Summary
- The Google app for Android and iOS is getting a new animation for its Hum to Search functionality.
- This new dynamic animation incorporates Google’s core brand colors and changes based on the loudness or intensity of the song being played or hummed.
- The updated animation appears to be rolling out in a limited capacity, as not all Android users are seeing it in the Google app right now.
Back in the day, identifying a song you had just heard required some hard work, including asking your friends/family or typing a few words of the song on Google Search. The search giant took things up a notch in 2020 when it enabled users to simply sing or hum a song to get it instantly identified via the Google app. While the functionality has remained unchanged for the most part since its arrival nearly four years ago, the song identification interface is now picking up a dynamic new animation, replacing the old waveform pattern.
6 apps we think Google could kill in the foreseeable future
These apps have big targets on their backs
It’s unclear when this animation went live, but 9to5Google reports that it’s live on both iOS and Android versions of the Google app. In my experience, however, the feature is only live on the iPhone, while the Google app for Android still carries the old waveform design.
The old waveform animation on Android (left); Snapshots of the new Hum to Search animation on the iPhone (middle and right)
The new animation is definitely more pleasing to the eye than the old waveform pattern. It incorporates all four of Google’s brand colors — blue, yellow, green, and red — in a series of dots that form a sphere, repeatedly expanding and collapsing to form a nice little animation while it’s listening to the audio.
As the video above suggests, the animation can change based on the loudness or intensity of the song playing in the background. We presume the same applies when you’re humming loudly or at a faster pace with this enabled.
To try it out for yourself, open the Google app on your Android smartphone, tap the microphone icon in the search bar, followed by the Search a song pill-shaped box that appears on the next screen. Alternatively, you can also add the Sound Search home screen shortcut from the list of widgets for instant access to this functionality.
Other Google products are also getting Hum to Search
Hum to Search in the YouTube app for Android
Google also brought the Hum to Search feature to the YouTube app last year. But as 9to5 notes, this feature hasn’t made its way to the YouTube app for iPhones even after all these months. Meanwhile, YouTube Music is also gradually rolling out its own version of Hum to Search for its mobile apps, though it doesn’t appear to be widely available just yet.
These song identification features complement the Pixel’s handy Now Playing functionality, which can identify songs playing near you (humming isn’t supported) and automatically list them for later perusal. Pixel device owners can access this functionality by heading over to Settings > Display > Lock screen > Now Playing.