Click to Skip Ad
Closing in...

Viral TikTok video reveals a hidden iPhone trick that has Apple fans freaking out

Published Mar 2nd, 2021 10:54AM EST
iPhone Tricks
Image: Apple

If you buy through a BGR link, we may earn an affiliate commission, helping support our expert product labs.

  • iOS 14 makes it easy to quickly figure out what song is playing in the background by adding a Shazam icon to the Control Center screen.
  • The little workaround is a lot easier to access than invoking Shazam via Siri.
  • Most people are totally unaware of this iPhone feature, which is why a new viral TikTok video has Apple fans flipping out.

TikTok of all places is becoming quite the repository for somewhat obscure, and yet pretty awesome, iPhone tips and tricks. The latest example is likely an iPhone trick you haven’t heard of yet, if only because it didn’t become possible until Apple released iOS 14.2 late last year.

The trick in question allows users to quickly identify what song is playing in the background by activating Shazam from within the Control Center. And sure, Shazam is already baked into Siri, but I’ve always found that activating Shazam that way was a bit cumbersome. With the ability to add Shazam functionality directly to the Control Center, it’s now easier than ever to figure out what song is playing in the background or even on a TikTok video.

To get started, open up the Settings app on your iPhone. From there, select Control Center and keep on scrolling until you see an option for Music Recognition. Once you find it, tap the green plus sign and you’ll now see a Shazam icon conveniently located in your Control Center.

From there, accessing it is pretty easy and convenient. Whenever you hear a song you need to know the name off, all you have to do is swipe down from the top-right of your iPhone screen and hit the Shazam icon. Following that, Shazam will scour its music library and let you know what ditty happens to be playing in the background. Naturally, users will then have the ability to open up the song in Apple Music or Spotify if that happens to be your music player of choice. All in all, it’s pretty seamless and is a feature all music lovers should be aware of.

A quick TikTok video showing how it’s all done can be seen below:

@ios14tipstrend

Your welcome #epic #iphone #trending #trendy #trend #life #hack #lifehack #lifehacks #amazing #cool #wow #trick #tutorial #fyp #fy #iphonetricks

♬ The Banjo Beat, Pt. 1 – Ricky Desktop

One thing I’ve been wondering as of late is why Apple these days has a penchant for releasing any number of new features that don’t come to light unless you scour the internet for the latest additions to iOS betas.

Sure, Apple’s iOS homepage touches on many of the bigger features that come along with new iOS updates. That said, a quick perusal of TikTok reveals that there are not only dozens of incredible tips and tricks lurking beneath the surface, but also a huge interest among iOS users in learning about them. I’m sure it’s not a priority for Apple in the slightest, but it might not be a bad idea for the company to make a list of some of the lesser-known iOS tips and tricks out there so that users can take advantage of everything iOS has to offer.

Yoni Heisler Contributing Writer

Yoni Heisler has been writing about Apple and the tech industry at large with over 15 years of experience. A life long expert Mac user and Apple expert, his writing has appeared in Edible Apple, Network World, MacLife, Macworld UK, and TUAW.

When not analyzing the latest happenings with Apple, Yoni enjoys catching Improv shows in Chicago, playing soccer, and cultivating new TV show addictions.