Apple's Shazam Music Recognition Service Now Available as Chrome Extension

Apple at the end of 2021 appears to have quietly released a new Shazam extension for Chrome users, which can be used to identify songs that are playing using the popular music recognition service.

shazam chrome extension
Apple has owned Shazam since 2017, but even before that, Shazam was built into Apple devices at the operating system level. On an iPhone or a Mac, users can ask Siri to identify any song that's playing without the need for the Shazam app.

The same functionality is built into the ‌iPhone‌ as a Control Center option, and now it's also available as an easy-access option for Chrome users on PCs and Macs.

Once installed, the Shazam Chrome extension can be accessed next to the address bar, and it opens up a Shazam interface that's meant to listen to what's playing. When the extension recognizes a song, it opens up an option to play in Apple Music (subscribers can access full songs by logging in).

The Shazam extension offers up access to Shazam song history so Chrome users can keep track of songs they've identified, and it provides lyrics, music videos, and more for ‌Apple Music‌ subscribers.

Apple has not advertised the Shazam extension except on the Shazam website, and 9to5Google speculates that it might be because there are issues with the extension. For some users, the Shazam extension does not appear to be working at all. Multiple reviews suggest that the extension is unable to recognize any songs, though for others, it works as expected.

Apple may have updates to the Shazam Chrome extension coming soon, and once it's working well for all users, we may hear more about it.

Tags: Chrome, Shazam

Top Rated Comments

ay8s Avatar
23 months ago
Think they pulled it earlier today. Still seems to 404 here.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
KernelG Avatar
23 months ago

For some users, the Shazam extension does not appear to be working at all. Multiple reviews suggest that the extension is unable to recognize any songs, though for others, it works as expected.
The original Shazam app used the built-in microphone to listen, and if your Mac model didn't include a built-in mic, it didn't work at all. No webcams, pro mics, nada. I dumped it quickly after realizing this, but I'd guess that could still be what's happening here.

How bizarre that this is only for Chrome. Could Apple finally be realizing that the reins are a little too tight on Safari, and we actually need to run extensions, even if we have to give them special permissions? (Hopefully, without a pop-up dialog on every single use?)
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tha_man Avatar
23 months ago
I think they should rather improve existing functionality. Mac app is still some "alien" entity that doesn't know anything about shazams done on iOS neither add them to "My Shazams" playlist, iOS built in functionality is similar and doesn't work when there's no internet available, old iOS widget (which was great) dissapears on every app update while the new widget is crap (instead of having button to directly recognize track like old one does it just shows you latest shazams and opens main app...). All Apple "improved" in Shazam after buying it is very un-Apple half baked.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
randyhudson Avatar
23 months ago

How bizarre that this is only for Chrome. Could Apple finally be realizing that the reins are a little too tight on Safari
Did you even read the article? On every platform where Safari exists, Shazam is already in the OS.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DrNevs Avatar
23 months ago

Did you even read the article? On every platform where Safari exists, Shazam is already in the OS.
Did you read the article? It’s built into Apple devices. Safari is available on Windows…no Shazam in the OS there
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Black.Infinity Avatar
23 months ago
Awesome, I can find the song before it's finished.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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