Now playing app's notification suppression breaks third-party scrobblers

Google's March feature drop has brought exciting upgrades to Pixel devices, but it also came with an unexpected issue. The Now Playing app, which identifies songs playing around you, is now a dedicated app rather than a built-in service. However, this change has broken notification functionality, affecting third-party scrobblers.

Scrobblers lose vital data

Tools like Pano Scrobbler and MacroDroid rely on a workaround to sync recognized songs to platforms like Last.fm. They monitor the Now Playing system notification to curate a list of identified tracks. However, the March update suppressed this notification, leaving scrobblers without a way to extract the data containing the identified songs.

Reddit user birbeck1 believes Google made this change deliberately, while developer Kieron Quinn thinks otherwise. Quinn discovered an unused flag in the Now Playing app's codebase, suggesting Google could potentially restore notification functionality in the future.

Until then, Pixel users are left waiting. Interestingly, Simplescrobbler can still export songs to Last.fm even after the March feature drop. While this workaround is available, most users prefer Android's flexibility in allowing third-party tools to integrate with native features.

Given the Now Playing app's importance on Pixel devices and the number of users who utilize it with scrobblers, it's likely Google will address this issue in the near future.