So what is the official status of "car mode?"

[L84Cabo]

Plan

Premium

Country

USA

Device

iPhone 13

Operating System

iOS 17.4

My Question or Issue

Car mode was on the app and working a few months ago...I mean working as "jenky" as it always had but at least it was there...but then it seems to have disappeared with a recent app update (not sure which one).  It still shows up, however, as a feature at the Spotify support link below...

https://support.spotify.com/us/article/spotify-in-the-car/

But what is the deal?  Did it just disappear off of my app for some reason, or has Spotify, once again, removed this functionality for some reason?  And if so, why?  And what...and when...is the replacement?  Without it the phone reverts to the Lock Screen when in the car...but there is small navigation bar at the Lock Screen when you shake/wake the phone up. 

I am so very tired of this. 

[jendeyster]

I love car mode and would love to have it even if I'm not in the car. I love the simple, large icons. Regular Spotify has way too much stuff going on and it makes me me anxious. How about we make car mode available all the time and call it sensory friendly mode. Then it becomes an accessibility issue. That might get it pushed further up the backlog. 

[taurusjess1988]

I have the same issue, using iPhone 15 and I don’t even have the option to use car mode anymore. 

[taurusjess1988]

Same issue here, I’m using iPhone 15 and I don’t even have the car mode option in the settings anymore 

[MonkeyDMP]

Pretty sure it's intentional in order to get people to buy car thing. Which in case you never used it all it does is exactly what your phone already does but worse and you have to connect your phone to it and it to your car, cause everyone wants extra steps AND a jankier experience right? All this for just under $100?? Wow what a deal, I'll take 2! But since everyone has decided that using our better, more  versatile and much larger screens that we already have with us (and is still required to be <5 ft away to use car thing anyway) was much more convenient, the have to do something to make the car thing feel useful. If car mode is "broken" then car thing serves a purpose. Pure evil.

[drowrulesupreme]

Given the announcement that "Car Thing" is being discontinued, I highly doubt they have a plan.

[Hawthornechrishonda]

I just decided to go with YouTube. The screen will stay in car mode. The car thing will be discontinued in December. 

[jmarcil1]

I'm getting really tired of Spotify making such a big deal out of car mode. They took the feature away to sell "Car Thing" which is more infuriating because they killed and bricked it (without offering any type of refund). So they bring back car mode, only to kill it again. Now I can't have a video podcasts playing without video while driving. It's a simple safety feature, LEAVE IT ALONE. 

[janpan]

I feel like this was a feature that worked perfectly fine.

Someone decided to remove it.

The result of this is that I cannot use spotify while driving, and might cause an accident because the user interface is too small and detailed to use while driving.

I have my phone mounted in my car, in landscape mode, as I assume many people do, using it for navigation and maps.

The "now playing" screen does not even have a landscape mode... WHY NOT?

With car mode, at least it had a landscape mode.

So now, I have to turn my head while driving to see what song is playing.

This is elemntry UX principles, yet not working...

Who removed car mode, and why?

It was working.... Why remove it.

I will rather swithc over to Youtube Music or something else that supports landscape mode!

Why no LANDSCAPE MODE for NOW PLAYING screen?????????????????????

[Sacurason2]

No landscape mode and no car mode, and Car Thing is being bricked. You guys are killing us. The way my car is setup, whenever I try to swipe to change to a new song (the radio dials in my car don't work) I swipe diagonally and it pulls up lyrics, then I have to get rid of the lyrics and try again and sometimes I fail repeatedly... All while I'm driving! This is super unsafe!

For the record, this is the straw that broke the camel's back. We are switching to YT music, finally. 

[Liam277]

My iPhone 13 iOS 17.5.1 has never been able to activate car mode when the phone is connected to my cars bluetooth. As a result spotify is now more of a distraction when driving.

I have went through a number of threads on this topic in the community and none of the fixes offered have worked for me and that seems to be the same for others.

Would it be possible to install the ability to toggle car mode on/off manually? A potential simple fix for this issue.

[KBH_13]

Same as all it seems, the car mode function has been completely removed. I like to use this as my main mode as easy to skip, pause etc, especially when on Cross-trainer, exercise machines and the likes. If not wanting car-mode for people to use in car  "as not safe" then call this display " BASIC MODE" and bring it back for us. Cheers

[Sacurason2]

Yo! FYI for your scenario, if you're on Android you can get an app called "Control Screen Orientation" which will FORCE this janky app to use landscreen when you rotate the phone. I think the interface is missing shuffle and repeat keys but you can at least go back and forth and swipe sideways without lyrics coming up or missing buttons which was my big gripe.

For my part I've just about given up on this app. Tomorrow I begin the arduous process of manually downloading all of my music so I can finally cancel my Spotify Premium subscription of nearly a decade and be free from this company's poor planning. 

[Hawthornechrishonda]

Did you see the new price increase? Individual premium went from 10.99 to 11.99. I just decided to stick with YouTube. 

[Lokiehe]

Plan

Premium

Country

Germany

Device

iPhone 14 Pro

Operating System

iOS 17.5.1

Hello, it used to be possible to make the icons in Spotify large in auto mode to make them easier to use. But I can't find the option anymore.

[Powerless001]

I am also having the same problem. I logged out and in multiple times,I cleared all caches I can. The option to disable car mode just doesn't appear in the menu. I click car, and it just isn't there. My speaker isn't a car,stop thinking it is! I just want to watch Distractible!

[Yoitzheather]

In addition to getting rid of car mode, they are also doing away with car thing...honestly Im about to switch back to pandora or apple music instead of paying for a family membership...at least with pandora I could listen on multiple devices (so if I was driving and my kid started playing music on our smart speaker at home I wasn't kicked off)...

[Dawn6663]

I, too cannot get OUT of car mode anymore. Not happy with that.

[Llxdow]

I wish I had this problem, I used to always use car mode and it has been nothing but frustrating since it was removed, I only have aux in my car, so have to control my music via my phone. When I try to swipe my screen while driving, (without looking as I'm obviously watching the road) to skip a track - nothing happens.

The next chance I get to glance at my screen, I find that for some reason the app has just taken me back to the home screen of Spotify rather than actually skipping the track and I have to pull over and park up to sort it out. 😫

[JOHNNYDANGO]

PLEASE GIVE US BACK THE CAR MODE IN THE NAME OF DRIVING SAFELY !!!