How To Fix Shazam Music Recognition Not Working (No Result)
Last updated on October 16th, 2022 at 04:07 pm
Posted in Bug Fixes by Mike on July 9, 2021
Shazam No Result error
Is Music Recognition not working on iPhone? Are you shazaming songs in iOS but the app returns a dull No Result notification, stating that ‘We were unable to find anything’. Is Shazam failing to recognize music every time no matter how popular or not a track is?
This is a music recognition issue that I’ve encountered while running the iOS 15 Public Beta 2. However, we’ve just received a bug report from reader Mark W. complaining about an identical problem in iOS 14.6.
How To Fix Music Recognition Not Working
If you’re encountering the same Shazam no result bug apply these tips to attempt to fix it:
Extra Fix: Shazam Microphone Selection (Manual)
If one of your iPhone microphones is not working you should set the microphone used for Shazams manually. The default setting is automatic and your device might try to identify songs using a faulty microphone. This will obviously lead to the music recognition not working error!
You can tweak this in the Shazam app. Go fir Settings -> Microphone -> [Select microphone]
Credits: Thanks Ella for sharing this tip in the comments section!
1. Reboot iPhone
The first troubleshooting sequence for such glitches implies force restarting your iPhone. A fresh reboot can filter out minor problems.
How to: Click and release Volume Up, followed by Volume Down and finally press & hold the Side Button until the screen turns black and the Apple logo is displayed. Be patient until device reboots. Type your passcode and try shazaming for a song one more time. Does it work?
2. Shazam Microphone Access
Also, check if by accident you or someone else haven’t messed up with the Shazam settings and have revoked the app’s access to your iPhone’s microphone.
How to: Go for Settings -> Shazam -> Microphone.
Additional Tip: Make sure that Cellular Data (Mobile Data) is enabled too, to allow Shazam to communicate with Apple’s servers when you’re not connected to a Wi-Fi hotspot. Nevertheless, Shazam should be able to work offline without problems.
Updated Fix:
3. Turn Sound Recognition ON
Tom has noticed that Shazam No Result banner shows up when the Sound Recognition feature is disabled. Not sure if this is a bug, or intended behavior, but until Apple fixes it proceed as follows:
- Open Settings and scroll for Accessibility.
- Tap on Sound Recognition, available in the Hearing section.
- Turn On Sound Recognition!
4. Reinstall Shazam
If Music Recognition still doesn’t work, your next option is to delete and re-install the Shazam app on your iPhone or iPad. In fact, a better option that provides the same results is to offload the app. This way you keep your shazams history and the rest of your data.
How to: Open Settings and browse for General -> iPhone Storage -> Shazam. Tap on Offload App. Select Offload App once again to confirm. Next, tap on Reinstall App.
5. Re-Add Music Recognition Toggle
In most cases when Shazam returns the No Result notification, the music recognition feature is accessed from the Control Center. Try to remove the toggle and add it back to see if it makes any difference.
How to: Go for Settings -> Control Center and tap the red ‘-‘ icon next to Music Recognition. Now, scroll for the More Controls section and add the toggle back.
6. Use Shazam Widget
If you reached this step and Music Recognition in Control Center is still not working you do have to wait for an upcoming software update that will address this bug.
However, you can still use your iPhone to recognize songs. Just bypass the Music Recognition toggle and open the Shazam app directly, or an even better workaround is to add a Shazam widget to the Home Screen!
How to:
- Long-press on the Home Screen to bring up the Edit mode.
- Tap the ‘+’ icon available in the top-left corner of the screen to bring up the widget gallery.
- Search for Shazam.
- Select widget size and tap on Add Widget.
- Position it in the desired Home Screen area and tap Done to finish.
Have you managed to fix Music Recognition not working on your iPhone? Did one of the above troubleshooting methods work? Share your feedback in the comments section.
Related: Did you know that you can get up to 5 months of free Apple Music subscription via Shazam?
Hello. I have this problem I tried everything in vain, music recognition won’t work. I even changed my phone. No problem on my ipad pro though. In my phones’s settings when i go to shazam the microphone toggle does not even appear to allow access.
Could this feature be restricted in your area? Where are you from?
I had this same problem and it didn’t work, but I went into my control center and pushed the music recognition and it worked then but it still didn’t work on the app.
Thanks for the feedback Anastasia. Have you tried to reboot your iPhone and see if it makes any difference?
Try changing the microphone setup inside the app from automatic to one of the others manually.
Inside the app -> settings -> microphone.
Worked for me! Turns out the back camera microphone was ruined and it probably chose to use it automatically.
Thanks for the tip Ella. I will add it as a troubleshooting step in the main content of the article.
How to save my playlist in case to reinstall Shazam. My device is android always Shazam make recognition of songs, but last time has stopped and never more worked There are another app like that works proparly?I don’t think so it will working again. Very disappointed
First, search the Google Play store and update Shazam if a new version is available.
Problem to recognize music in the app.
Hope shazam company solve the problem soon.
What iOS version are you running? Have you tried to Offload Shazam and reinstall in Settings -> General -> iPhone Storage -> Shazam.
I have found that if sound recognition is turned off by accident then it will not work. Note this is different to music recognition.
Thanks for the clarification Tom.
P.S.: Sound Recognition is available in Settings -> Accessibility -> Sound Recognition.
This worked for me a right treat, thank you very much Tom. I was pulling my hair out. I do remember briefly messing with sound recognition for some reason. But as soon as I switched it off as Tom describes above, Shazam returned in all its glory with no “no result” messages returning every second I switched the Shazam button. Thanks so much, the only bad thing was having carried out everything else, even the full deletion and reinstall, I lost all my Shazam history etc, but hey, at least it’s back. This fix where Shazam and Sound recognition should both be able to operate at the same time, should be a concern and urgent fix for both Apple and Shazam at the earliest opportunity. Cheers again Tom
Thanks for confirming this fix Jon. I’ve updated it in the main content of the article, to make it more accessible for new readers. Thanks again for your contribution.
Hy is Shazam working only on Wifi and not mobile data connection and how do I change it back
Thanks for reporting. Is Cellular Data enabled in Settings -> Shazam -> Cellular Data?
Ella’s fix worked for me after trying a few of the others. Go to your Shazam app, tap on ‘my music’, then the gear icon on top left of screen – scroll down to microphone
I switched to ‘front camera’ because I know from recorded videos this microphone worked
It’s time saving to do this first!!
Thanks for confirming Glenn. We’ll update it as a primary fix.
Hi there! I just wanted to mention that my Shazam only works with wifi or cellular data, but doesn’t work when it’s offline and when I don’t have any network connection. I also tried all your tips but still got disappointed.
Thanks for reporting. That’s how Shazam is supposed to work. If you shazam when you’re offline the song will be saved for identification when your device returns back online. Aren’t you getting the same?