- A new ‘Circle to Search’ trick is available on Samsung’s latest Galaxy phones
- It lets you sing or hum songs that you want to identify
- The feature worked well in our early hands-on demos
Sure, Shazam and the Google Assistant, or even Gemini, can help you identify a song that’s playing in a coffee shop or while you’re out and about. But what about that tune you have stuck in your head that you’re desperate to put a name to?
Suffice it to say, that’s not a problem I have for anything by Springsteen, but it does happen for other songs, and Samsung’s latest and greatest – the Galaxy S25, S25 Plus, and S25 Ultra – might just be able to cure this. It’s courtesy of the latest expansion of Google’s Circle to Search on devices.
Launched on the Galaxy S24 last year and then expanded to other devices like Google’s own family of Pixel phones, you can long press at the bottom and then circle something on the screen to figure out what it is or find out more.
For instance, it could be a fun hat within a TikTok or Instagram Reel video, a snazzy button down, or even more info on a concert happening or a location like San Jose – where Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked took place.
Circle to Search for songs
Now, though, when you long-press the home button – or engage the assistant in another way – you’ll see a music note icon.
From there, you can just start singing as Google will tell you it is listening. I as well as my colleague, TechRadar’s Editor-at-Large Lance UIanoff, then hummed two tracks – “Hot To Go” by Chapell Roan, which the Galaxy S25 Ultra took tries to identify it properly – and then it got “Fly Me To The Moon” (a classic) on its first try.
While Lance did have to hum a good bit, it did in fact figure out what that song inside our head was, and this could make the latest facet of Circle to Search a pretty handy function. It will, of course, also do the job of Shazam and listen to whatever is playing when you select it via the microphone built into your device as well.
Further, you can use it to circle a video on screen and figure out what was playing – as you can see in the hands-on embed below, it was able to do this for a TikTok. That ultimately doesn’t seem quite as helpful given a video on TikTok – or an Instagram Reel – will note the audio it is using. But this could be particularly useful for a long YouTube video that uses a variety of background music or if you’re streaming a title and can’t figure out the song.
Google’s latest tool expansion for Circle to Search will be available from day one on the Galaxy S25, Galaxy S25 Plus, and Galaxy S25 Ultra, but it’s worth pointing out that the search giant – turned AI giant – has been teasing this feature for a bit, and some even found it hiding in existing code. After our demo of it on the S25 Ultra, we had a hunch it would arrive elsewhere and it should be arriving on other devices with Circle to Search.
As for when it will arrive on the Galaxy S24, Z Flip 6, or Z Fold 6, that remains to be seen, and we’re also wondering that same question for Samsung’s other new Galaxy AI features. And if you’re keen to learn more about the Galaxy S25 family, check out our hands-on and our Galaxy S25 live blog for the event.
@techradar Samsung is adding an entirely new way to ‘Circle to Search’ and it could help you figure out that song that is stuck in your head