The latest iPhone models offer plenty of built-in apps and tools that can simplify users' workflows. One of the handy features I use on my iPhone 15 Pro Max is Music Recognition. This utility lets you identify songs playing around you and go directly to their Apple Music listings without needing to install any apps. Music Recognition on iPhone can be triggered in two main ways, and we will be detailing them in this guide.

Why you may not want to install dedicated apps to identify music

iPhone 14 Pro Max showing Home Screen held in hand

Plenty of music recognition apps are available on iOS 17, such as Shazam and SoundHound. However, some users may not have sufficient space on their iPhones to install these dedicated applications. That's not to mention that minimalists who rarely care about identifying music playing around them may not justify installing an app. Regardless of your reasons, you can identify songs playing around you without installing any apps by following the steps below.

How to identify music using your iPhone's Control Center

iOS allows you to add a Control Center toggle to identify music playing around you. The feature is simple to use and only requires setting up once. To take advantage of it, follow the steps below:

  1. Launch the Settings app.
  2. Click on Control Center.
  3. Scroll down and click the plus icon (+) next to Music Recognition.
  4. Now, the Music Recognition toggle will be added to your Control Center.
  5. Tap it to scan for music playing around you.
  6. A notification will appear with the song's name if it identifies any.
  7. You can click the Apple Music button on the notification to go to its listing.
  8. Clicking and holding the Music Recognition toggle in the Control Center will show a history of previously identified music tracks. If you enable iCloud sync, the history will also be reflected on your other iDevices.

How to identify songs using Siri

If you'd rather not add the Music Recognition toggle to your Control Center, Siri can also recognize songs playing around you. Simply follow these steps:

  1. Trigger Siri by holding the Side button or saying Hey Siri.
  2. Ask What's this song? and wait for it to identify it.
  3. If it finds any matches, it'll display the song's name with a link to its Apple Music listing.

The Music Recognition feature on iOS is useful

Being able to identify music without installing any apps on an iPhone is quite handy. You can utilize this feature if you're low on storage and don't have enough space to install an app like Shazam. The feature is as accurate as the Apple-owned Shazam app, since they're both powered by the same backend. And thanks to the history feature in the Music Recognition toggle, you can easily track previously identified songs and access them.