Find out what song is playing with Shazam on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple Vision Pro
Use the Shazam app, Shazam Music Recognition in Control Centre, Siri and more to help you discover new music.
Use the Shazam app
You can identify a song manually or have Shazam identify songs automatically. After Shazam identifies a song, you can find the song — and all other songs Shazam has identified — in My Music in the Shazam app. And if you change or lose a device, you can still access your previously identified songs because they’ve been backed up to iCloud.
The Shazam app on iPhone or iPad can identify songs playing on your device even when you're using headphones.
Identify a song
Open the Shazam app on your device.
Tap or click the Shazam button
.
You can switch to other apps while Shazam tries to identify a song. When Shazam identifies the song, you’ll receive a notification.
Once Shazam has identified a song on iPhone, iPad or Apple Vision Pro, tap the play button to listen to a preview of the song. If you have an Apple Music subscription, you can listen to whole songs in Shazam. You can also connect Shazam to other music streaming services that Shazam supports.
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, Shazam will try to identify the song.
Identify songs automatically
Shazam can identify what’s playing around you automatically with Auto Shazam.
To turn on Auto Shazam, touch and hold (or double-click on Mac) the Shazam button
.To turn off Auto Shazam, tap (or click on Mac) the Shazam button.
To have Shazam automatically start listening when you open the app on iPhone, iPad or Apple Vision Pro, tap My Music at the bottom of the screen, tap the Settings button
, then turn on “Shazam on app start”.
On iPhone, iPad or Apple Vision Pro, songs identified with Auto Shazam are grouped together by date in My Music.
Find songs you’ve identified
On iPhone or iPad, tap My Music at the bottom of the screen. To delete a song, tap the More button
next to that song, then tap “Remove from My Music”.On Mac, recent songs appear below the Shazam button.
On Apple Watch, recent songs appear below the Shazam button and are also saved to My Music on the paired iPhone.
Use Shazam Music Recognition in Control Centre
You can add Shazam Music Recognition to Control Centre on iPhone, iPad and Mac to identify songs. Shazam Music Recognition can identify songs playing on your device even when you're using headphones.
And if you have the Shazam app on your iPhone, iPad or Apple Vision Pro, songs identified with Shazam Music Recognition in Control Centre and with Siri:
Appear in My Music in the Shazam app.
Appear in the History view in Shazam in Control Centre on all your devices.
Backed up to iCloud.
Use Shazam Music Recognition in Control Centre on iPhone
Open Control Centre on your iPhone or on your iPad, then tap the Add Controls (+) button at the top of the screen.
Tap Add a Control at the bottom, then tap Recognise Music.
Close Control Centre by swiping up from the bottom centre of the screen.
To identify songs, tap the Recognise Music button
.To find songs identified by Shazam, touch and hold the Recognise Music button
, then tap History.
Add Shazam Music Recognition in Control Centre on Mac
Choose Apple menu > System Settings, then click Control Centre in the sidebar.
Turn on Show in Control Centre under Music Recognition.
To add Shazam Music Recognition to the menu bar, turn on Show in Menu Bar.
To identify songs, click the Music Recognition button
in Control Centre, then click the button again.To find songs identified by Shazam, click the Music Recognition button
in Control Centre (or in the menu bar if you added it).
For more information on a song and or artist, including upcoming concert dates, videos and more, click or tap a song in the History view.
Sync Shazam with iCloud to back up songs
When you sync Shazam with iCloud, the songs you identify using Control Centre, Siri or Shortcuts are saved across all your devices, synced to My Music in the Shazam app and stored in iCloud. If that’s not happening, try these steps:
On iPhone or iPad, update Shazam to the latest version.
Make sure you have two-factor authentication set up for your Apple Account.
Check that iCloud Sync is turned on in the Shazam app on iPhone, iPad or Apple Vision Pro:
Open the Shazam app.
Swipe up to My Music from the main Shazam screen.
Tap the Settings button
, then tap iCloud Sync.
Check that Shazam is using iCloud in your device’s settings:
On iPhone, iPad or Apple Vision Pro, go to Settings > your name, tap iCloud, then tap See All under Apps Using iCloud. Make sure Shazam is turned on.
On Mac, choose Apple menu > System Settings, click Apple Account, click iCloud, then click See All next to Saved to iCloud.
On iPhone, iPad, Apple Vision Pro or Mac, make sure Shazam Music Recognition is also turned on.
When you sync Shazam with iCloud properly, the songs you’ve identified are saved across all your devices and in My Music in the Shazam app. These songs are also securely uploaded to iCloud so you’ll never lose them.
When iCloud sync is turned on, your Shazam history will be protected using end-to-end encryption, ensuring that only you can view it on your trusted devices. You will no longer be able to view your Shazam history on Shazam.com.
Use Siri and other ways to identify music
On iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, HomePod, Mac or Apple Vision Pro, say “Hey Siri”, then ask what the song is. Songs identified with Siri appear in My Music in the Shazam app, in the History view in Music Recognition and are backed up in iCloud.
On iPhone or iPad, add the Shazam widget to identify music in the Today View.
Use Shazam on your Apple Watch.
Use the Shazam It action to add music recognition to your Shortcuts.
Back up songs in iCloud
Songs identified by Shazam are automatically backed up to iCloud as long as you sign in to your Apple Account, you’ve turned on iCloud for Shazam and you’ve synced Shazam Music Recognition with iCloud. When you back up your songs, you won’t lose them if something happens to your device. You can also access your songs on your other devices when you sign in to the same Apple Account.
If you choose not to back up your songs in iCloud, they’re still saved on your device. You can back up your songs to iCloud at any time unless you restored your device back to its factory settings or you get a new device.
Songs identified with the Shazam app for Mac don’t appear across your devices and are not backed up to iCloud, but are saved locally to your Mac.
Buy songs that you've identified with Shazam
In Shazam, tap the More button
next to the song that you want to buy, then tap Buy on iTunes.In the iTunes Store, tap the price next to the song to buy it.
Sign in to your Apple Account and password to complete the purchase. Need help?
To find the music you've purchased, open the Apple Music app and tap the Library tab.
To download music to listen to offline, tap the Download button
.
If you can't see the Buy on iTunes button, you still may be able to purchase the song. Visit the iTunes Store to check.
Change microphone settings for Shazam on your iPhone or iPad
Shazam needs access to the microphone on your device to hear what you’re listening to. On your iPhone or iPad, open Settings, scroll down to the installed apps, tap Shazam, then turn on Microphone. If you don’t see an option for Microphone, you may have restrictions turned on for Privacy settings.
Get help
Still need help? Contact Apple Support
Learn more
Connect Shazam to other services, such as Snapchat and Spotify.
Find out more about Shazam’s Terms & Conditions.
Find out about Shazam and privacy.
