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. 

[L84Cabo]

Hey @ChrisDiz,

Thanks for the additional info, this ensures that we're on the same page!

We've been getting a few reports about this, and it sounds like you’re seeing a recent change to the app. We’re always testing possible improvements, so you or someone else may see something new or get a limited feature temporarily on the app. We appreciate you taking your time to raise this on the Community, as it helps inform our future decisions.

If anything else appears, we're just a post away.

[Emphasisgreen]

Have just chatted to an advisor from Spotify and had this response: 

"At Spotify, we’re always looking for ways to make listening more seamless, wherever you are. There are multiple ways to enjoy listening to Spotify in the car and of those options, we found that Car Mode doesn’t offer a better in-car user experience. As a result we’ll be retiring it. To find out more about the different ways you can continue to listen to Spotify in the car, check out For the Record." 

So it's gone. Very disappointing news, would have been nice to have a warning...

[JC_gothcatmom]

I found a solution. I was searching for hours trying to figure out why my phone was locking during my workouts and in the car. Go to any song and play it. Click the upper right ellipses and choose "song timer" then "turn off timer". I think it's a workaround!

[robishea]

Yes. This appears to be an obvious money grab to push the Car Thing AGAIN because they tried this a couple of years ago and it didn't work in large part because the Car Thing was such a terribly conceived and designed product, and cost so much in addition, that it wasn't worth it to make the switch. If they don't fix this and soon, I'm going to another platform. This will suck because I have so much familiarity with Spotify, but it is better than being treated like this. Some vice president at Spotify sees the Car Thing as a way to make their bones and move up the ladder so I think we should all make it our goal to get that VP and their team fired for costing Spotify so much in lost subscriber revenue. Who's with me?

[milkfry]

gotta love it when spotify removes yet another useful and loved feature that had no issues whatsoever (aside for occasional bugs).

spotify acts like they never heard the phrase "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". i guess i'll just suffer with a non-simplified screen because i refuse to buy a Car Thing or download/use a separate app just because spotify makes dumb choices. 

already irritated me enough when they removed the simple heart like button. it makes it easier to confuse where the song is going now when they combined the "add to liked songs" and "add to playlist" features into one button. 

eta: when they combined the options into one button, the song just now goes to whatever playlist you saved a song to last. more often than not, i have to go back and change which playlist it went to now. seriously might just move to a different music app if they are gonna keep doing dumb sht like this

[SammythaDragon]

Is there a way for us to send direct complaints and flood them?

[Vadik_Odstsitev]

Same here, I have a 2007 Lexus and I can only use my phone for music, so now that car mode is gone, my screen constantly locks, meaning I have to constantly unlock it when I want to skip or whatever. Makes it waaaaayyy more unsafe on the road. No clue what braindead **bleep** thought this would be a good idea.

[Gabe1775]

I hate that this feature is gone. Instead it is playing videos and the screen moves up and down. It is way more dangerous to have this while driving. The old car mode was much safer.

[emeraldbaby01]

I feel like this is due to them making this “car thing” for spotify which would be the new “car mode” and it’s about $80 on top of us paying for premium which i thing is stupid, we should keep the car mode for safety reasons instead of having to buy a new “system”

[breensprout]

I'm experiencing the same thing, too. Samsung Galaxy S21, car mode worked a few days ago, now it's completely missing as an option in settings. I drive a 2010 Corolla. I don't have Android Auto or Bluetooth capabilities in my car. I rely on car mode to be able to listen to music safely. I remember Spotify did this a few years ago, too, trying to push the car thing, and enough people complained that they brought car mode back, so hopefully it will work again....

[rowanssi]

I've been having the same issue - car mode does not work on other cars with my same device. This also doesn't help as I use car mode while riding my bike so I need this to work WITHOUT a car. Car mode is super convenient for me and is useful without an actual vehicle. Any advice?

