RAYMOND OGLESBY @RaymondOglesby2
June 23, 2026 – 4 minutes read time
Overview
Ever listen to the radio and wonder what band recorded it, or the name of the song? Siri can help! In the past, you could ask Siri to identify music playing on your device; now, you can ask Siri to identify any ambient music. And, conveniently, Siri makes it easy to purchase the song or album.
Be sure Siri is setup before trying these steps, or this tip will not work. To set up and activate Siri, click here.
Also: A lot of people want to know how to find a song by humming. We tried humming a couple of songs using the “Hey Siri, what song is this?” feature, but they were not recognized.
When you hear a song you want identified, you can ask, “Hey Siri, what song is this?”, “Siri, what song is playing?”, or “Hey Siri, who sings this song?” Siri responds with “Hang on, let me listen….” Then, Siri uses the Shazam music recognition app to find the artist and song title, as well as an image from the album cover, and the option to purchase the song from Apple Music.
Key Takeaways
- Use the Shazam music recognition app via Siri to recognize music hands-free.
- Say, “Hey Siri, what song is this?” and get an answer almost every time.
- Purchase the song Siri recognized from Apple Music to add it to your library.
System Requirements
This tip was tested on an iPhone 17 Pro running iOS 26.5. For this tip to work, you must be running iOS 26.5 or greater!
Click here to learn how to update your iPhone to the latest iOS version.
Using Siri to Identify a Song
First, after you ask Siri what song is playing, you will see the Rainbow circle indicating Siri is listening, and “Hang on, let me listen…” (or “Listening…” or something similar) somewhere on your screen. Refer to the image below:
Next, you will see the Shazam icon and “Listening… “ at the top of the screen. See the image below:
Now, if Siri was able to recognize your song, you will see the title, artist(s), and an Apple Music icon at the top of the page. See the following image:
Next, tap the Apple Music icon to purchase the song. Refer to the image below::
Now you know how to use the “Hey Siri, what song is this?” feature to identify music. You know, sometimes Apple provides us with neat features!
Disclaimer
TexTechnology is constantly evolving, and smartphone and desktop tech rarely remains static. Therefore, the information in this post is only accurate as of the date it was written. Blog posts that are older than six months may contain instructions that are no longer compatible with your device or operating system. We hope that the content from previous posts continues to function as intended. Thank you for reading TechSavvy.Life, where technology works for you.t
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