Song ID and Auto Shazam in Macdio: Name Songs on Any Station

In Macdio, Song ID names the song a station is playing: press the Shazam button in the player and Macdio matches a short fingerprint of the stream against Apple’s Shazam catalog, then shows the title, artist and cover. Auto Shazam (on Apple TV it is called “Auto Identify Songs”) does the same on its own whenever a station sends no song information. Both work on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV and Apple Watch, Song ID also works in CarPlay, and neither one uses the microphone.

For other ways to name a song, read what song is playing on the radio.

1. Play a station and tap the mini player to open the full player.
2. Tap the Shazam button next to the heart.
3. Wait a few seconds while the artwork shows “Identifying…”.
4. When the song appears, tap the heart if you want to keep it.

Device	Where the button is	What it looks like
iPhone, iPad	Full player, next to the heart	Shazam logo (VoiceOver: “Identify song with Shazam”)
Mac	Player panel and compact player	Shazam logo, tooltip “Identify current song with Shazam”
Apple TV	“Now Playing” tab	“Identify”
Apple Watch	Player screen	Shazam logo
CarPlay	Now Playing screen	Shazam logo

On Apple TV and Apple Watch the label moves through “Listening” and “Checking” to “Found!” or “No Match”. In CarPlay the answer appears under the title (see the CarPlay guide). A press works while the player is paused too, because Macdio reads the audio you already heard. On iPhone, iPad and Mac, the X button of a game controller runs Song ID by default (game controllers).

When a station sends the artist, the title and the song’s own cover, Macdio treats that as correct and dims the button. The Mac tooltip then says “The station already provides song info”, and CarPlay answers “This station shows its own titles”. A cover Macdio found by itself does not count, so on those stations the button stays available.

When a station sends the artist and title but no cover, Song ID can run, but the station’s text stays: a match for a different song is dropped, and a match with the same artist only lends its cover. When a station sends only a slogan, or a title with no artist, a press replaces that text with the match.

Every song Song ID finds goes into Recently Heard. Nothing is saved on its own: to keep a song, tap the heart in the player.

• iPhone and iPad: the “Tracks” tab, with “Recently Heard” and “Saved” sections. On iPhone, if you picked another tab in Settings > Appearance > “Tab Bar”, Tracks is under More.
• Mac: “Tracks” in the bar at the top of the main window, on a page titled “Saved Tracks”.
• Apple TV: the “Saved Tracks” tab.
• Apple Watch: “Saved Songs” in the library.

Recently Heard keeps up to 750 songs on iPhone, iPad and Mac (on the device that heard them), 200 on Apple TV and 50 on Apple Watch. Saved songs travel between your devices through iCloud when iCloud Sync is on, and the watch gets them from the iPhone (see favorites, lists and sync).

Turn on “Love Songs in Apple Music” (iPhone and iPad: Settings, Apple Music section; Mac: Settings > General; Apple TV: Settings), or “Love in Apple Music” on the watch. Each song you heart is then added to your Apple Music library and marked as loved. It needs an Apple Music subscription, and songs missing from the Apple Music catalog are skipped. Removing a song from Saved Tracks never deletes it from your Apple Music library.

Device	Setting	Default
iPhone, iPad	Settings > Playback > “Auto Shazam”	Off
Mac	Settings > General > “Auto Shazam”	Off
Apple TV	Settings > “Auto Identify Songs”	Off
Apple Watch	Settings > “Auto Shazam”	On

Each device has its own switch, and the setting does not sync. On iPhone and iPad the first attempt starts as soon as you turn it on; on the Mac it starts with the next song or station change. CarPlay follows the iPhone. On Apple Watch, “Only on Wi-Fi” is on as well: automatic attempts then skip cellular and Low Data Mode connections, and they only name stations that send no song text at all. The Shazam button on the watch player works on any connection (radio on Apple Watch).

Auto Shazam runs only while a station plays, and skips podcast episodes, recordings, and stations that already send the artist, title and cover.

• After a match it waits until the song should be over, using the song’s length from Apple’s iTunes catalog (about three and a half minutes when the length is unknown), then listens again.
• On a station where nothing has matched yet, it tries every 60 seconds for five tries, then every 5 minutes, until something matches or you change station.
• Automatic attempts are never closer than 12 seconds apart, and nothing is captured while you are paused.

An automatic match never replaces station text it disagrees with; it may only add the cover.

Once a song has a name, Macdio looks for its lyrics on LRCLIB, and timed lyrics follow the music line by line. Song ID knows how far into the song you tuned in, so the lyrics start on the right line even mid-song. Open them with the lyrics button at the bottom left of the iPhone and iPad full player, “Show Lyrics” in the Mac player panel, or “Lyrics” in Apple TV Now Playing. Apple Watch and CarPlay have no lyrics. See synced lyrics.

• Song ID needs an internet connection, and every attempt uses a little data.
• It is hidden while a podcast episode plays.
• If you paused with Live Pause and are more than about two and a half minutes behind live, Song ID waits until you are back near live.
• The Mac menu bar player has no Song ID button, and there is no Siri phrase for it.

No. Macdio makes a short fingerprint of the stream it is already playing and sends only that fingerprint to Apple’s Shazam catalog. The app never asks for microphone permission, so the phone can stay in your pocket.

The station already sends the artist, the title and the song’s own cover, so Macdio uses the station’s information and turns the button off for that song.

Into Recently Heard on the Tracks screen. Tap the heart to keep a song in Saved Tracks, and turn on “Love Songs in Apple Music” if you want hearted songs in your Apple Music library too.

It is off on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV. On Apple Watch it is on, together with “Only on Wi-Fi”.

When the station names its own song, Macdio keeps the station’s text. A match that names a different song is dropped, and a match with the same artist only lends its album cover.

Get Macdio on the App Store, play a station that shows no song title, and press the Shazam button. The Song ID page explains more. One purchase, every Apple device, no subscription.