How to add Shazam to your Mac’s menu bar and Control Center
Apple acquired Shazam in December 2017 and has gradually been integrating it across all its platforms. In iOS 14.2, for example, Apple added a dedicated Control Center widget on iPhone for Shazam. That same functionality is now available on the Mac.
With macOS Sonoma 14.2 beta 2, you can now add Shazam to your Mac’s menu bar or Control Center via System Settings. How odd that the feature came with version “14.2” of each platform, three years apart. I still can’t believe the Mac is younger than the iPhone.
Just open the System Settings app, choose “Control Center” in the sidebar, and look for the new “Music Recognition” section. Here, you’ll find two toggles for Shazam: one for the menu bar and another for Control Center.
Previously, Shazam could be added to your Mac’s menu bar using the dedicated Shazam app for macOS. You could also ask Siri on the Mac to identify what song is playing. Now, it’s built-in natively to macOS Sonoma outside of Siri as well.
WIth the Shazam menu bar icon, you can view a history of previously-identified songs. Clicking on the album art opens that song in the Music app. Clicking anuwhere else takes you to the Shazam website.
macOS 14.2 is expected to be released to the general public sometime later this year.
