Latest news with #NowPlaying
Phone Arena
7 days ago
- Phone Arena
Google tests improvement for popular Pixel lock screen feature
If one single feature explains why Pixel fans love their phones, it is probably the Now Playing feature, which appears in the lock screen and the Always-On Display on Pixel devices. Now Playing will automatically name the tune playing near the phone, and it also includes the name of the artist. If you buy a new Pixel, you'll need to turn it on by going to Settings > Sound & vibration > Now Playing > Toggle on "Identify songs playing nearby ." Now Playing uses a song database stored on Pixel handsets. Google says that no audio or background conversations are sent to the company. In addition, the music-recognition feature employs privacy-preserving analytics to preserve the privacy of users. Having owned both Pixel handsets, other Android phones, and iPhones, I can tell you that Now Playing works better than the Shazam app. What I love about the Pixel line is that it feels as though Google is always looking to improve the UX (User experience). Constantly updating apps to make them easier to use is one example of this, and the Now Playing feature is another. How many times have you heard a song and couldn't remember the title or the name of the artist who performed it? Or perhaps you're hearing a song for the first time, love it, and want to know more about the tune so you can hear it again? I guess if I had to pick one word for what Google offers to users with the Pixel line, it would be convenience . The update for Now Playing will allow a Pixel user to see album art in a search bar. | Image credit-Android Authority Tapping on the name of the song listed by Now Playing takes you to your Now Playing history page, which lists the songs that the feature has recently heard in the background. But tapping on the song in Now Playing could soon show you something else. Android Authority recently checked out an Android System Intelligence update and found that tapping the song in Now Playing, instead of taking you to your Now Playing history, brings up a bar with the song title and artist name in the middle and the album art on the left. Current look of Now Playing on the left with Now Playing history on the right. | Image credit-PhoneArena You can visit your favorites list with a tap on the right side of the bar and easily add or delete a song from that list with a single tap. And you can still get to your Now Playing history with a double tap. This is something that Google is working on, although there is no estimate when it might appear on your Pixel device. Secure your connection now at a bargain price! We may earn a commission if you make a purchase Check Out The Offer
Android Authority
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Android Authority
Google is working to bring album art to Now Playing on your Pixel's lock screen (APK teardown)
Ryan Haines / Android Authority TL;DR Now Playing detects songs your phone hears in its vicinity and can identify them on your lock screen. Tapping on the detected song name currently takes you to your Now Playing history. Google is working on a new interface where that tap would instead display album art on the lock screen. Sometimes, when it rains, it pours. As we analyze Android app updates for evidence of in-development changes, it can really feel like it's dealer's (or should we say, developer's) choice, and it can be weeks or months before we find ourselves revisiting a specific feature. But this week we're retuning to one topic just a single day after we last checked in, as we look into what Google's working on for its Now Playing song-ID tool. Authority Insights story on Android Authority. Discover You're reading anstory on Android Authority. Discover Authority Insights for more exclusive reports, app teardowns, leaks, and in-depth tech coverage you won't find anywhere else. An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release. Last time around, we had just installed the new Android Canary release and saw Google adding a Now Playing option for our screen-corner lock screen shortcuts. That sounds well and good, but we also really like the way Now Playing works automatically on our lock screens, just displaying the song it's hearing without any extra interaction needed on our part. Right now, Now Playing on the lock screen is basically all text, just showing you the song and artist it's detected. From there you're welcome to tap through to your Now Playing history, where you get a richer experience with album art and links to YouTube and YouTube Music. Looking into a recent Android System Intelligence update, however, we've been able to get an early preview of some new behavior from this feature. Instead of jumping right into your history upon tapping, Google is thinking about an interface where Now Playing would start with its familiar text display, but then tapping it would expand that to offer a bar with album art. We also get quick access to the favorite button over on the right, and can add or remove tracks from that list with a tap. And if you do need to access your full history, you can get there with a double tap. Frankly, we wish Google would think about removing that first step and make this new look the default for Now Playing on the lock screen, instead of needing us to tap for the art. But who knows? Right now this is still very much in active development, and we just might get an option like that by the time Google's ready to formally introduce it. Got a tip? Talk to us! Email our staff at Email our staff at news@ . You can stay anonymous or get credit for the info, it's your choice.
