Spotify Removes “Car” From Its Mobile Apps

Spotify has confirmed it has removed Car View, a feature that featured a streamlined Now Playing screen when connected to a vehicle’s entertainment system, from its mobile apps.

Android Police reports that Spotify users started noticing Car View was missing in mid-October. These users questioned the removal of the feature in a community forum thread, prompting one of Spotify’s moderators to confirm that the company had said goodbye to Car View.

“However, that doesn’t mean we don’t want to improve the way our users listen to Spotify while driving,” said the Spotify forum moderator. “On the contrary, we are actively exploring a variety of new ways to deliver the best in-car listening experience. Consider removing the sight of the car as something that has to happen in order to make room for new innovations to to come .”

The moderator recommended using Google Assistant to control Spotify without manually navigating the app while driving. In the meantime, the company is supposed to be working on some improvements to the use of its in-car apps, but it hasn’t said exactly what that means.

The removal of Car View from Spotify’s mobile apps follows the introduction of Car Thing, a device that pairs with the phones of Spotify Premium subscribers to allow them to control audio playback with voice commands, the built-in touchscreen and a dedicated volume button, in April.

It’s not clear whether the release of Car Thing influenced Spotify’s decision to remove Car View from its mobile apps, but as Android Police notes, “Getting people to buy an $ 80 add-on to give them access to functionality they already had is not great ”although the changes are in fact unrelated.