John Voorhees

5628 posts on MacStories since November 2015

John is MacStories' Managing Editor, has been writing about Apple and apps since joining the team in 2015, and today, runs the site alongside Federico. John also co-hosts four MacStories podcasts: AppStories, which covers the world of apps, MacStories Unwind, which explores the fun differences between American and Italian culture and recommends media to listeners, Ruminate, a show about the weird web and unusual snacks, and NPC: Next Portable Console, a show about the games we take with us.
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@johnvoorhees.macstories.net
voorhees@macstories.net

Shazam Crosses 1 Billion Songs Recognized from Control Center

Today, Shazam surpassed 1 billion songs recognized using its Music Recognition control available in iOS and iPadOS’s Control Center. That’s a huge number, especially considering that the feature was first added in iOS and iPadOS 14.2 less than a year ago.

The Music Recognition control can be added to Control Center from the Settings app. When tapped, the feature creates a digital fingerprint of the audio and sends it over the Internet for matching against Shazam’s database of songs, securely and privately making a match without sending the actual audio. In addition to recognizing songs playing around you, the feature can recognize songs played in any app and even while you’re wearing AirPods.

According to Apple, the ten most Shazamed songs from Control Center are:

  1. “Talking To The Moon” - Bruno Mars
  2. “Astronaut In The Ocean” - Masked Wolf
  3. “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)” - Lil Nas X
  4. “Beggin” - Måneskin
  5. “Another Love” - Tom Odell
  6. “Runaway” - AURORA
  7. “Dick” - StarBoi3 Feat. Doja Cat
  8. “Arcade” - Duncan Laurence
  9. “Stay” - The Kid LAROI & Justin Bieber
  10. “drivers license” - Olivia Rodrigo

Earlier this summer, the Shazam app crossed 1 billion daily songs recognized and a lifetime total of over 50 billion. With the release of iOS and iPadOS 15, developers will be able to incorporate song recognition into their own apps using ShazamKit, which will undoubtedly accelerate the number of songs recognized even further.

Viewing recently recognized songs from Control Center.

Viewing recently recognized songs from Control Center.

The Music Recognition control doesn’t save songs it recognizes to the Shazam app, which I wish it did, but when iOS and iPadOS 15 are released, users will be able to touch and hold the control to reveal a list of recently-recognized songs. Selecting a song from the list opens it in the Shazam app. Alternately, you can swipe left on an entry to delete it.

I’ve used Shazam since long before it was acquired by Apple, and the Music Recognition control has become one of my most-used Control Center features since it launched. Whether I’m out somewhere and hear a song I like or watching a TV show with an interesting soundtrack, quickly swiping down to access Control Center has become an ingrained habit at this point.

AppStories - Ep. 240 - 39 minutes

A Look at the HomeKit and tvOS Updates Coming Soon

FedericoJohn
AppStories+ Deeper into the world of apps

AppStories Episode 240 - A Look at the HomeKit and tvOS Updates Coming Soon

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38:34

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AppStories+ Deeper into the world of apps

This week, Federico and John look at Apple’s evolving approach to the way HomeKit devices and entertainment features are incorporated into the company’s OSes.

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What Does It All Mean?: A Look at Judge Gonzalez Rogers’ Decision in the Epic Versus Apple Trial

Yesterday, US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers decided Epic Games’ antitrust lawsuit against Apple, delivering a ruling in favor of Apple that comes with significant caveats. Although the Judge found that Apple‘s operation of the App Store isn’t an exercise of monopolistic power, she concluded that App Review Guidelines and related provisions of its agreements with developers foster a lack of pricing transparency store-wide that undermines competition under California law. So, while the decision is undeniably a win for Apple in many respects, it’s also a decidedly mixed bag. I’ve taken the time to read Judge Gonzalez Rogers’ 185-page decision and having written an in-depth look at the issues going into the trial, I thought I’d follow up with what the Court’s ruling is likely to mean for Epic and Apple as well as all developers and consumers.

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MacStories Unwind: FaceTime, HomeKit, tvOS, Maps Updates in Italy, and the Upcoming Apple Event

AppStories+ Deeper into the world of apps
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21:24

AppStories+ Deeper into the world of apps

Sponsored by: Quill – Messaging to Make Your Team Better

This week on MacStories Unwind:

MacStories

Club MacStories

  • MacStories Weekly
    • The cross-platform OS updates that John is using the most
    • What an Apple event day is like at MacStories
    • ETA Giveaway
    • A Club member’s iPad Home Screen
    • A Club member’s desk setup

AppStories

Unwind

The Upcoming Cross-OS Features I’ve Used Most This Summer

Every year at WWDC, Apple introduces a long list of features coming in the fall. Some make for better demos than others, and there are always ‘sleeper’ features that are hard to show off but make a meaningful difference to many users. This year, two of Apple’s splashiest WWDC announcements were SharePlay and Universal Control....

Apple Event Day at MacStories

A few days ago, Anneleen asked in the Club MacStories+ Discord what an Apple event day is like for the MacStories team. The short answer is – an event day is a lot of fun, but exhausting, packing at least two days of writing into a single, long day. Over the five years that I’ve...

Interesting Links

Federico

If you’re feeling nostalgic about older versions of Mac OS X, check out this collection of remastered wallpapers for Leopard, Snow Leopard, Lion, and Mountain Lion. The classic wallpapers have been remastered in 6K resolution for wide-color gamut (P3), so they’re not exactly faithful to the originals, but they look great. (Link) On his...

App Debuts

Federico

Cibo If you’ve ever found yourself in Italy and wanting to understand what’s written on a restaurant menu (okay fine, not just Italy, but let me have this), Cibo is a new app created by Jordi Bruin that lets you search for pictures of food by just pointing at the menu with your iPhone’s...