What you need to know
- Google appears to be planning to release a useful update to the Pixel phones' music discovery feature.
- The Now Playing feature could pick up a new tab for your favorite songs in the future.
- It also means the feature's bottom bar could get a redesign once it is rolled out.
Google added a feature to the Pixel 2 series that allows the Pixel devices to recognize songs that are playing nearby. While the feature automatically displays the title of a mystery song on your lock screen, there is currently no simple way to keep track of music you might want to listen to again later.
That could change in a future update to the Shazam-like feature. 9to5Google has spotted new evidence in the Android System Intelligence that indicates a new favorites tab is on its way to Google's Pixel phones. Android System Intelligence is designed to manage your Pixel phone's smart functions including Live Translate, Now Playing, and more.
An app teardown reveals that Google is working on the upcoming redesign. When this change is implemented, the bottom bar of Pixel's music discovery feature will have two tabs. This means the current reverse-chronological feed will become the History tab.
Every song that shows up in the History tab will be accompanied by a heart icon sitting next to it. You can choose to have that entry added to your Favorites list by just tapping the heart icon. Alternatively, you can tap the note next to the song title on your lock screen or simply tap the heart icon in a Now Playing notification in order to include a song in your Favorites.
It's unclear when the new tab will appear in the feature's bottom bar. Having said that, 9to5Google claims to have enabled Favorites in the latest version of Android System Intelligence for the Pixel 6. It's possible that the dedicated tab will first appear on Google's best Android phones released this year.
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