Google Pixel’s Now Playing finally lets you choose a default music player

Google’s Now Playing tool is easily one of my favorite background features because, well, it just works (barring when it was bugged out earlier this year).

The Shazam alternative, which first landed on Pixel devices back in 2017, is now receiving a facelift, with some of its new features already spotted in the months leading up to the December 2024 Pixel Feature Drop.

The handy feature was first reported to be gaining album artwork support for identified music back in early November. Fast-forward to the December 2024 Pixel Feature Drop, and Google officially confirmed the minor, but welcome tweak. Now, it looks like the feature has finally begun landing on user devices, and it brings a big usability upgrade we recently spotted in tow (more on that later).

The rollout was first spotted by 9to5Google, highlighting that the ‘Show search button on lock screen’ toggle has now been renamed to ‘Enhance Now Playing.’ The change is promptly surfaced in the form of a pop-up when you first navigate to the section via Settings → Sound & vibration → Now Playing. “The ‘Show search button on lock screen’ setting has been updated to ‘Enhance Now Playing’ and now also uses Google services to add album artwork to songs,” it reads.

Album artwork remains elusive

It’s worth noting that despite the Enhance Now Playing toggle rolling out, I still can’t see any album artwork when checking the Now Playing history screen. This is the case with both new and old identified records, and folks over at 9to5Google also echoed the same. For what it’s worth, I’ve updated to the latest Android System Intelligence build and album art still remains elusive.

Elsewhere, earlier this month, we spotted a Google support page tweak that highlighted an incoming default music player selector for Now Playing’s music history. Normally, at least in Google’s case, new features pop up first while the support page tied to the feature lags behind. It was the other way around in the default music player’s case, with the feature only now beginning to show up.

Default music player support is actively rolling out as I’m typing this, considering that I already have it on my Pixel 8, while Android Police’s News Editor Dallas Thomas is still waiting for it to show up.

It shows up when you navigate to Settings → Sound & vibration → Now Playing → Default music player. This will be set to ‘None’ when the feature first rolls out to you. However, you’re free to select one of the supported apps that are installed on your device — including YouTube Music, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, etc.

The addition of a default player streamlines the music playing experience. Tapping an identified song in your Now Playing history now highlights a large “Play on (default service) button, while other music streaming services remain accessible via the overflow menu.

This article will be updated if/when album art starts showing up.

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