Google plans to give Now Playing its own dedicated app. Now Playing is the feature on Pixel phones that automatically identifies songs playing around you without any input from you.
The feature works like Shazam, but it runs constantly in the background. When it hears a song, it shows the title and artist on your lock screen. Your phone keeps a history of every track it identifies.
The important difference from Shazam is that Now Playing processes everything on your device. No audio gets sent to Google’s servers. The identification happens locally using an on-device database of song fingerprints.
Right now, Pixel users access Now Playing through Android System Intelligence. This is the same system component that powers Live Caption and Smart Text Selection. It runs as a background service rather than a standalone app you can open from your home screen.
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Moving Now Playing into its own app would make the feature more visible and easier to manage. You’d have a dedicated place to browse your song history, adjust settings, and control how the feature works. Currently, these options are in system settings, where most people don’t think to look for them.
Google Now Playing app
Recent code changes show Google is building Now Playing as a standalone app. 9to5Google found code strings that tell users to “download the new Now Playing app” and send them to the Play Store.
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Your song history, settings, and playback controls will be moved into this dedicated app instead of staying in system settings. Testers have also spotted a new icon in development builds. This suggests Google is doing more than just changing the interface.
We don’t know yet if the Now Playing app will be exclusive to Pixel phones or extend to other Android devices. Google hasn’t made any official announcements.
Based on the code findings, some observers expect the app to launch with a Pixel Feature Drop in March. That timing lines up with Google’s usual quarterly update schedule, but nothing is confirmed yet.
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A standalone Now Playing app gives Google more flexibility. They can push updates directly through the Play Store instead of waiting for full Android system updates. This means faster bug fixes, design improvements, and new features.
The app structure also makes it easier to add functionality over time. When Now Playing is buried in Android System Intelligence, any changes require careful coordination with core system components. A separate app removes those constraints.
In related news, Google restarted the Android 17 beta rollout for Pixel phones. The company paused the update earlier because of a bug that caused problems for some users. That issue has been fixed, and the beta is now available again for people who were blocked from installing it during the pause.
