Shazam, Apple's song-recognition service, now works on Android smartwatches, even if your phone isn't with you, but there are some caveats. After updating Shazam on Wear OS, you'll be able to use it to recognize songs directly on your smartwatch. This was first reported by 9to5Google, and it's a major development for people using Wear OS smartwatches.
Whether you have your phone with you or not, you'll be able to get the latest Shazam updates from the Play store and use the app. Another new feature is the ability to instantly sync recognized songs across devices. Once you open the app, you'll have to tap the Shazam icon to start listening to the music playing around you. Please note that Shazam on Wear OS still requires the internet to function. If your watch is offline, the app will record the songs you try to recognize and name them for you when you come back online. You can then listen to those songs on the music streaming service of your choice.
Google offers a built-in music identifier feature in Wear OS, which is still faster than using Shazam on an Android smartwatch. Your Google Pixel smartphone comes with a simple "Now Playing" feature that automatically recognizes what's playing around you. It would be nice to see this feature added to Wear OS, but the unfortunate reality is that Google has slowed the pace of development on its smartwatch platform.
For some, Shazam may be a better alternative to the built-in Wear OS song recognition, as you can sync the feature across platforms and have it automatically add recognized songs to your Spotify playlists. It's good to know that Apple is investing in Shazam's development on platforms it doesn't own (RIP Dark Sky's Android app).
