Auto Shazam is on, Shazam matches what you’re hearing with songs in the Shazam database—even when you switch to another app. Shazam never saves or stores what it hears.

You can then find the Shazams identified with Auto Shazam in My Music, grouped together by date.

To turn off Auto Shazam, tap or click the Shazam button.

Use Shazam in Control Center on iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

You can Shazam songs right from Control Center on your iPhone or on your iPad.* To add Shazam to Control Center, go to Settings > Control Center, then tap the Add button next to Music Recognition.

To identify songs from Control Center, tap the Shazam button to identify what’s currently playing on your device or around you. Shazam can identify songs playing on your device even if you’re using headphones.

Requires iOS or iPad OS 14.2 or later.

More ways to identify music

On iPhone or iPad, say “Hey Siri,” then ask what the song is.
On iPhone or iPad, add the Shazam widget to identify music in the Today View.
Use Shazam on your Apple Watch to Shazam tracks.
To identify music from the menu bar of your Mac, get Shazam for Mac from the Mac App Store.
On HomePod, say “Hey Siri, Shazam this song.”
Use the Shazam It action to add music recognition to your Shortcuts.

See your previous Shazams

You can see your previous Shazams in the Shazam app on your device and online when you create a Shazam account.

On iPhone or iPad, swipe up on the main Shazam screen to access My Music.
On Mac, recent Shazams appear below the Shazam button.
On Apple Watch, recent Shazams appear below the Shazam button, and are also saved to My Music on the paired iPhone.
To access your Shazams on your other Apple devices and online at shazam.com/myshazam, you can save your Shazams in iCloud. This also ensures that you won’t lose your Shazams if something happens to your device.

Buy songs you’ve Shazamed

You can buy songs you’ve Shazamed from the iTunes store.

In Shazam, tap the More button next to the song you Shazamed, then tap Buy on iTunes.
In the iTunes Store, tap the price next to the song to buy it.
Sign in with your Apple ID and password to complete the purchase. Need help?
To find the music that you purchased, open the Apple Music app and tap the Library tab.
To download music to listen to offline, tap the Download button .

If you don’t see the Buy on iTunes button, you still might be able to purchase the song. Visit the iTunes Store to check.

Change your settings

In the Shazam app, swipe up to My Music from the main Shazam screen, then tap the Settings button to adjust Shazam settings:

Control Notifications from Shazam.
To have Shazam automatically start listening when the app is opened, turn on “Shazam on app start.”
Use iCloud to back up your Shazams.

Microphone settings on iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

Shazam needs access to the microphone on your device to hear what you’re listening to. On iPhone or iPad, open Settings, scroll down to the installed apps and tap Shazam, then turn on Microphone. If you don’t see an option for Microphone, you might have restrictions turned on for Privacy settings.