Spotify is shutting down its Car View feature that was added to the music streaming service’s Android and iOS apps back in 2019. The Car View feature helped Spotify users quickly navigate through quick settings in the app and control music playback when driving, thus reducing interaction with the app when their hands are supposed to be on the wheel.
As per a report by The Verge, the removal of the popular feature was confirmed recently when a Spotify moderator was spotted responding to a query on the Spotify community page.
“We can confirm that we’re retiring the car view feature. This however doesn’t mean we don’t want to improve on how our users listen to Spotify while driving,” said the moderator in a reply.
“On the contrary, we’re actively exploring a variety of new ways to deliver the best in-car listening experience. Think of retiring car-view as something that needs to happen in an effort to make way for new innovations coming down the track,” the moderator adds.
A second comment from another moderator confirmed that the service is also getting rid of yet another feature, which happens to be the Now Playing view for Android devices.
While some users are not bothered by the change, Spotify users who have been using Car View since 2019 to make their driving experience easier are criticising the move, accusing the brand of indirectly promoting its Spotify Car Thing device which costs $80 (about Rs 6,004) and only happens to be available to Spotify Premium users.
“Please bear with us for the time being. While we work backstage on improving the experience, one alternative would be to listen hands-free via Google Assistant,” the original comment from the moderator adds. We will have to wait for more details from Spotify to see if a replacement feature for Car View is on the cards later.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Technology Express staff and is published from a syndicated feed)
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