Google Assistant Can Now Recognize Songs

Google Assistant is now able to identify songs that are currently playing out loud. The new feature was made available this Tuesday through a software update and should work on any Android smartphone that has Google Assistant enabled.

One of the new features that Google introduced on its Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 flagship Android smartphones was the ability to recognize songs even when users are offline. Google also promised during the Pixel 2 launch that a similar feature would be made available to other Android smartphones through Google Assistant.

Now, it looks like the search engine giant has delivered on it promise as the feature appears to be already available on some Android smartphones, as first discovered by 9To5Google. While music is playing aloud, users can simply ask Google Assistant “what song is this?” or other similar queries and it will bring up a card showing the title and artist of the song. Google Assistant will also provide users with links to access the song on YouTube, Google Play Music and Spotify. There’s also a link to quickly make a Google search for that song.

The feature functions similarly to how the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL are able to identify songs, but with one major difference: the feature on the Pixel 2 also works passively. The Pixel 2 is always listening even when it’s sleeping and is able to show a song’s title and artist on the Always On Display. This also works even when the Pixel 2 is offline.

The addition of the music ID feature on Google Assistant may not be as convenient as the one found on the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL, but it does make the digital assistant on smartphones more useful. So far, the new feature is confirmed to be working on both the original Pixel smartphone and the new Pixel 2.

There’s no word yet on how many devices can take advantage of Google Assistant’s new music ID feature. Android Authority pointed out that it may become available on other smartphones in the next few days as Google appears to be still rolling out the update. The feature also appears to be only working for the English version of Google Assistant. It remains unclear if the feature will only be available for the United States or if it will be available worldwide.

Android smartphone users should try it out to know if the feature is already available to them. Users should also be on the lookout for the new “What’s this song?” suggestion on the Google Assistant carousel. If that is present in the suggestions, the feature should already be available for them. Tapping on the “What’s this song” suggestion will also let Google Assistant take a listen to the song that’s playing. This is an alternative method of triggering the new feature without having to use a voice command.

In other news, Google has released the November security update for the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL. The update fixes the weird clicking noises that are affecting a number of Pixel 2 units and it also delivers a new saturated color mode to make colors on the OLED display more vibrant.