Apple updated the Shazam app for iOS today with a new app icon and a fresh set of iMessage stickers. The update gives Shazam’s icon a slightly frostier look without touching its shape or overall color scheme, and rolled out through the App Store with no separate download required beyond updating the app itself.
The New Stickers Extend Shazam’s First Artist Sticker Pack
Shazam launched its first-ever artist sticker pack in July, timed to the worldwide release of Ariana Grande’s album Petal on July 31. The pack was also notable as the first time any music artist received an exclusive Messages sticker collection, at a point when new sticker pack launches from any company had become fairly uncommon.
It drew directly on the album’s artwork, and Apple Music paired the launch with petal radio, an on-demand station featuring Grande and fans discussing the record. Shazam also used the moment to note that Grande’s single Hate That I Made You Love Me had passed one million Shazam recognitions, sitting in the platform’s Pop Top 10 for more than 50 consecutive days across 53 countries and territories.
Today’s update adds to that same sticker library rather than starting a new one. To send a sticker, open a Messages conversation, tap the plus sign, choose Stickers, tap the Shazam icon, then tap the one to send. The stickers also work during FaceTime calls and in any other app where the emoji keyboard is available. Shazam’s identification tools already reach beyond Apple’s own apps too, including the ability to identify songs playing inside TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, so an update like this reaches an audience much larger than just iPhone Messages users.
Shazam has been part of Apple since 2018, when Apple bought the company for a reported $400 million and folded it into Apple Music rather than running it as a standalone product. The app itself dates back to 1999, had already passed a billion downloads before the acquisition closed, and reported 478 million active users within its first year under Apple.
By that point Shazam was already recognizing more than 20 million songs a day, a scale Apple built directly into Apple Music’s own Shazam-powered discovery charts. Building sticker packs around specific album releases gives Apple another reason to keep that decades-old app relevant to people who already use Apple Music for everything else.
