Spotify drops Car View, gains TikTok-style video feed

Spotify has been working intensely on its apps, with some changes being welcome and others causing consternation from users.

Spotify users on Android have noticed that Car View, the simplified view of the Now Playing screen which appears when you connect to your car stereo over Bluetooth, has disappeared from the app.

Spotify has confirmed this was intentional, saying:

We can confirm that we’re retiring the car view feature. This however doesn’t mean we don’t want to improve on how our users listen to Spotify while driving. On the contrary, we’re actively exploring a variety of new ways to deliver the best in-car listening experience. Think of retiring car-view as something that needs to happen in an effort to make way for new innovations coming down the track.

Please bear with us for the time being. While we work backstage on improving the experience, one alternative would be to listen hands-free via Google Assistant. This feature also works with Google Maps so you can navigate while listening to Spotify. In order to do that, you can link your accounts and say ‘Hey Google, play Spotify’.

Spotify users not the removal of Car View without a replacement in place promoted unsafe driving. Spotify recommends using its integration with Google Maps and Waze in your car for a safer experience. Another alternative would be Car Thing, Spotify’s music control gadget for car use, which has recently gone on sale.

Besides removing Car View,  Spotify is also experimenting with a new TikTok-like video feed.

Accessible via the new Discover button, the feed features vertical music videos which can be swiped through.

https://twitter.com/chrismessina/status/1463542273216446472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1463542273216446472%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theverge.com%2F2021%2F11%2F25%2F22802056%2Fspotify-discover-tab-tiktok-feed-canvas-videos

In a statement Spotify confirmed the feature, but noted there is no news around whether it will see a wider roll-out:

 “At Spotify, we routinely conduct a number of tests in an effort to improve our user experience. Some of those tests end up paving the way for our broader user experience and others serve only as an important learning. We don’t have any further news to share at this time.”

Spotify has nearly 400 million monthly active users and remains the world’s largest music streaming service.

via the verge (1), (2)