Circle to Search is already a pretty useful feature – it allows users of compatible phones (including the Google Pixel 8 series and Samsung Galaxy S24 series) to circle objects and people on their screen and let the phone perform AI-powered searches to have them carried out. But soon it should also be able to recognize audio.
Back in June we saw evidence of audio identification in Circle to Search. However, at the time, it was assumed that this would only work when playing audio on your device. Now, however, Android Authority has actually managed to enable the feature by poking around in the code of the latest Google app beta, and it appears that this audio identification will be far more far-reaching than first thought.
When Android Authority enabled the feature, which you can see in the video below, Circle to Search told them that it can detect music that is playing or that you are humming or singing.
Keep looking
So apparently you can use it to identify music playing on your device, externally, or that you simply hum or sing on your phone.
To use this feature, you need to launch Circle to Search as usual and then tap the new musical note icon to the right of the search field. At least that's the current layout, but the feature isn't active yet unless you experiment with Android code.
Therefore, it could change and there is always a chance that this tool won't even start. But since it looks like it's finished or almost finished and would clearly be very useful, we can't understand why Google wouldn't launch it.
Might come soon, but not before the Pixel 9
The real question is when it will be available, but with Android 15 getting closer and closer, this is a prime candidate. In this case, this audio identification could be rolled out sometime by October.
Before that, however, comes the Google Pixel 9 launch, which takes place today (August 13) at 10:00 AM PT / 1:00 PM ET / 6:00 PM BST, which is August 14 at 3:00 AM AEST. So there's a lot going on for fans of Google's hardware and software.
To get in the mood for the Pixel 9 launch – where we're also expecting the Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL and Pixel 9 Pro Fold, among others – check out how you can watch the Pixel 9 launch event live. Or visit our live blog “Made by Google” to read the latest announcements and our impressions.