Your Apple Watch Can Now Identify Songs Without Opening Shazam, but Only Two Models Support This Clever New Feature

Hearing a song you like but not knowing its name is a familiar frustration. With Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4, you no longer have to open Shazam or ask Siri to identify it.

A new Music Recognition feature powered by Shazam automatically identifies songs playing nearby and displays their titles and artists in the Smart Stack.

Part of Apple’s Audio Intelligence features introduced with iOS 27, Music Recognition works in the background without requiring you to raise your wrist or manually start listening.

When a song is recognized, its details appear in the Smart Stack, which you can access by swiping up from the watch face or turning the Digital Crown.

A single tap lets you save the track to your Shazam history or Apple Music library.

Which Apple Watch Models Support Automatic Music Recognition?

The feature is exclusive to Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4.

You’ll also need a paired iPhone 11 or newer, or a second-generation iPhone SE or later, running iOS 27.

Older Apple Watch models can still identify songs manually using Shazam, but they don’t support automatic recognition through the Smart Stack.

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How to Enable Music Detection

Music Recognition is optional and must be enabled before it starts identifying nearby songs.

When the Music Recognition widget first appears in your Smart Stack, tap Enable Music Detection to activate it.

If the prompt doesn’t appear, you can enable the feature manually:

1. Open Settings on your Apple Watch.
2. Tap Smart Stack.
3. Turn on Music Detection.

Once enabled, your watch can automatically recognize nearby music.

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Does Apple Watch Record Everything It Hears?

Because Music Recognition continuously monitors nearby audio, privacy concerns are understandable.

Apple says the feature doesn’t record or store audio. Instead, incoming sound is processed in a protected buffer within the watch’s Secure Enclave.

The device generates an acoustic fingerprint and sends it to Shazam’s servers to identify the song. According to Apple, that fingerprint cannot be used to reconstruct the original audio.

Music Detection remains opt-in, so anyone uncomfortable with continuous background listening can leave it disabled or turn it off in Smart Stack settings.