Shazam has released a new version of their app for the Apple Watch. The update to the popular music discovery app features a fresh design, faster performance and LTE support for the Apple Watch Series 3. What you will likely find with the Apple Watch 3 is that, in order to get the most out of the watch you will be dependent on third-party developers. For the most part at least. Yes, there are some big differences with the Series 3 watch in terms of hardware and processing speed etc. But the “new” features are going to be contingent upon third party developers doing more than what they have in the past.
And this is exactly what Shazam is doing. They have developed their Watch app to ensure that you get the most out of what is available from watchOS 4. Some of the features of the new app include:
- It’s their fastest version yet. The “name that song” feature will provide you with a response in seconds. It also has a fresh new look and feel.
- You can Shazam right from your wrist.
- You can listen to previews of your matches, right from your Apple Watch.
The new Watch app is extremely simple. Which is how all good Watch apps should be. When you launch the app, you are presented with the familiar blue Shazam button. Once you tap the button you will begin listening to whatever music is currently playing. After you hit the button, you can turn your wrist away and the app will notify you through a haptic vibration when the song has been identified. This identification process happens very quickly, as we mentioned.
After the songs have been identified, they are stored below the Shazam button in the main app interface. You can scroll using the Digital Crown, and you will see the last five songs presented in a similar style to the watchOS’s revamped music app. You will also see the album cover, which looks kind of like cards. If you tap on an album cover it will play a short preview of the song using the Watch’s built-ion speaker.
If you’re wondering, you can use the app without having to be connected to your iPhone. Obviously, this is what makes the Watch Series 3 so impressive. It’s also the “raison d’être” for the Apple Watch Series 3, so I would hope that this functionality would be available through this app. I’m interested to see what kinds of app updates come out for the Series 3. Like I said, it’s reason for existing is to be able to step away from your iPhone. Which means that in order for some apps to work, they will have to be redeveloped. Shazam is pretty quick on the up-take with this one. Which I think is great. But that’s not the case for all apps.
There still seem to be connectivity issues with the Watch. It also doesn’t seem like you can disconnect from your iPhone altogether. But I think that’s going to change. Like I said, the apps need to catch up to the Watch first. How quickly will that happen? Or maybe these two things need to take place simultaneously. Whatever the answers, I think it will take a little bit of time to work out some of these kinks. In the meantime, try the new Shazam and let us know what you think.