That may seem strange given that Apple bought Shazam back in 2018, but it’s a probably a reflection of the fact that iOS keeps a tighter leash on apps than Android. Annoyingly, though, the update is unavailable on the iOS version of the app.

We tested out Pop-up Shazam on an Android device with a range of apps including Spotify and YouTube and it worked just fine.

From left to right: the new dialogue in the app Pop-up Shazam working in split screen and floating on top of a foreground app. Users can enable this feature in the app’s Settings. It bubbles to the top of your current screen, and once it identifies a song it can show the lyrics as well. When identifying music this way, Pop-up Shazam appears like a floating chat icon in your phone’s UI. A new feature called Pop-up Shazam in the latest Android version of the app works with audio played through headphones with Shazam working in the background. Instead, users have to play the song through internal speakers or find a way to direct the sound to their phone or tablet’s microphone. But one big annoyance has been the software’s inability to ‘hear’ music playing through a device’s headphones. Shazam can be an incredibly useful app, able to identify songs and find lyrics for them just by listening to the audio.

Audio playing through mic