Shazam identifies a song by creating a unique digital fingerprint to match what you’re hearing with one of the millions of songs in the Shazam database.
Use the Shazam app
If you have the Shazam app installed on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac, you can use the app to identify music and save them to your library.
First trailer for SHAZAM! Turned out to be a sleeper hit for the DC Extended Universe when it dropped in 2019, earning a high Cinemascore and top ratings from Rotten Tomatoes. Zachary Levi starred as the titular DC.
- Open the Shazam app on your device.
- Tap or click the Shazam button to identify what’s playing around you.
When Shazam identifies the song, it’s saved in My Music, along with all your other previous Shazams.
After you identify a song, you can connect to Apple Music and other music services to listen to your Shazam.
If you don’t have an internet connection, the app still creates a unique digital fingerprint to match against the Shazam database the next time your device is connected to the internet. If a song can’t be identified, it will disappear from your pending Shazams.
Use Auto Shazam
To have Shazam automatically identify what’s playing around you, touch and hold (or double-click on Mac) the Shazam button . When Auto Shazam is on, Shazam matches what you’re hearing with songs in the Shazam database—even when you switch to another app. Shazam never saves or stores what it hears.
You can then find the Shazams identified with Auto Shazam in My Music, grouped together by date.
To turn off Auto Shazam, tap or click the Shazam button.
Use Shazam in Control Center on iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch
You can Shazam songs right from Control Center on your iPhone or on your iPad.* To add Shazam to Control Center, go to Settings > Control Center, then tap the Add button next to Music Recognition.
To identify songs from Control Center, tap the Shazam button to identify what's currently playing on your device or around you. Shazam can identify songs playing on your device even if you're using headphones.
* Requires iOS or iPad OS 14.2 or later.
More ways to identify music
- On iPhone or iPad, say “Hey Siri,” then ask what the song is.
- On iPhone or iPad, add the Shazam widget to identify music in the Today View.
- Use Shazam on your Apple Watch to Shazam tracks.
- To identify music from the menu bar of your Mac, get Shazam for Mac from the Mac App Store.
- On HomePod, say “Hey Siri, Shazam this song.”
- Use the Shazam It action to add music recognition to your Shortcuts.
See your previous Shazams
You can see your previous Shazams in the Shazam app on your device and online when you create a Shazam account.
- On iPhone or iPad, swipe up on the main Shazam screen to access My Music.
- On Mac, recent Shazams appear below the Shazam button.
- On Apple Watch, recent Shazams appear below the Shazam button, and are also saved to My Music on the paired iPhone.
- To access your Shazams on your other Apple devices and online at shazam.com/myshazam, you can save your Shazams in iCloud. This also ensures that you won't lose your Shazams if something happens to your device.
Change your settings
In the Shazam app, swipe up to My Music from the main Shazam screen, then tap the Settings button to adjust Shazam settings:
- Control Notifications from Shazam.
- To have Shazam automatically start listening when the app is opened, turn on “Shazam on app start.”
- Use iCloud to back up your Shazams.
Microphone settings on iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch
Shazam needs access to the microphone on your device to hear what you're listening to. On iPhone or iPad, open Settings, scroll down to the installed apps and tap Shazam, then turn on Microphone. If you don’t see an option for Microphone, you might have restrictions turned on for Privacy settings.
Get help
Learn more
- Use Shazam on Android devices.
- You can create a Shazam account to keep track of all your Shazams and view them on www.shazam.com/myshazam.
- In addition to Apple Music, you can connect Shazam to other services like Snapchat and Spotify.
- Learn about Shazam's Terms & Conditions.
- Learn about Shazam and privacy.
Shazam! turned out to be a sleeper hit for the DC Extended Universe when it dropped in 2019, earning a high Cinemascore and top ratings from Rotten Tomatoes.
Zachary Levi starred as the titular DC Comics hero who battled Sivana over the Eye of Sin. While updates for DC’s upcoming Black Adam movie have been feeding the fandom lately, it’s been a minute since anyone’s heard anything about Shazam! 2 — until now.
Lucy Liu was just cast in the superhero sequel.
Lucy Liu cast as villain in ‘Shazam!: Fury of the Gods’
Just when young Billy Batson thought he had time to rest and enjoy his family, more trouble is on the way. According to Deadline, Lucy Liu has been tapped to play Kalypso, sister of Helen Mirren’s Hespera.
Both characters are daughters of the mythological Titan Atlas, which means their powers have something in common with Shazam.
Atlas is one of the beings whose powers were imbued to Shazam, and in comic book lore, he’s had a few run-ins with the hero. Though Atlas typically minds his business because he’s busy holding up planet Earth, a version of “bad Shazam” once attacked him and beat him down.
Hespera is a character that doesn’t exist in the comics, but in mythology, there’s a deity with a similar name who was a guardian of Hera’s golden apples.
Little is known about Kalypso except for one storyline where Atlas wanted to attend her wedding. He asked Superman to stand in for him as Earth’s pillar, and the Man of Steel helped out.
It will be interesting to see where Kalypso and Hespera take things with Shazam as a villainous tag team. Might they have something to do with the caterpillar that spoke to Sivana at the end of part 1? Time will tell.
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‘Shazam! 2’ is slated for a 2023 release
Play Shazam
Levi and the majority of the original Shazam! cast are set to reprise their roles for the sequel. During the DC FanDome panel that happened in summer 2020, the cast and crew played coy about the next installment, and only spoke about the film for roughly five minutes.
The movie is due to arrive in summer 2023 with Sinbad in a mysterious role. His participation was announced during FanDome, but director David Sandberg would not elaborate how he fits into the plot.
These details are not stopping fans from theorizing that a few other DC characters could show up —including the all-powerful Black Adam.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson recently began production on the movie. And that’s one character who happens to be one of Shazam’s adversaries. He’s battled Billy Batson in the comics, and the two have a long history of being enemies/frenemies.
Play Shazam Cartoon
Could he make an appearance? He and a Justice League superhero or two may surprise fans in Shazam!, but it’s being kept under wraps. Black Adam is due to arrive in theaters in July 2022, almost one year before the Shazam! sequel.
Play Shazam On Alexa
Liu’s latest projects include Elementary, Why Women Kill, and Stage Mother. Fans can currently stream Shazam! on Amazon Prime, Apple TV or YouTube.