All articles tagged with #now playing
Apple's iOS 27 developer beta adds a swipe-to-dismiss option for the Now Playing widget on the Lock Screen, which also hides it from Dynamic Island; there’s no simple, universal way to re-enable it immediately, and behavior can vary by app and playback state (e.g., Overcast vs YouTube).
Google’s Now Playing feature is now available as a standalone Pixel app featuring a modern three-tab UI (Now Playing, History, Favorites) and a refreshed Home screen tile, but it’s currently limited to Pixel 10 devices running Android 17 beta and won’t work on older Pixels yet, with a broader rollout to other devices likely in the future.
Google has turned Now Playing into a standalone Pixel app on the Play Store, moving it out of Settings to enable faster updates and greater visibility. The app still identifies songs entirely on-device using a fingerprint database (no audio is sent to the cloud), and Google is testing a refreshed UI with clearer album art and easier navigation between the song history and recognition features.
Google has released an official Now Playing music-identification app on Google Play for Pixel devices, currently limited to the Pixel 10 series (notably Pixel 10 Pro on Android 17 beta). The app features a polished UI, lets you identify songs, save favorites, and quickly link to music services, with optional cloud search for more results; rollout to other Pixel devices appears gradual.
Android Canary's latest update introduces a new 'Now Playing' lock screen shortcut, allowing quick access to song identification features directly from the lock screen, enhancing user convenience on Pixel devices.
Google Pixel devices are set to receive a new Quick Settings tile for the Now Playing feature, allowing users to manually identify songs on demand, enhancing the current automatic detection and lock screen options. This update, found in Android System Intelligence, is not yet live but promises to improve user experience by making song identification more accessible and intuitive.
An APK teardown suggests Google is developing a Now Playing Quick Settings tile for Pixel phones, allowing users to manually identify music tracks, a feature that has been missing from the passive automatic detection currently available. This addition would provide a more flexible way to use Now Playing, especially for users experiencing issues with automatic detection.
YouTube Music is testing a new gradient background for its Now Playing feature. Currently, the background color is derived from the album artwork, but the new design features a gradient that starts with more color at the top and fades to a darker shade at the bottom. The white buttons for play/pause, next/back, shuffle, and repeat now stand out more against the new background. Other UI tweaks include floating gray text for Up Next, Lyrics, and Related, and the removal of the pull tab indicator for opening the queue. The new design is currently being tested on YouTube Music for Android.
YouTube Music has added a Song details section in the Related feed, displaying album, artist, title, views, release year, and likes. Tapping the cover art opens the full album page, making it easier to access information like the year and album name. This update aligns with the web player's display of album and year in the miniplayer and compensates for the removal of the "Playing from" line in the Now Playing redesign. The feature has rolled out to YouTube Music for Android and iOS.
Spotify has redesigned the "Your Library" and "Now Playing" interfaces of its desktop app to make them more aligned with its smartphone app. The new library helps users save time by providing a better overview, while making it easier to switch between playlists. The "Now Playing" view takes up the right-hand side of the app, showing the currently playing song or podcast. The desktop app revamp began rolling out on Tuesday and will eventually make its way to all users over the next week.
Spotify has updated its desktop app with a new user interface and upgraded library features, including the recently-launched "Your Library" feature, a "Now Playing" view with artist information and merchandise links, and the ability to collapse the library for a compact view. The update also includes a refreshed design to match the mobile app and is available to all desktop users worldwide.
Spotify has updated its desktop app with redesigned interfaces for "Your Library" and "Now Playing" to align with its mobile app. The new changes allow users to explore, browse, and organize their libraries like they do on the mobile app. The update provides more context and quicker access to personal favorites. The new interfaces will begin rolling out to all desktop users worldwide starting today. Additionally, Trevor Noah is launching a new weekly original podcast on the streaming service later this year.
YouTube Music is testing a new carousel-focused redesign of Now Playing, which includes actions like thumbs up/down, Save, Share, Download, and Radio. The timeline scrubber is lower on the screen, and the play/pause button is now white instead of being themed. The new design could replace the YouTube Music overflow menu, which has become unwieldy. Few users currently have access to the redesign, which was previously rolled back in January.
Google Pixel's Now Playing feature will soon have a dedicated stats page that will display genres, most heard songs and artists, and a graph depicting when you most commonly hear music around you. The feature's release date is unknown, but it is expected to be included in the next Pixel Feature Drop or Android 14 public release.
Google is expanding its "Now Playing" feature on Pixel phones to include a new "Summary" page that breaks down songs you've heard. The Summary page will be able to pull information from statistics on what your phone has identified and categorize that information by genre, artist, and frequency at which you've heard certain songs. It will also be able to break down when your phone hears the most music during the course of a day, and the summary uses data from the past 30 days. The feature was found in an Android 14 build, but it's unclear when it will be officially released.