How to benefit from your Pixel’s Now Playing characteristic

The different day, I used to be watching the documentary The Beatles: Get Back, which flashes the names of the songs enjoying on the display and jogs my memory of a track I did not acknowledge. “What was that?” I requested my good friend. He did not know both.

But my Pixel 6 did not miss it. Looking at my lock display, it mentioned, “Dig a pony the Beatles,” courtesy of Android’s Now Playing characteristic.

Now, I’m not an enormous music fan—I’m the sort of one who listens to the identical album again and again, and once I hear an incredible new track, as an alternative of instantly researching the supply, I believe, “Hey, that’s cool,” and go away it at that. But now, once I hear one thing that I like and later abruptly bear in mind it, I can see it on my Now Playing listing. Or if I’m watching a film and suppose, “Okay, I’ve heard that song before,” I can go to my telephone and instantly discover out the track’s identify and artist.

And Now Playing works offline too (which I examined by placing my telephone in airplane mode after which enjoying a track I hadn’t heard earlier than).

If this can be a characteristic you like, and you’ve got a Pixel 2 or later, this is the way you arrange Now Playing and what you are able to do with it.

Activate Playing now

• Go to Settings by swiping down from the highest twice and tapping on the cog icon
• Tap on “Sounds & Vibration” > “Now Playing”
• Toggle on “Identify songs playing nearby”
• Now the identify and artist of the songs you may have enjoying will seem in your lock display (be aware that since Now Playing works by a database in your telephone, it could take a couple of minutes to obtain earlier than it truly works) )

activate search button

As talked about earlier, the best way Now Playing works relies on a device-based database of music – which is why it could possibly work offline. However, a few of us get pleasure from extra obscure music, which might not be a part of the a number of thousand songs in that database. In that case, there’s now a cloud search that may add your favourite songs to the database by way of a search button in your lock display. (Unfortunately, this characteristic is simply obtainable in case you have a Pixel 4 or later.)

To allow that characteristic, go to your Now Playing display and toggle on “Show search button on lock screen”.

handle your notifications

When your Pixel acknowledges a track, it won’t solely place it in your lock display but additionally make it obtainable by your notifications. You can handle each of those and extra by going to the Now Playing display and tapping on Notifications.

Find your present enjoying historical past

What might be helpful, or much more so, is to entry the historical past of music that has been round you to see what track is presently enjoying. You can entry it by following the identical choices as you probably did to activate the characteristic (“Settings” > “Sound & Vibration” > “Now Playing”) and choosing “Now Playing History”. Once there, you possibly can faucet on a track to play it in your favourite service.

Make it straightforward to search out your historical past

And sure, going by all these steps to entry your Now Playing historical past is a ache within the butt. If you discover that you simply’re checking your historical past typically, it is most likely a good suggestion to place a direct hyperlink to it on your property display so you possibly can simply faucet and watch. This manner:

• When you might be in “Now Playing History”, faucet on the three dots on the highest proper nook and choose “Add to Home Screen”.
• Pixel Launcher will pop up with the Now Playing icon on the backside of your display
• You can faucet “Add to Home Screen” after which transfer the widget the place you need it, or press and maintain the icon and transfer it

What if you do not have a Pixel?

At the second, the Now Playing characteristic is simply obtainable on the Google Pixel 2 and later. However, in the event you’re feeling experimental there could also be some options on the market. XDA Developers has bought a: an ambient music mode, which it says has been confirmed to work on some OnePlus units and can also work on different Android telephones.

And, in fact, there are apps that may aid you determine songs. For instance, the well-known track recognition app Shazam, Which was Bought by Apple in 2018, is on the market for each iOS and Android. It does not work offline, and you will have to faucet the icon to start out the detection course of, nevertheless it’s an incredible possibility for many who haven’t got present Pixels.