Android Authority
10-07-2025
- Android Authority
What's that song? Android Canary introduces Now Playing lock screen shortcut
Joe Maring / Android Authority TL;DR Android lets users set up a pair of lock screen shortcuts for quick access to system tools. Today's inaugural Android Canary release adds a new 'Now Playing' shortcut to your available options. Locking your smartphone is an important step that practically everyone should take, helping to protect your device and keep your private information secure. And while the lock screen serves a critical role, it also makes getting access to anything on our phone that much slower. Thankfully, Google has offered a few ways to mitigate that impact, and maybe the most useful there is Android's support for lock screen shortcuts. With today's release of the first public Android Canary build, we've spotted the company's latest. Google first started letting us customize the screen-corner shortcuts our lock screens offered back in Android 14, choosing from things like quickly accessing Wallet, Home controls, or our camera. Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority With the new Android Canary release, we've spotted the presence of a new 'Now Playing' option. Google has given Android users a few different solutions for identifying songs over the years, including Now Playing on Pixel phones — even if that has been a little wonky lately. We've recently spotted evidence that developers have been paying a bit more attention to the tool, though, working on things like a Quick Settings tile. And now this lock screen shortcut feels like it fits in perfectly with that sort of effort. Right now your only way to try this out for yourself is to install an Android Canary build on your Pixel 6 or newer, but considering Google's dire warning about system stability, you should not feel remotely bad about preferring to wait things out until this is available in a slightly more stable form. Got a tip? Talk to us! Email our staff at Email our staff at news@ . You can stay anonymous or get credit for the info, it's your choice.
Android Authority
02-06-2025
- Business
- Android Authority
Now Playing could get this feature that it should have had from the start (APK teardown)
Ryan Haines / Android Authority TL;DR An Android Authority teardown has revealed that Google is working on an easy way to manually enable Now Playing functionality. Now Playing runs in the background and uses on-device machine learning to automatically identify music. However, the company is working on a Now Playing Quick Settings tile that would let users manually identify a track. Google has offered Now Playing functionality on Pixel phones for years now, using on-device machine learning to passively identify music playing around you. However, it looks like Google could soon let you manually activate the feature. Authority Insights story on Android Authority. Discover You're reading anstory on Android Authority. Discover Authority Insights for more exclusive reports, app teardowns, leaks, and in-depth tech coverage you won't find anywhere else. An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release. Google currently offers Now Playing as a passive feature on Pixel phones, automatically displaying the currently playing track on your lock screen and in the Now Playing history page in the settings menu. There's no proper way to manually identify a track, though. One workaround is to use the song search functionality in the Google app, which can be accessed in several ways (e.g. a quick settings tile or after tapping the microphone icon in the app). Unlike Now Playing, though, this solution requires an internet connection. Furthermore, tracks identified by the Google app aren't added to your device's Now Playing history, although they are stored in your Google account. Fortunately, an Android Authority teardown of the Android System Intelligence suite ( has revealed that Google is working on a Now Playing tile in the Quick Settings panel. We partially enabled this feature, and you can view it in the screenshots below. As the screenshots show, tapping the Now Playing tile allows you to manually identify a track while also producing a 'searching for song…' notification. We weren't able to get this feature working properly, but we're guessing the track info will eventually be displayed in a notification too. In any event, this would be a long-overdue addition to Now Playing on Pixel phones. We previously reported that many Pixel owners were having trouble getting Now Playing to work, so manually invoking the feature would be a welcome alternative to automatic detection. Our fingers are crossed that this Now Playing Quick Settings tile is implemented sooner rather than later. Got a tip? Talk to us! Email our staff at Email our staff at news@ . You can stay anonymous or get credit for the info, it's your choice.
