The feature does more than track nearby music; it also lets you quickly find the songs it has recently identified for you on your favorite music streaming service. That catchy summer song you heard while visiting Europe will be available in the Now Playing app so that you can listen to it on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, or another streaming service.
The Now Playing app works similarly to Shazam, one of Apple’s brands, which also keeps a history of all the music tracks it has identified over time. The difference is that iPhone users have had access to Shazam history through the standalone Shazam app for years. Once Now Playing is enabled, the feature will automatically identify songs playing in the background on Pixel phones, without requiring another manual search. The standalone app will list these songs in chronological order.
The Now Playing process takes place entirely on the device. Google has developed a machine learning algorithm that creates a small audio fingerprint and compares it to a localized database of thousands of songs. This database is regularly updated to include new leads. Now Playing works without an Internet connection or sending data to Google servers.
How to access the current playing history
Google rolled out the new Now Playing app in March 2026 as part of the larger Pixel Drop, which brought new features to Pixel devices. Now Playing is an optional standalone app that users must download from Google Play to start browsing their history. Once downloaded, the app will allow users to browse the history log, save favorites, and delete items. Users will be able to listen to their favorites from the Now Playing history on the music streaming services of their choice. You will need to tap the Settings menu to connect a music service to the app.
Google launched the original Now Playing feature with the Pixel 2, and it’s been available on every Pixel model released since. However, the standalone Now Playing app will not work with all Pixel models released since 2017. Users will need a Pixel 6 or later running the March 2026 Pixel Drop software update to install and use the Now Playing app. Since Now Playing is a Pixel-exclusive feature, the Now Playing app will not be available on other Android phones or iPhones.
Much like the original Now Playing feature, the standalone app works primarily passively on the device. However, the app will also connect to the cloud to find a song that’s not in your phone’s database or request more information about the track. Google states in a support document that Now Playing protects users’ privacy through “privacy-preserving analytics.”
A better way to discover music
The downside of the Now Playing feature, as it launched in 2017, is that it attempts to identify all songs playing nearby. Auto-identification may not be necessary because you can recognize many of your favorite songs. Additionally, the more songs Now Playing identifies, the larger the Now Playing app history log will be. Now that the standalone app exists, users can turn off the Now Playing feature to prevent it from automatically cataloging music and use the Now Playing app to identify new tracks only when they play nearby.
This manual approach allows users to organize their Now Playing history better and ensures that the app saves only songs of particular interest to them. In other words, Now Playing would work like the Shazam app on iPhone, which can only record tracks you manually search for when Auto Shazam is turned off. To search for songs in the Now Playing app, you can tap the screen to start a new search or use the Now Playing option in Quick Settings. A lock screen widget and shortcut are also available for Pixel users for quick searches while playing.
