One of the exclusive and most appreciated features of the Pixel Experience, which is the vision of Android according to Google (as well as the version of the operating system that we find on Google Pixel smartphones), is Now Playing, which allows the smartphone to recognize the music playing in the environment.
Already in the past, the developer Kieron Quinn had created a hybrid Xposed -Magisk module called Ambient Music Mod but, a few days ago, he made available an improved version of his creature, simply called Ambient Music Mod v2, which has now become a solution that does not require root permissions to work (at least on devices with Android 12 ). Let’s see what this mod offers and how to install it on any non-Google Android smartphone.
Ambient Music Mod v2 porta Now Playing sugli smartphone Android non-Google
As anticipated at the beginning, the developer Kieron Quinn has created a second version of his mod that allows you to bring the Now Playing functionality to all non-Google Android smartphones, still exclusive to Google Pixel smartphones (not present in the AOSP), which allows you to identify the music that is playing in your surroundings.
With the new mod, simply called Ambient Music Mod v2, the developer has succeeded in making the Now Playing functionality hardware-independent without root permissions, using Shizuku, a service that allows third-party apps to access System-wide API via the Android Debug Bridge interface (ADB, for friends ). All this, however, works without the need for root only if the smartphone is equipped with Android 12 or later versions of the operating system.
In the second iteration of the mod, Quinn has removed the dependencies related to Xposed: it will no longer be necessary, in fact, to install an Xposed distribution such as EdXposed or LPOSed since the mod is provided as a standalone app and no longer as a module; on previous versions of Android (from Android 11 backward) it is still possible to continue to take advantage of the version that requires access to root permissions.
The features of Ambient Music Mod v2
Below, we report the main features and functionalities offered by Ambient Music Mod v2 which, as you will notice if you are interested in downloading it, has already received two minor updates (the version is in fact 2.0.2) with which the developer has fixed some bugs and further improved some aspects:
- Full support for Now Playing, based on the latest version on Pixel devices and the latest music databases.
- Automatic recognition of ambient music, with settings to control how often recognition is performed, finding the right balance between battery consumption and convenience.
- Support for playing history and favorites.
- Support to activate manual recognition.
- There is a widget for the home screen.
- Recognition on-demand on supported devices, using the recognition engine supported by the Google Assistant for songs that are not in the local database (must be activated manually).
- Songs playing on the lock screen (requires accessibility service).
Download and install Ambient Music Mod v2
Ambient Music Mod v2, the mod to bring Now Playing functionality to any non-Google Android smartphone, is free and open source. The developer has made the APK package available directly on GitHub (the dedicated page, where you will find the package and the source code can be reached via the link below).
Scarica Ambient Music Mod v2 (2.0.2) su GitHub
Once you have downloaded the APK package, just run the installation. Once the app is open, it will ask for access to Shizuku: authorization is essential to be able to take advantage of the mod’s features. In the case of smartphones with Android 12 (or later), it will be possible to continue with the mode without root permissions; otherwise, it will be mandatory to continue with the method that provides for the availability of root permissions (and therefore more recommended for more experienced users).
At this point, the app will download some add-ons and ask you to provide the required permissions: once you have completed these steps, the game will be done.
The performance of the Ambient Music Mod v2 is comparable to that of Now Playing on a Pixel smartphone, also because the app relies on a modified version of a Google app called Android System Intelligence and performs exactly the same operations as the counterpart signed by Google for recognizing songs.
If you are interested in deepening the issue and discovering all the work done by the developer to make the Now Playing function available on all non-Google smartphones, we refer you to the intervention dedicated to Ambient Music Mod v2, published directly by Kieron Quinn on his blog.
If you like our news and you want to be the first to get notifications of the latest news, then follow us on Twitter and Facebook page and join our Telegram channel. Also, you can follow us on Google News for regular updates.