BBC News
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
BBC Radio 6 Music announces spring and summer programming
Early June sees the return of Mary Anne Hobbs to 6 Music, who will present a brand new show on Sundays, 6-8pm, from 8th June. Mary Anne's new programme will be home to a borderless world of music, featuring open conversation with some of the world's most fascinating artists. Features will include Directors Cut – an invitation to musicians to create a specially extended version of an album track, exclusively for Mary Anne, and End of Days – in which artists select a piece of music for future generations. Mary Anne says: 'It's a joy to return home to 6 Music, and pull-up next to my teenage hero Iggy Pop. The new show will be a home for music across all spectrums, outliers to headliners. Open conversations with the Artists we love. New experiments in storytelling and sound. Come with us.' Tom Robinson, who currently hosts Now Playing @6Music on Sundays (6-8pm) will remain on the station. From Monday 2nd – Thursday 5th June, 11pm-12am, Tom will present a series of specials as part of 6 Music's annual Loud & Proud season, which takes place each June and sees the station spotlight LGBTQ+ voices with a season of specials, day-long celebrations, guest presenters and more. Tom's series will see him interview John Grant, Peggy Seeger and more. Tom will also be sitting in for Steve Lamacq on Monday 26th May, and Huw Stephens from Tuesday 27th – Friday 30th May, and Tuesday 26th – Friday 29th August. Tom says: 'It's been a privilege to host programmes every week on 6 Music since the station began in 2002. Our listeners' passion for fresh, adventurous music has seen us through thick and thin - and eventually helped us become the biggest digital station in the country. Their love and support for the artists we introduced on my own shows over the last 23 years also helped many music careers. And I'm deeply grateful to our NowPlaying community for regularly sharing their expertise, and hilarious snippets of kitchen life, in recent years. Although I'm now handing on the Sunday night baton, I'll still be presenting various shows on 6 Music in the coming months - including my exciting new interview series for our Loud & Proud season in June." Tom Ravenscroft, who presents New Music Fix Daily with Deb Grant (Mondays – Thursdays, 7-9pm) and The Ravers Hour (Fridays, 11pm-12am) has made the decision to leave 6 Music at the end of May, as he moves on to a new chapter of his life. Tom's final New Music Fix Daily show will be Thursday 29th May, and his final edition of The Ravers Hour will be Friday 30th May. Tom says: 'Argh man, this is a sad moment. It is with a heavy heart that I have decided to depart 6 Music but pastures new beckon. It's been a blast, I've met so many wonderful people as a result of this job and will be forever grateful. Thanks to all the crew on New Music Fix Daily and Deb for the past two years in Salford, I think we did some cool stuff. Lots of love to the listeners and everyone who has ever sent me music. I will miss it all. Forever yours. Tom.' Samantha Moy, Head of BBC Radio 6 Music, says: 'On behalf of us all at 6 Music, I want to thank Tom Ravenscroft for his huge contribution to 6 Music over the years – for his work spotlighting formidable electronic artists with his own shows, including the peerless Ravers Hour, as well as shaping the sound of our evenings with New Music Fix Daily and his incredible series, Peel Acres. He is quite simply a 6 Music legend: iridescent and irreplaceable - we will all miss him.' Joining Deb Grant to present New Music Fix Daily from Monday 2nd June (7-9pm) is Nathan Shepherd. Nathan will continue to present Indie Forever on Fridays (9-11pm), which was recently nominated for an Audio and Radio Industry Award (ARIA) and a New York Festivals Radio Award. Nathan says: "All my life I've been passionate about new music. Without new music there's no future in music. I'm