{"id":915,"date":"2025-02-18T01:18:37","date_gmt":"2025-02-18T01:18:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.batterymap.co.nz\/blog\/?p=915"},"modified":"2025-02-18T01:18:37","modified_gmt":"2025-02-18T01:18:37","slug":"google-pixels-hidden-music-identification-feature-is-broken-and-fans-arent-happy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.batterymap.co.nz\/blog\/2025\/02\/18\/google-pixels-hidden-music-identification-feature-is-broken-and-fans-arent-happy\/","title":{"rendered":"Google Pixel\u2019s hidden music identification feature is broken \u2014 and fans aren\u2019t happy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Now Playing may have been busted for months, with no fix in sight<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Woman<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

(Image credit: Google)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the most useful hidden features in Google\u2019s Pixel phones is the \u201cNow Playing\u201d function. When enabled, it can detect any music playing nearby, and display song information on your lock screen. Unfortunately, users are reporting that the feature has been broken for months, with no news on when that might change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some Pixel owners have been discussing this issue at great length over onReddit, with the original poster expressing confusion as to why theirPixel 6<\/a>was only able to recognize two songs throughout a four-hour road trip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

>>>GMSB3 Battery for Google Pixel 6<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Others have chimed in with their own experiences, including noting that thePixel 9 Prosuffers the same issues \u2014 “horrendously bad compared to earlier iterations.” Another lamented the fact that Now Playing has lost its reliability, and “doesn\u2019t show up half the time,” plus a few choice words we can\u2019t repeat here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response to this, one Redditor mentioned that the Now Playing icon is often missing from the lock screen, but songs are still being listed in the history. I\u2019ve never used Now Playing, instead preferring to be old-school with my music identification \u2014 opting for apps like Shazam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I did give Now Playing a go on my Pixel 9 Pro. It mostly worked, but I will caveat with the fact that it wasn\u2019t perfectly seamless. Not to mention the fact I have no idea how good Now Playing was in the past, which Reddit users clearly do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What I found was that Now Playing was able to identify big name artists and songs, but struggled with smaller ones \u2014 including cover bands that are all the rage on my YouTube feed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So while my Pixel could identify the likes of AC\/DC or The Weeknd, it got a number of smaller YouTubers completely wrong. Assuming it was able to identify them at all. Now Playing was also pretty slow to update, and needed a good 30-60 seconds of music to update the lockscreen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Granted I\u2019ve only just set the feature up, and only just downloaded Now Playing\u2019s music database to my phone. From what people on variousReddit threadsare saying, the problems only arose after a period of frequent use. Whether Now Playing simply gives up after a while, or if I\u2019m just on a lucky streak, isn’t clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Android Authoritynotes that Google did release an update to Android System Intelligence to fix some of the problems last month \u2014 promising “bug fixes and improvements to Pixel Now Playing Album Art feature.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

>>>GWRL2 Battery for Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, that doesn\u2019t seem to have fixed the problem. Other users have recommended clearing the System Intelligence cache, which can be done inSettings > Apps > All Apps > Android System Intelligence > Storage & Cache > Clear cache.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If that doesn\u2019t work, then there isn\u2019t much more that can be done until Google tackles the problem with a future update. In the meantime you may just need to rely on other music identification apps like Shazam, or by asking Google Assistant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Now Playing may have been busted for months, with no fix in sight (Image credit: Google) One of the most useful hidden features in Google\u2019s Pixel phones is the \u201cNow Playing\u201d function. When enabled, it can detect any music playing nearby, and display song information on your lock screen. Unfortunately, users are reporting that the … Continue reading Google Pixel\u2019s hidden music identification feature is broken \u2014 and fans aren\u2019t happy<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-google"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.batterymap.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.batterymap.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.batterymap.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.batterymap.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.batterymap.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=915"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.batterymap.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":916,"href":"https:\/\/www.batterymap.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915\/revisions\/916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.batterymap.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.batterymap.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.batterymap.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}