Spotify thinks my bluetooth headset is a car

[katre50]

Plan

Premium

Country

USA

Device

Pixel 7, Bluetooth headphones

Operating System

Android 13

My Question or Issue

With my old phone (a Pixel 5) and these headphones, they worked fine, but Spotify on my current Pixel 7 thinks that the headphones are a car. I had to disable the car controls, otherwise Spotify was acting like I am driving instead of sitting at my desk or walking around.

I've attached a screenshot, I'm not sure how further to debug or fix this.

[Eni]

Hey there @katre50, 

Thanks for getting in touch about this and welcome to the Community. 

We've noticed there's been a recent report about the same issue and one of our stars' suggestions worked for the fellow user. Would you mind giving those steps a try to see if they work for you as well? 

Let us know how it goes. 

[katre50]

Sadly, that didn't work (and several steps weren't possible: my Bluetooth
headphones don't have an "Absolute Volume" control, and my phone doesn't
show Bluetooth as an app where I can reset the cache.

[Eni]

Hi there @katre50, 

Thanks for getting back to us and letting us know. 

Would you mind trying to use a different Bluetooth headset to see if the same happens? 

On another note, could you ask a friend or a relative to log in to their account on your phone and check if they can replicate this behavior with their account?

Lastly, we suggest that you check if the OS of you device has any pending updates. 

We'll be on the lookout. 

[larsch77]

Same issue with Bose QuietComfort 35ii on Pixel 6. Spotify thinks it's a car and wants to autoplay whenever I start the app. Very frustrating.

[Tobyjas]

I'm pretty sure the problem is with Spotify. It happened with my headphones after my first car ride with then. Everything was okay before. Maybe Spotify detected my speed while connected to the headphones, and assumed it's a car?

[ACGarci]

My earbuds are seen as a car on Spotify so I can't watch video podcasts with them on. Very annoying.