so excited to be a part of the New Music Fix Daily team and to present alongside the amazing Deb Grant." Deb says: 'Nathan is an excellent broadcaster, with great musical perspective and I'm so excited to welcome him to the New Music Fix Daily fold. It's been such a fun and hilarious two years with Tom – I'm going to miss his humour and brilliant music selections. The team and I want to send him all our best wishes for the future." During their first week together, Nathan and Deb will present five editions of New Music Fix Daily, including two specials broadcast live from Primavera Sound music festival in Barcelona, Spain (Thursday 5th and Friday 6th June, 7-9pm). Nathan and Deb will bring listeners their guide to this year's must-see acts, interviews with Bristol rockers IDLES and 6 Music's SHERELLE, a guest mix from Welsh electronic musician and producer Kelly Lee Owens, acoustic sessions from Spanish indie rock band Hinds and Brooklyn alt-rock band Momma, highlights from the BRIT Award-nominated, indie pop artist beabadoobee's performance at the festival, and more. Nathan will also present his Indie Forever show on Friday 6th June (9-11pm) live from Primavera Sound. Coming to 6 Music and BBC iPlayer in the coming months are two more editions of Artist in Residence: AAA from Bon Iver and CMAT. Bon Iver's Artist in Residence: AAA will be available on BBC iPlayer from 6am on Monday 19th May. The exclusive short film, recorded at Maida Vale Studios, will see Justin Vernon break down tracks from his most recent album, SABLE, fABLE, with his producer and long-time collaborator Jim-E Stack. A new radio series of Artist in Residence from Bon Iver will accompany the filmed special and will air on 6 Music from Monday 19th – Thursday 22nd May, 11pm-12am. CMAT's Artist in Residence: AAA will be available on BBC iPlayer from 6am on Monday 11th August. Also recorded at Maida Vale Studios, the episode will see the Irish singer and songwriter dig into the making of tracks from her forthcoming album, EURO-COUNTRY, with producer Oli Deakin, and revisit a classic from her back catalogue. CMAT will also present an Artist in Residence radio series for 6 Music (Monday 11th – Thursday 14th August, 11pm-12am). CMAT says: 'I listen to 6 Music every day in a way that is quite embarrassing for someone who gets played on it quite often. I also love to talk about music. So this is quite the dream come true!" Bon Iver and CMAT's episodes of Artist in Residence: AAA, follows those from Mitski (November 2023) and Loyle Carner (November 2022). Samantha Moy, Head of BBC Radio 6 Music, says "It gives me great pleasure to give the warmest welcome home to Mary Anne Hobbs. With the complete freedom to fill her new show with her impeccable music selections, I know that listeners will love what she has in store for Sunday evenings. I'm very pleased to say that Tom Robinson remains part of the 6 Music family, and in June, will take a leading role in our Loud & Proud season. And - finally - two years on from when he first joined the station – it's wonderful to say that we'll now be able to hear Nathan Shepherd's energy and passion for music each weekday evening as he joins Deb as our co-host of New Music Fix Daily in June." About BBC Radio 6 Music With a reach of 2.8 million listeners (Rajar Q4, 2024), 6 Music is the UK's biggest digital-only radio station. It brings a broad range of music and culture beyond the mainstream to music lovers with a curious spirit, combining the cutting-edge music of today with the iconic, ground-breaking sounds of the past 50 years. Presenters include AFRODEUTSCHE, Amy Lamé, Cerys Matthews, Chris Hawkins, Craig Charles, Deb Grant, Don Letts, Emily Pilbeam, Gideon Coe, Gilles Peterson, Guy Garvey, Huw Stephens, Huey Morgan, Iggy Pop, Jamz Supernova, Lauren Laverne, Marc Riley, Mark Radcliffe, Mary Anne Hobbs, Nathan Shepherd, Nick Grimshaw, SHERELLE, Steve Lamacq, Stuart Maconie, Tom Ravenscroft, Tom Robinson and Zakia. SH8
