Shazam now supports one of iOS 17's best features — Play songs instantly in Apple Music thanks to iPhone’s Live Activities update

iPhone 15 Pro Max with Shazam Action Button

(Image credit: Future / Apple)

Apple has updated its music-recognition app Shazam to support Live Activities, enabling you to discover new tracks while multitasking in another app.

This latest update for Shazam now shows the music track that’s been identified in the iPhone’s Dynamic Island, located at the top of the display of the best iPhones. When you launch Shazam from the Control Center, a small Shazam icon will appear, followed by the track’s name and artist — if the app has managed to successfully identify the song it hears. You can then press this Live Activity button to play the track directly through Apple Music.

Live Activities can display up-to-date information on your iPhone’s lock screen, or the Dynamic Island, which features in the iPhone 14 Pro as well as the iPhone 15 line, while you multitask in another app. This is perfect for Shazam because you may want to find out the name and artist of a certain track whilst using your favorite apps. For example, as you try to reply to a bunch of group chats in WhatsApp, you may want to identify a track that’s currently playing on your TV. By launching Shazam from the Control Center, a Live Activity will show the name of the track and its artist without needing to leave WhatsApp.

You can check if you’ve got the latest version of Shazam by going to the App Store > Account, then scrolling down to see if the new update is available.

Setting up your Action button to be a Shazam button

This new Shazam update also works great with the Action button, found on iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. The Action button replaced the mute switch, allowing users to set it to whatever function they wish via the Shortcuts app. By setting it to launch Shazam, you don’t even need to go into Control Center to launch the app. If you want to have your own dedicated Shazam button, read on.

Setting the button up to summon Shazam is a simple affair. Select Shortcuts from Settings > Action Button, then press ‘Choose Shortcut’. Tap the search bar, then type in Shazam. A ‘Recognise Music’ shortcut will appear. Once that’s selected, the shortcut will be enabled as soon as the Action button is pressed at any time.

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Daryl is iMore's Features Editor, overseeing long-form and in-depth articles and op-eds. Daryl loves using his experience as both a journalist and Apple fan to tell stories about Apple's products and its community, from the apps we use every day to the products that have been long forgotten in the Cupertino archives.

Previously Software & Downloads Writer at TechRadar, and Deputy Editor at StealthOptional, he's also written a book, 'The Making of Tomb Raider', which tells the story of the beginnings of Lara Croft and the series' early development. His second book, '50 Years of Boss Fights', came out in June 2024, and has a monthly newsletter called 'Springboard'. He's also written for many other publications including WIRED, MacFormat, Bloody Disgusting, VGC, GamesRadar, Nintendo Life, VRV Blog, The Loop Magazine, SUPER JUMP, Gizmodo, Film Stories, TopTenReviews, Miketendo64, and Daily Star.