"Your Episodes" broken 15s skip on Android Auto

[albertwenty1]

Plan

Premium

Country

USA

Device

Pixel 8a & Android Auto (Toyota)

Operating System

Android 14

Recently, Spotify's Android Auto controls broke for podcasts, but only for "Your Episodes" playlist. 15s skip forward and backward were replaced with skip ahead and back in the podcast queue, and speedup was replaced with 15s back.

Here is what the UI looks like when playing a podcast episode directly (not via "Your Episodes"):

normal podcast play screen, with speedup, 15s forward and backward buttons

This is important because the two buttons surrounding play/pause are tied to the driver's steering wheel forward/backward tactile buttons. A driver can skip around in an episode without looking down, and without fumbling through multiple layers of touchscreen controls.

Here is what the same interface looks like when playing podcasts via "Your Episodes":

bad controls that default to skipping to next or previous podcast via Android Auto when using "Your Episodes"

Note that this isn't just an "inconsisten UI" bug — it is a major safety issue. Since the default buttons closest to the middle "Play/Pause" button are the ones tied to the steering wheel forward/back controls, these are the only ones available to the driver who wants to keep their eyes on the road. Even worse, navigating to the "forward 15s" control in this "Your Episodes" configuration requires navigating to the three-dot menu and another layer of button overlays on the touchscreen. Moving 15s forward/backward is such a common use-case in listening to podcasts that this is why Spotify has always kept the 15s buttons as default foward/backward interface (in Android Auto, for headphones, on UI, etc), but this was recently changed for some reason - likely a missed regression. And presents a dangerous divergence from user expectation that is likely a ticking time bomb; this will cause road accidents at some point in the future if it has not already.

Please don't mark this as a feature request. It is a bug. Severity high for safety reasons. Spotify does not want to be partly repsonsible for encouraging drivers to stare at their touchscreen instead of using tactile controls for most-used feature paths.

[albertwenty1]

note: I've tried uninstalling the Spotify app completely (clearing storage and cache first, and rebooting before reinstalling) as suggested in another community post, and the problem persists after a fresh install.

[Dessi]

Hi there @albertwenty1,

Thanks for flagging this and sorry for the delay!

We've reported this to the respective team, so that they can investigate this further. We'll let you know as soon as we have an update!

Take care.

[albertwenty1]

Thanks Dessi!

[yavonz15]

This morning, unfortunately, the problem also occurred to me. Really annoying. Please don't make me switch to YouTube music

[albertwenty1]

YT Music is a good temporary fix for me for most podcasts. Eager to get back to Spotify for this though — easier to find my podcasts, and some aren't on YT Music yet

[maybchloe]

This problem is still happening for me. It started 2 days ago on September 25th. I'm on a Pixel 4a and Android Auto swapped the '15s skip' and 'next episode' buttons, so it's no longer possible to do 15s skip from the steering wheel 😞

[Dean478]

Same issue here with Android Auto and a Google Pixel 6A. 

[stevem999]

Just appeared in last few days on Samsung S23 Ultra in the UK. Really annoying and definite safety issue.

[yavonz15]

One solution at the moment that I have found is to go from the “Recently Listened” tab and then to “your episodes” from there it works normally as before listening to playlists.

[Dean478]

Not sure if it's related, but I've suddenly lost the ability to skip the same way with my Pixel Buds Pro 1. It now skips the track entirely just like it does with Android Auto...

[Eni]

Hey folks, 

Thanks for all the info you've sent so far. 

Could you let us know if you're still experiencing this? If so, make sure to send us the updated info of what @Ivelina asked for previously. We'd need the recent details of your devices' make/model, OS versions and the exact Spotify version they're running. Also, sending us a video of this behavior would come in handy. You can attach it to your next response by using the Insert Video option in the post editor. You can also upload it to Google Drive and share the link with us (make sure the video has the permissions for anyone to see it).

We'll pass this updated info on to the team in charge to keep looking into it. 

Thanks!

[albertwenty1]

still experiencing this, 100%.

video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pRyNmh4E4iIjUJXo6FhRSrivS6g-iEmB/view?usp=sharing

Pixel 8a, Android 14 (Build AP2A_240905.003.A1, Sep 5 2024 Security Update, Aug 1 2024 Play system update)

Spotify version: 8.9.78.513

[awkwardpickle]

Also experiencing the exact same symptoms @albertwenty1 describes, skip for podcasts in android auto is "skip to next episode" when played from "your episodes" and skips 15s when played from elsewhere. 

Pixel 5, Android 14 build UP1A.231105.001.B2

Nov 5 2023 security update, July 1 2024 Google play system update, Spotify version 8.9.80.581

[amazingakita]

i've also started getting this.

samsung flip 4, spotify version 8.9.80.581

[Loneranger3000]

Same issue and I tried reinstalling with no luck. Spotify please take a look at this as the alternative (manual 15sec forward) is extremely dangerous. 

[amazingakita]

i've tried the "Recently Listened" -> "Your Episodes" workaround, and that's fixed it (for now)

[Novy]

Hey folks, 

For anyone still experiencing this issue, make sure to send over the full info requested by @Eni above. Once we have all the info, we can forward it to the relevant teams.

We'll be on the lookout.

[cc81]

My Spotify on Android Auto started doing this today. Was fine up until yesterday, never had this issue before, and the app updated to version 8.9.80.581 last night. Running on an Pixel 7.

[youseerabbit]

This issue restarted again a couple of days ago after a recent Spotify app update.

Exactly the same as before: forward 15/back 15 options are still available if you navigate to the now playing screen in spotify and click the three dots menu, but the next/previous buttons default to skipping the entire podcast.

Plan: Premium

Spotify App: 8.9.80.581
Phone: Google Pixel 7

OS: Android 14 (Build AP2A.240905.003)

Country: India

[Eitherocelot7530]

Plan

Premium 

Country usa

Device android auto

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

Operating System

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

My Question or Issue  

Why is the 15 sec advance now a full skip of a podcast on Android Auto??? Please change back! This will cause accidents. This will send me to another platform. Very bad idea, developers!!!