'If the mic wasn't left on, it would take the app longer to both initialize the mic and then start buffering audio, and this is more likely to result in a poor user experience where users 'miss out' on a song they were trying to identify.' 'There is no privacy issue since the audio is not processed unless the user actively turns the app 'ON.'' James Pearson, the VP of global communications for Shazam, said in an emailed statement. Read more: After 20 Minutes of Listening, New Adobe Tool Can Make You Say Anything For Shazam, it's just a feature that makes the app work better.
For the security researcher who discovered that the mic is always on, it's a bug that users should know about. When a user of Shazam's Mac app turns the app 'OFF,' the app actually keeps the microphone on in the background. On Apple's computers, Shazam never turns the microphone off, even if you tell it to.
What's that song? On your cellphone, the popular app Shazam is able to answer that question by listening for just a few seconds, as if it were magic.
