During the release of iOS 14.2, Apple introduced a very handy feature for iPhone users to add Shazam song identification via the iPhone Control Center. This means that you don’t have to download the Shazam app to use it.
Shazam is the song identification app that can reveal a song that was playing at the bar or anywhere by opening the app and sticking your phone in the air. In much more recent history, Apple acquired Shazam in 2018, making the app ad-free for everyone and eventually incorporating its eerily good song-identification feature right into iOS — you don’t even need to download the app to use it.
With the latest update, you don’t need to unlock your phone to access Shazam, which is very helpful when you’re scrambling to identify a song on the radio before it ends.
Follow these steps below to Shazam a song on your iPhone without downloading the app:
Make sure Control Center is available on your lock screen:
- Go to Settings on your iPhone
- Select Face ID & Passcode (or Touch ID)
- Scroll down to “Allow access when locked” and activate the Control Center
Then add Shazam to your Control Center:
- Go to Settings
- Select Control Center
- Scroll down to “More Controls” and tap the green plus icon next to Music Recognition to add it to the “Included Controls” list above
- Change its position in the Control Center by moving it up or down the list (tap and hold the three bars to the right of the icon)
Now you’ll see a Shazam icon in the Control Center.
- To access it from your lock screen, swipe down from the top of the screen on a phone with Face ID, or swipe up from the bottom on a phone with Touch ID.
- Tap the Shazam icon to turn music recognition on — the icon will light up and pulse as it’s listening. You’ll see a notification in a few moments with the song and artist or a message that no result was found.
However, Downloading the Shazam app will enable more features, like an archive of the songs you’ve identified and the ability to capture audio while you’re offline and have the app ID the song when you’re back online.