Shazam! Apple releases public beta for iOS 14.2

Last week, just the day after it released iOS 14, Apple introduced the developer beta for iOS 14.2. Today, the first public beta version of both was launched by Apple and it allows for the addition of the Shazam music recognition feature to the Control Center. To do this, you must first have the iOS 14 public beta installed. That can be accomplished by signing up with the Apple Beta Software Program. Then, go to Settings > General > Software Update to install the iOS 14.2 beta.

After you’ve installed the beta, you will need to go to Settings > Control Center > More Controls and add Shazam to the Control Center. For those unaware with what Shazam does, it listens to and identifies music playing in the background, in apps, and even though a user’s AirPods. Apple, in one of its typically strategic acquisitions, purchased Shazam in December 2017 for a reported $400 billion. In iOS 14, you can even use Shazam with the new picture-in-picture feature to discover the music playing inside a video.

Also coming to the iOS 14.2 beta is a People Detection feature that measures the distance between two people; this is found in the Magnifier app. There are also some other changes including a new icon for the Apple Watch app that shows the new Apple Watch Solo Loop. And a new Now Playing widget will be available for the Control Center that lists recently played albums that you might want to listen to again when nothing else is playing.

If you’re wondering what has become of iOS 14.1, Apple could be planning to install it on the new iPhone 12 models just before release. That should happen sometime next month.