Shazam is by far the smartest music discovery app. Whether you wish to identify the lyrics of songs or names of any TV shows or figure out mysterious music videos playing around you, this Apple-owned service has got you fully covered. With the introduction of macOS 14.2, Apple has deeply integrated it into Mac – pretty much in tune with iOS and iPadOS.
For a change, you no longer need to install the Shazam app on your Mac in order to trigger it from the menu bar, thanks to neat system-level music recognition. Now, you can Shazam music from Mac’s menu bar and Control Center by making a swift adjustment to the music recognition setting. Read on to learn how…
Add Shazam to Mac’s Menu Bar & Control Center
First and foremost, ensure that your Mac is running macOS Sonoma 14.2 or later. If your Mac is not running the supported version of the software, navigate to the System Settings app -> General -> Software Update. After that, check for the available macOS update and install it beforehand.
- Once you have updated your Mac, head over to the Apple menu at the upper-left corner of the screen.
- When the drop-down menu shows up, select the System Settings option.
- In the sidebar, choose Control Center.
- Next, head over to the Music Recognition section.
- After that, turn on the toggles next to Show in Menu Bar or Show in Control Center (Or, both as per your needs) and then quit the settings.
Voila! The iconic Shazam icon will start showing in the menu bar on your Mac. From now on, you can just click on this very icon to decipher any song playing around you.
If you ever don’t want to keep the Shazam icon in the menu bar, go back to the same music recognition section and then turn off the toggles next to Show in Menu Bar.
Wrapping up…
For those unfamiliar, Apple reportedly purchased Shazam for a whopping $400 million in 2018. After the high-profile acquisition, the Cupertino giant integrated the app into iOS and iPadOS as a super handy song-recognition function. Notably, iPhone/iPad users can trigger Shazam right from the Control Center and use it to decipher any song with utmost ease.
As someone who heavily relies on Shazam to identify songs and TV shows, I must say that it works like a charm. Once you give it a try, you will know why it’s rated so highly.
Read more: How to Stop Favorited Songs Being Added to Music Library on iPhone, iPad, and Mac