[RobWolfe]

the screen moving is such a disaster. absolute garbage ui design for driving. it scrolls to lyrics and artist info you cant read while driving. there must be some financial reason they’ve done this.. we will have to wait and see bc all we’ve got so far is some “its not a better experience” garbage from spotify.

[AbyssalsInferno]

Samsung S21 Ultra here, and a motorcycle rider. It was infinitely useful to have car mode, I mount my phone to my handlebars and had car mode enabled so it was a makeshift now playing thing. Yet another useful feature Spotify decided to get rid of for "reasons".

[squirt4]

Please bring Car Mode back. I have utilized this feature for years and in the last month, it has just disappeared from my app. I have an option to leave the screen on all the time, which is turned on, but it says you have to turn on Car Mode to make that work and their isn't an option to turn Car Mode on. Where did it go? Why was it taken away? It is safer to use Car Mode while driving instead of the regular Spotify screen. This was an option users could toggle on and off so why get rid of options? The screen on all the time feature and the bigger buttons were helpful and made for safer driving. I hope these features can be brought back as options for Spotify users.

[jhob101]

Can't believe it's been removed.  Driving is not as safe without it.  What a retrograde step.

BRING BACK VAR MODE!!!

[bobbo4]

Can anybody explain to a simpleton like myself what is going on? I drive an older 2011 as my daily commuter, all I have is USB and aux-in. So I purchased an Alexa Echo Auto (1st gen) and ever since I had it setup so my default nav was Waze and my default audio was Spotify.

I used to pop my directions into Waze then switch over to Spotify where I'd have a lovely, simple UI with just the album art, play/pause, skip and the shuffle/loop button visible. Any audio directions from Waze would then semi mute the audio and play over the top.

Since the start of May this no longer seems to work. The Spotify UI now looks like it does in standard mode (with the skip interval buttons, the lyrics, video where applicable etc). Is this car mode or lack of? If I now have the spotify app open on-screen the audio cues from Waze no longer work correctly - they're quieter and muffled under the music. And Echo auto no longer responds to requests like 'skip track' although it will respond to play or stop.

This is really annoying! Is this Spotify? Basically they've made their own UI unusable, it's dangerous and I've now disabled all features in the app e.g. concerts nearby, video, notifications etc as I don't want them popping up when I'm driving. Surely that's the opposite of what they want? 

[JadeL1]

Car mode used to automatically turn on while I was driving, but it recently stopped and I can’t figure out why, or how to turn it back on again. I connect to my 2014 VW Beetle using bluetooth, I have an iPhone that is fully up to date, and the spotify app is also up to date. In the app it says It’s connected with the little car icon next to the name of my car, so I know that there is no issue with Spotify registering that It’s connected to a car. I’ve looked through the community and found some people having the same problem with no solution, has this feature been removed?

[bring_back_car_mode]

I've commuted on a motorcycle with my phone mounted on the handlebars for over a year and found Car View / Car Mode very useful from a safety perspective to keep the phone screen on with a nice minimal interface. The setting "Keep screen turned on while app is open" was helpful even once Car View retired, but now the screen shuts off regardless of this setting. Please bring back Car Mode / Car View. This was quite a downgrade for safety and usability. 

[gthemusicguy]

The "car mode" option is missing from the Android App version 8.9.38.494. I contacted spotify and they gave me the whole "uninstall and reinstall bit" - I did that and no change. I believe this feature was removed in the 5/6/24 update....after an hour on chat and leaving the chat tab open for 2 days they finally confirmed that "car mode" wasn't beneficial to driving so they removed it. UGH

[reddybrek37]

I'm really disappointed to discover car mode is gone! I had auto car mode on so it was my default view of Spotify, and it was so much safer and easier to use in the car. 

I only hope that spotify might bring it back, as I don't have a modern car and won't be getting one any time in the near future. 

[bobbobbobbins]

I left Spotify the last time they removed this functionality and will not hesitate to do so again.  A shame as the app is the best out there but this functionality is the most important feature to me