Shazam OS for Wear Now Works Even When Your Phone Isn’t Nearby
Shazam, the Apple-owned song recognition service , now works on your Android smartwatch even when your phone isn’t with you—with a couple of caveats. Once you update Shazam to Wear OS, you’ll be able to use it to identify songs right on your smartwatch. This was first reported by 9to5Google , and it’s a major development for people who use Wear OS smartwatches.
You can get the latest Shazam update from the Play Store and use the app whether you have your phone with you or not. Another new feature is the ability to instantly sync recognized songs between devices. Once you open the app, you’ll need to tap the Shazam icon for it to start listening to music playing around you. Please note that Shazam on Wear OS still requires an internet connection. If your watch is not connected to the Internet, the app will register the songs you are trying to identify and name them as soon as you are back online. You can then listen to these songs on your chosen music streaming service.
Google provides a built-in music identification feature in Wear OS, and it’s still faster than using Shazam on your Android smartwatch. Your Google Pixel smartphone comes with a handy Now Playing feature that automatically detects songs playing around you. It would be nice to add this feature to Wear OS, but the unfortunate reality is that Google has slowed down the pace of development of the smartwatch platform.
For some people, Shazam may be a better alternative to Wear OS’s built-in song recognition feature, since you can sync it across platforms and automatically add identified songs to your Spotify playlist. It’s nice to know that Apple is investing in developing Shazam on platforms it doesn’t own ( RIP Dark Sky app for Android ).