Hey Google, What’s This Song? 7 Ways to Stream Music on Android

We’ve all been in that situation—whether it’s at a coffee shop, walking through the mall, or watching a show—where a great song grabs your attention, and you can’t get it out of your head. Fortunately, Android makes it easier than ever to customize your music, with a variety of built-in apps and apps at your disposal.

1 Use Google Search to Search for Song Information

If you have an Android phone supported by Circle to Search, you’re in luck. This cool feature is one of the fastest ways to identify a song without opening the app. By long-pressing on the navigation bar or home button, you will activate the Circle to Search feature. Next to the search bar, you’ll see a musical notes icon—tap it, and your phone will start playing music. Within seconds, it will identify the song playing near you.

But what if you don’t know the lyrics or don’t have a song playing nearby? This is where Google’s hum-to-search feature shines. You can sing or sing a part of a song stuck in your head, and Google will offer possible matches. It’s a lifesaver for those times when you can’t sing that song but can’t stop thinking about it!

2 Android’s Song Search Quick Settings Tile

The Song Search Quick Setting tile is a new way to find songs on Android. You can easily add this tile to your Quick Settings list for easy access. Once activated, simply scroll down to access your quick settings and tap the tile. This brings up Google’s music search interface, which displays dotted, earth-like animations while listening to music playing nearby.

The link is similar to the “Identify Song” button in the Google app, but with this feature, you don’t have to open the app itself. It’s a great way to get results with minimal effort, making it perfect when you’re in a hurry or don’t want to dig out your phone to launch an app.

3 Pixel’s Now Playing Feature – Quiet and Always Listening

For Pixel phone owners, the Now Playing feature is a real game changer. Unlike other ways to identify songs, Now Playing does not require an active internet connection. It works completely offline, listening to the sound around you and comparing it to a pre-installed music library, offline. When it detects a song, the name silently appears on your lock screen without any interaction from you.

What makes this feature even more powerful is that you can access your Now Playing history to see all the popular songs throughout the day. The history is searchable, so it’s just a quick search if you want to find a specific song. You can also favorite songs by tapping the heart icon next to any song in the history, making it easy to create a playlist of your favorite songs.

In addition, you can enable the search button on the lock screen, which allows you to identify songs playing near the device, which are not detected automatically. This is perfect for those rare times when Now Playing doesn’t hear a song, giving you full control over music discovery.

And don’t worry about privacy—everything happens locally on the device, except for audio sent to the cloud. It’s one of the most consistent and reliable ways to discover music, which makes it a favorite feature of many Pixel users, including myself.

4 Open the Google App and Hum, Whistle, or Sing a Song

This is one of the oldest ways to identify songs on Android, and although there are newer, faster methods, it is still a reliable option that you can always rely on. Whether the song isn’t playing in the background or you just have a tune in your head, the Google app can help. After clicking on the microphone icon, and then clicking the “Search song” button below, you can sing, whistle or sing a part of the song.

Google’s algorithm is very smart when it comes to similar songs. It gives you a list of possible tracks with a percentage close to each option, showing how likely the game is. I’ve used this method many times when I can’t remember a song, and it’s amazing how accurate it is—even with a little whistling!

5 Ask Google Assistant

Sometimes, simplicity is key, and Google Assistant offers one of the easiest ways to experience music. All you need to do is say, “Hey Google, what’s this song?” and Google Assistant will start listening to the music around you, which it knows immediately. This app works like the Google app, except you don’t need to open anything manually – just ask your Assistant, and you’ll get results in seconds.

The good thing is that Google Assistant also supports hum-to-search, so if a song isn’t playing, you can still hum or hum.

6 Use Google Gemini

If you’ve set Gemini as your default assistant on your phone instead of Google Assistant, it can still help you identify songs. However, Gemini doesn’t add any extra intelligence here – it just needs the help of Google Assistant to get the job done. So, when you ask Gemini to identify a song, it brings up Assistant in the background, and the song is recognized in the same way as if you used Google Assistant directly.

Although it’s another way to access the track’s identity feature, the process remains the same behind the scenes.

7 Turn to Alternatives

While Google tools are great for identifying music, Shazam and SoundHound are great options. Shazam is known for its rapid popularity and seamless integration with apps like Spotify and Apple Music, allowing you to add selected songs to your playlists. It also saves all your searches, so you can build a library of your favorite songs. With features like Auto Shazam, it can continue to listen and identify songs even in the background.

On the other hand, SoundHound shines in its ability to identify songs by singing, humming or whistling. Its voice-based search is great when a song isn’t playing nearby. It also integrates with YouTube and Spotify, allowing you to listen to full songs after uploading.

Both apps offer powerful tools that complement Google’s music discovery features, giving you more ways to discover music.

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Whether you’re at a party, watching a show, or have a great song in your head, discovering songs on Android has never been easier. Next time you’re wondering, ‘What song is this?’, you’ll know exactly what to do!