After its launch in early March, Google has released the first update to its new Now Playing app for Pixel phones.
As of Friday, version 2026.03.24.x (vs. 2026.03.02.x) is widely available via Google Play. It has been spreading slowly for the past few days.
We haven’t seen any obvious changes since the update, so it’s probably a behind-the-scenes bug fix. The “What’s New” listing in the Google Play Store hasn’t updated the release notes.
Some have reported Under the fingerprint icon on the lock screen, see the “Tap to see what’s playing” icon followed by the Now Playing icon. This is reminiscent of the previous version’s ability to trigger an online search if your Pixel recognizes a song is being played but can’t identify it using the on-device database.
The redesign offers an alternative lock screen shortcut (as seen below) and a Quick Settings Tile. (The last option – in 2×1 size – also replaces the silent notification that identifies what’s currently playing.)
Not all users see this and we haven’t been able to replicate it on several phones. One possibility is that Tap to See What’s Playing is a notification that lets users tap the icon when a song title and artist appear, allowing them to quickly favorite the song and open the music app, as well as view the cover art.
Hopefully more substantial improvements will come in the future. First-party apps typically see major updates alongside Pixel Drops every three months.
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