Google Pixel 2’s Now Playing feature has been ported to AOSP ROMs

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Google’s flagship Pixel 2 smartphone series doesn’t seem to offer a lot of features when compared to the likes of the Huawei Mate 10 or Samsung Galaxy Note 8, but there are a few unique features that are grabbing everyone’s attention. First, there’s the Google Camera with Google’s powerful portrait mode technology. Then, there’s also the Now Playing feature which uses the device’s microphone in order to recognize music playing in the background. While the Google Pixel 2’s awesome portrait mode feature has been ported to other devices already, the Now Playing feature has remained exclusive to the device. That may change in the near future, however, as a developer has managed to port Now Playing to AOSP-based ROMs.

XDA Recognized Developer frap129 has just announced that he managed to port the ambient music recognition feature onto CarbonROM, an AOSP-based ROM. He states that he had to reverse engineer a lot of proprietary Google code in order to get the feature working on AOSP ROMs, and that the feature is currently available for CarbonROM on the Pixel 2 XL.

In an email, the developer states that he is working on getting the feature working on other devices running an AOSP ROM as well. Now that it works on an AOSP ROM for the Pixel 2, this definitely seems in the realm of possibility. We’ll have to wait for this feature to make its way over to other devices, but now that the groundwork has been laid by frap129, we may not have to wait much longer.

We’ve previously shown you that you can customize the text displayed on the ambient lock screen, so it’s possible that future AOSP-based custom ROMs may feature more customization for the Pixel 2’s always on display in the future as well. If such an advancement does happen, you’ll be the first to know on the XDA Portal.