Android Auto Steering Controls Disabled for Podcasts

[been__jammin]

Plan

Free/Premium

Country

United States

Device

Pixel 5

Operating System

Android 11

My Question or Issue

When playing a song in Spotify using Android Auto through my car, the controls on my steering wheel will map to the next/previous song buttons shown in the app. When playing a podcast, the next/previous buttons in the app change to +15s/-15s. However, the buttons on the steering wheel do not map to these controls.

[CarlosE]

Hey there @been__jammin,

Thanks for reaching out to the Community!

We're aware of this behavior, but this is dependent on the different car infotainment systems and the way Android Auto forwards button commands to Spotify, so we're afraid this can be expected.

We hope this sheds some light on the matter. If you have any questions or need a hand with anything else, we're always a post away.

Cheers 🙂

[been__jammin]

Thanks for responding, but this explanation doesn't really make sense to me. If the issue was due to incompatibility with my car's infotainment system, then the steering wheel controls should not work at all. Since the steering wheel controls already work for skipping songs, then the steering wheel buttons must be compatible with my car. All that should need to be done is to add code in the hardware event listeners to see if the media type is a podcast and call the +/- 15s function instead of the song skip function.

[Novy]

Hi @been__jammin, 

Thanks for your reply. 

We understand where you're coming from and appreciate you taking the time to share your feedback with us. We'll make sure to pass it on to the right folks, as we always strive to improve your experience. 

Don't hesitate to let us know if anything else comes up. 

Cheers.

[gcEllon]

I wanted to second the OP. I was hoping there'd be a setting in the app to change this (it doesn't need to detect podcasts, just let the user choose). Unfortunately with the settings as they currently are, people will crash their cars.