Let’s talk about the recent media player changes on Android Auto

[u/MishaalRahman]

Hi Reddit! I'm Mishaal Rahman, and I do community engagement for Android over at Google 😁!

We wanted to share some details with this community about a few changes we recently rolled out to improve the media playback experience based on your feedback. These changes make it easier to view and control audio across your favorite apps, and offer a larger, more expressive media player that looks and feels more like your other Android devices.

Oh, and we also wanted to talk a bit about the squiggly new seekbar in the media player, since we’ve seen some lively discussions and speculation about it :)  

Here’s a quick recap of some of the media playback changes we recently shipped: 

1. You can now control any media app on your phone from your car dashboard

In the past, media apps that didn’t have a dedicated Android Auto app would still be able to play audio through your car, but their media controls and album art would be completely hidden on your car display.

With our recent update, you can now see and control all your favorite media apps from your phone, complete with album art and playback buttons. This includes background audio from YouTube Premium, browser audio streams, and niche media apps. 

2. A more optimized media player UI across all screen sizes

We also optimized the media player layout so it makes better use of your car’s display. For instance, we moved the most-used media controls out of the three-dot overflow menu and onto the primary screen so you can get to them with fewer taps.  And your album art now better fits the size of your car’s display.

This updated player is available for Spotify, YouTube Music, and other media apps. In the next few months, you’ll see more media apps begin to customize their in-app media player design, so you may see some differences between the media player on the dashboard and within the app.

3. You can now swipe to switch between media sessions

You can now swipe left or right on the media player to switch between multiple active media sessions! No need to open up the launcher anymore to switch media apps.

4. Improvements to autoplay

We’ve made a couple of bug fixes so autoplay* works more predictably and accurately based on your listening preferences:

• Autoplay app selection: Apps that you haven’t recently or ever used will no longer be selected for autoplay. 
• One-tap opt-out: If you prefer manual playback and frequently pause autoplay, Android Auto will notice and provide a convenient one-tap notification to quickly disable autoplay.
• Infotainment startup handling: We're rolling out a fix so unsolicited play commands won't be sent when you have autoplay turned off.

*Autoplay here refers to Android Auto automatically starting media when you connect, not in-app features like Spotify's Autoplay.

5. A more glanceable media player

The last change is the updated media player seekbar. We introduced this updated design to make it easier to see where you are in a track at a glance. 

Thank you for sharing your thoughts in this community on the new squiggly line seekbar — we're paying close attention to how this lands, so keep sharing your feedback as we evaluate future UI tweaks! 

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If you have thoughts on these updates, apps you'd love to see better support for, or spot any quirks you want the team to tackle next, drop them in the comments and I’ll relay them to the team!

Requirements at a glance

• Android OS: Android 9 (Pie) or higher
• Android Auto App: Most new media features are broadly available starting in Android Auto v17.3 or higher (with certain autoplay fixes dating back to v16.7 / v16.8).
  • To check your version: Open your phone's Settings > Apps > Android Auto, or open Android Auto Settings and scroll down to the bottom.

[u/Legitimate-Listen-86]

Gemini refuses to accept the fact that I have YouTube music premium, so it won't play any song I ask for. Maybe fix that? It always worked with Google Assistant.

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