Apple's Shazam Control Center Music Recognition Feature Hits 1 Billion Songs Identified

With the launch of iOS 14.2, Apple introduced a new Shazam Music Recognition toggle for the Control Center, giving iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch users a quick and easy way to identify what music is playing.

Music Recognition has been a popular Control Center integration, and according to Apple, Shazam just surpassed 1 billion cumulative recognitions from the Control Center on iOS devices.

Compared to the standard Shazam app, Music Recognition is unique because it allows users to identify songs playing in their favorite apps, TV shows, and movies even while wearing headphones, a feature available in addition to the option to identify songs playing out loud.

The number one most Shazamed track from the Control Center is Bruno Mars' "Talking to the Moon," with a list of the top 10 Shazamed songs available below.

• "Talking To The Moon" - Bruno Mars
• "Astronaut In The Ocean" - Masked Wolf
• "MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)" - Lil Nas X
• "Beggin" - Måneskin
• "Another Love" - Tom Odell
• "Runaway" - AURORA
• "Dick" - StarBoi3 Feat. Doja Cat
• "Arcade" - Duncan Laurence
• "Stay" - The Kid LAROI & Justin Bieber
• "drivers license" - Olivia Rodrigo

For those who do not already use Music Recognition, it can be added to the Control Center by opening up the Settings app and selecting the Control Center section. From there, scroll down and tap the "+" button next to the "Music Recognition" option that has the Shazam logo. Once added, users can access the Control Center and tap on the icon with the Shazam logo to identify a song that's playing.

Apple is improving Music Recognition in iOS 15 and going forward, it will automatically save a list of songs that users have discovered through the Control Center feature. The Music Recognition history can be viewed by long pressing on the Shazam Control Center icon on a device running ‌iOS 15‌ or iPadOS 15.

Developers are also now able to take advantage of a ShazamKit API that allows Shazam's audio recognition technology to be integrated directly into apps, and the first apps with this functionality will launch this fall.