Spotify for volvo is awful

[doostango]

I recently bought a new volvo XC40. Really nice car, and I was stoked to find a native spotify client. I found that the sound quality of the native client was much better than blueooth or carplay so I really want to use it.

Unfortunately the app is horrible, and it is really disappointing that neither Spotify nor Volvo (both known for their excellent product quality) has done anything about it. Issues are:

• After starting the car and starting Spotify it can take up to 5 minutes to start streaming (and sometimes it never does - you have to switch to radio and back to get it to work)
• More than half the time, the track shown on the screen is not the track that I am listening to. 
• Maybe 30% of my Library is shown, and nothing is in alphabetical order, making it unusable
• There are constant interruptions and "Buffering...". I am on a 4G service in a metropolitan area, and get 50Mbps down on average

So there are 2 major issues here:

1. The user interface of the app itself displays incorrect information and is close to unusable. Issue for the developer
2. The way data is used by the app / car is broken (I suspect this is a volvo issue)

I am not sure if this app was developed by Spotify or Volvo. If it was developed by Volvo I can kinda understand that a car manufacturer would build a bad app, but if it was developed by Spotify then shame on you for allowing such a mess to tarnish your reputation! You are both from Sweden and should have developed something worthy of both your companies

Would love to know if anyone else has encountered these problems and if they have found a solution

[Snobound2]

Spotify app for the phone lets you download a playlist to play off line.  Can you do the same with the car app?  If so then download it once and then later when you play it there should be no delay (or data charges 🙂 )

[bob_bobene]

Hello

I have the Spotify app installed in my Volvo  OS (Android Automotive). The app is a (very) stripped down version of the phone app, so when I use it I still have to use the phone (iPhone) to perform some operations (such as opening the album by tapping on the song). This of course only works when the apps on phone and car connect with each other - and that connection is unpredictable and unstable: sometimes connects, sometimes doesn't, sometimes connects and drops, sometimes connects but every operation takes forever (such as about a minute between tapping the song on phone and it starting to play on car). 

Tried reinstalling, logging out/in, etc. 

Anyone with similar experiences, advice?

P.S. I wish I did not have to rely on that connection at all and the car app had all the features. I am guessing that the features are stripped to minimize interactions with it, but the result is the need to use phone anyway.

[baniux]

After reactivating Volvo on Call function, which required some "programming" due to change of the region (as told by official service, region had to be changed, because originally my V90CC was from Netherlands, and now the country has changed), Spotify app is not showing images of the songs anymore. Annoying...

[Dams91]

Hello, I have the same issue than yours, without having programed anything on the car . Since Last week, I can t see the pictures of the songs, so I have doubts that it s related to the change of country they made to your car. I did the same than everybody, uninstall and install . But nothing.... A shame , as the audio quality is much better than Android auto version but the user experience is awful . I hope Volvo make some improvment on their apps volvo cars and infotainment if they want us to keep on buying their vehicules as for now they are far behing generic brands on this aspect .

[doostango]

Unfortunately after 3 years nothing has been fixed and it has now got worse with no artwork. I will be selling my Volvo as soon as I can and willl never buy another one, and I advise everyone I know to do the same. Volvo is now just a cheap Chinese car sold at European prices.