Spotify car thing discontinued

[Bradey]

Plan

Premium family 

Country

US

Device

(iPhone xs

Operating System

Idk whatever iOS they on now

My Question or Issue

I have had Spotify since it came out; I upgraded to a premium plan with my family in 2018. The decision to stop supporting Car Thing breaks my heart. My truck doesn't have bluetooth or a display so when Spotify Car Thing came out I was ecstatic. I love Spotify I have always thought it was way better than apple music because they would try to make**bleep** like the car thing and they weren't some huge heartless corporation like apple. But this and the fact that our premium plan gets raised a dollar all the time has made me rethink my position. 

My whole family uses I phones and have been discussing switching to apple music for YEARS. I WAS ALWAYS THE ONE TO KEEP THEM WITH SPOTIFY. Now I am over it if you don't make this right and my car thing stops working in December we will be switching to apple music.

[Recyclopsrecycles1]

My guess is they are making a newer more expensive version. They want more people to buy it so they made it so that car thing won’t  work anymore and you are forced to buy the new one instead of getting the option to just continue the one you have now. I have car thing in my car because my car is cruddy and car thing makes it so that I can easily switch between songs/albums/podcast without having to use my phone while driving. This is quite disappointing indeed.

[lipgloss9111]

When I opened my email this morning, I was shocked to see that Spotify was discontinuing the Car Thing. I have used it religiously ever since I set it up two years ago. It had made my driving experience better because my car is 15 years old and safer, as I don’t have to go on my phone to change my music. It seems that since it’s not flipping a profit, Spotify decided to literally throw it in the trash and make their customers mad. 

This is a low blow from Spotify. They said they are discontinuing the Car Thing  “as part of our ongoing efforts to streamline our product offerings”, yet they are saying, “As of now, there are no plans to release a replacement or new version of Car Thing”. I imagine if it’s like Apple just decided to make CarPlay non-operational because they needed to focus on making a new iPhone. 

Spotify claims that “we must all work to be part of the solution so that our planet and all people can continue to thrive for generations to come” yet wants to TRASH hundreds of thousands of devices are that still FUNCTIONAL. It’s a shame that Spotify claims to care for our planet but wants us to trash our Car Things in December when they are no longer operational but they easily could be.  

This has made me rethink my relationship with Spotify. Considering we paid for the Car Thing, on top of the monthly premium payments (which recently went up a $1), it seems they don’t care about us. They won’t even offer a refund for the Car Thing or give us any compensation. Thanks for showing that you don’t care about your customers or even thought this awful decision through! Not cool, Spotify. 👎🏼

[skylararose]

SPOTIFY DID NOT DELETE POSTS, BUT MOVED THEM TO ONE THREAD

Some are saying that Spotify deleted the Car Thing posts, just wanted to clarify they seemingly moved almost all under a single topic:

Spotify car thing discontinued - Bradey

I'm a customer, I just wanted to clear the confusion since Spotify failed to do so. I still want my refund. Open sourcing it AT THE LEAST.

Go vote on the open source feature request:
https://community.spotify.com/t5/Live-Ideas/Car-Thing-Developer-SDK-for-Spotify-Car-Thing/idi-p/5437...

[LottaMusic1]

Plan

Free/Premium

Country

Device

(iPhone 8, Samsung Galaxy 9, Macbook Pro late 2016)

Operating System

(iOS 10, Android Oreo, Windows 10,etc.)

My Question or Issue

[skylararose]

Yes, it is already being discussed. You may want to come back in a few days when things are more solidified.

[knoordzy]

because that's easier to read 🙄

[skylararose]

Exactly. 😕 I understand it is to better compartmentalize relevant topics but like. Why would anyone need to see literally anything else about Car Thing now that its discontinued?

[Dekoghost]

Atleast open the software or something so it's not just e waste come on 

[apatheism]

Thankfully my bank allowed me to file a chargeback, even though I bought my device in October 2021. I'd much rather be able to USE THE DEVICE I PURCHASED, but they forced my hand. Ridiculous.

[OurPodfather]

Hi everyone,

Spotify made the difficult decision to discontinue Car Thing. We wanted to share this news months in advance to ensure that our users had plenty of time to prepare for this change, which is effective December 9. This was not a step we have taken lightly, but we want to ensure that any users who have purchased Car Thing have the opportunity to be refunded for the amount they paid for the device. Users are able to contact our Customer Support teams in this link .

In an effort to streamline the discussion and ensure all relevant feedback is centralized, we have merged all threads related to this topic into this one comprehensive discussion. Any new threads created on this topic in the future will also be merged into this thread. 

• FAQs on the Discontinuation of Car Thing

We encourage you to continue to share your thoughts and participate in the conversation below.

[JoshBothell]

first, lol

second, Skyla why are you defending Spotify right now? Especially when you are wrong! They deleted my post about receiving 8 months of premium (NOT MOVED). They deleted posts about deleting that post! They deleted my well written guide about the state of Car Thing hacking. All useful things to discuss in the wake of this poor decision.

[screwdbysptphy]

Have filed complaints with FTC, my state Attorney General. Ridiculous precedent on "ownership" - bought a physical device to only turn into e-waste with no restitution.

[skylararose]

Hey,

I just wanted to clear up the confusion as to why posts weren't appearing in the main topic anymore, as I was super confused when refreshing the page to see everything gone. I assumed (but shouldn't have) that all posts were moved to replies given the high reply count. Sorry that I muddied the waters. I promise you I am **bleep** off right now and have no sympathy for Spotify.
I have a feeling the state of Car Thing hacking was removed for specific discussion of hacking it, which, to be clear, I both support and am excited for the future of.

[Davidz001]

A class action lawsuit is justified for something like this and it would be best to start it before Spotify goes out of business.  The writing is on the wall.

[Soulflare3]

I honestly just want to keep using the device. If Spotify no longer wishes to support the device or provide updates, open source the device. Let the community manage/update it. Telling us to just throw away a $100 device that is actually useful is an incredible waste.

I can promise you if you do discontinue the device and do not allow the community to open source it, I will never purchase a device from Spotify again.

[Davidz001]

I'll be filing complaints as well as seeing if my CC company wants to wade into this disgusting pool of filth that Spotify has created.  Class action lawsuit would be nice.

[JoshBothell]

@Skylararose I get it, we are all confused and frustrated, just wanted to clear the air that they are in fact deleting any posts they disagree with. I sure do love maintaining an open platform for symmetrical communication between Spotify and the Community as we approach values week 2025 /s

What a slap in the face this has been. For anybody who is interested in hacking CT, here is the best write-up I can find to date on getting root access on the Car Thing.

[screwdbysptphy]

My post was certainly deleted

[Dap00man]

I think what makes us all mad is that they're discontinuing it and then they are going to brick it. Why not just leave it as a standalone device without the extra support, I have a laptop from 2001 that still works. Even though Windows doesn't support XP anymore. It still works. So why can't the same be done for car thing

[mrffffff]

Lol they have merged the threads and disable comments.  Seems like a legit move Spotify