Now Playing is a staple of the Google Pixel experience. This song identification experience is built into your Pixel phone and got a major overhaul this year, including becoming a standalone app and adding updated UI elements.
The tool hasn’t been without its criticism, though. For instance, users weren’t fans of Google removing the useful silent notification for identified songs earlier this year. Recently surfaced evidence suggested it could make a comeback imminently, and it looks like the day is finally here.
According to a user on Reddit, the notifications are finally back for Now Playing song identifications, with another user in the comments concurring (via Android Authority).
But it’s not widely available yet
I’m not seeing it on my Pixel phone, and another user in the comments seems to be in the same boat. This suggests the feature is rolling out gradually to some users, though it shouldn’t be long before it’s widely available. In the meantime, it shouldn’t hurt to check for an update on the Play Store and/or force-stop the app via Settings to see if the feature is active.
Google removed the ability to receive silent notifications and seemingly replaced it with the Quick Settings tile when it turned Now Playing into a standalone app. This Quick Settings experience still exists and vibrates your Pixel device whenever it identifies a song, while showing the song and artist’s name on the tile itself.
While there’s a lot to love about Now Playing, it hasn’t always been perfect. Another feature that went missing shortly after the major Now Playing transition was the ability to manually search for a song from the lock screen. However, Google quickly fixed this in a subsequent update.
It has been a largely smooth ride for Now Playing since its arrival nearly a decade ago with the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL. While it may look very different today, especially following the significant redesign earlier this year, its functioning hasn’t changed a great deal. However, the fact that some of the existing features tend to break when a new one is introduced is incredibly frustrating as a user.
If you’re among those who have missed Now Playing’s ability to display identified songs in the notifications pane, its return should be welcome news. Are you seeing this particular feature in Now Playing? Let us know in the comments below.
