android car bluetooth track info not updated

[FBourget]

Hello,

I use a Samsung S8+ with my car (Subaru WRX) via Spotify directly on by using Android Auto. The audio works and the first track info is OK, but the track info is stuck there, no updates are send to the car display ?!?!

Tried with other music apps, and the display alway gets refreshed

Asked my Subaru dealer if there were a firmware update ? and no

Seems the problem is with Spotify and the bluetooth used on my particular car 😞

anyone solved this ?

Thanks in advance

[racktsai0429]

I got the same issue as you did. I tried different Android 8 phones and it appears the same issue on Spotify with Android Auto. The issue cannot be reproduced on Google music and TuneIn apps. I do believe this is issue that Spotify needs to resolve. If spotify does not resolve it, I will use another music provider.

Test Mobile phones: ASUS zenfone3, HTC U11 and Google Pixel2

Test Bluetooth audio devices: Ford SYNC2 SONY car audio and SONY MW600 headset

Thanks,

Rack

[IanCook]

I have exactly the same problem with a Subaru head unit, Android 7 and Nokia 6

[Vintrox]

I have the same issue with a Pixel 1 and Dodge Uconnect system.

[Stuke]

Pixel 2 XL here and I am experiencing the exact same thing.  If I change the input on my car to CD and back to Bluetooth it updates (But will freeze again).  If I exit Android Auto, it updates as well and will continue to work just fine.

[racktsai0429]

Checked the lastest Spotify release, this issue is resolved.

Thanks Spotify team.

Regards,

Rack

[Stuke]

Just updated the app. Not fixed!!  

[Stuke]

Also it appears to not be updating regardless if I am using Android auto or not. 

[IanCook]

It does update now if the track changes by coming to the end of previous track. However if you manually change the track it doesn't update.

[willsmithcc]

Same here. If I let it play, it updates, but if I change the track, no dice. 

[iuriaranda]

I have the exact same issue, track info is not updating if Android auto is running. It works if android auto is not running though.

I'm running the latest Spotify app version available in the play store, it got updated a couple of days ago, so it seems the issue is not fixed yet.

Tested with a OnePlus 3 running Android 8.0.0, Android Auto 3.0.570554 and Spotify 8.4.45.633

[Stuke]

Does not work if Android auto is not running and you use Google Assistant
to play a song.

[andoriyu]

Alright, here is how you fix it for case when you don't use android auto:

Enable developer options. Find out what kind of profile your head unit uses (ND miata uses 1.3), force your phone to use that profile. Repair.

This will fix issue spotify + bt. However android is still borked.

[Stuke]

I did that.  Mine is also 1.3.  It works fine but as soon as you trigger Google Assistant to play a track, it gets borked again.

Google Play Music does not suffer from these same issues so I have been using that instead.

[murilo_assuncao]

I have the same problem with: Car: Toyota Corolla 2018/2019 / Brazil Brand: Samsung Model: SM-G950FD - Samsung S8 Samsung Experience Version: 9.0 Android Version: 8.0.0 Spotify Version: 8.4.57.803 armV7 The problem persist. (06/21/2018)

[mmains91]

I've happened upon a solution that works for me running Android.

Go into the Spotify settings and turn on "Device Broadcast Status" which will "Allow other apps on your device to see what you are listening to"

Perhaps because bluetooth in later versions of Android is its own app this has to be enabled or you get no info. In any case, it works for me and I haven't seen mention of this in the couple of other help issues like this I ran across.

Hope it helps

[murilo_assuncao]

I did that too. But, unfortunately, also didn't work. Thanks for the tip.

[mmains91]

It's actually still not fixed for me either. It will show the initial track info but when the song changes, whether I do it manually or the song ends, it doesn't update. An additional step I took was going into the battery optimization on Oreo and not optimizing Spotify (thinking it was going to sleep to save battery and that was causing the issue).

The fact is, a lot of people have had issues since the Oreo upgrade. See here https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/phone-by-google/iJeDphsoOJ4

As an annoying workaround, I've found that if the track info displays initially and I want to see what song is currently playing, switching to the regular radio of the car and then back will update it in my case.

[mmains91]

Ok I think I've figured it out and I drive a slightly older Corolla so this may help you as well.

I read online about modifying the 'Bluetooth AVRCP Version' inside the Oreo Developer Options so I gave that a try, Default was 1.4 and I tried both 1.6 and 1.5. 1.6 showed absolutely nothing in the console from Spotify or any other app. 1.5 only showed the time remaining.

Having no success, I switched back to 1.4 and tried. Nothing was showing, even the initial play. So I quit spotify and then relaunched. To my surprise, it was now broadcasting the track info even when the song changed, whether I did it with the steering wheel or it happened naturally.

Maybe switching the bluetooth profiles causes spotify/Android to totally regenerate some configuration or something but this worked for me. I also did temporarily turn off my phone's bluetooth as well as hold the power button on the entertainment system for like 3 seconds to get it to power cycle, but I'm not convinced those steps were required.

[Stuke]

Yep I have done all that.  I even set it to match what version my radio has.  Usually works but there are some things that still break it.  Tested it this morning.  Using Android Auto + Spotify and the song info will not update.  As soon as you leave Android Auto, it updates fine.  Other apps such as Android Auto + Pandora or Google Music work as expected.  

Also, using Spotify without Android Auto and ask Google Assistant to play a song will also cause the song info to not update on the next track.