"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.

[jnrfalcon]

Plan

Premium

Country

US

Device

Pixel 7 Pro projecting to Android Auto

Operating System

Android 15 beta

My Question or Issue

Podcast controls on Android Auto was changed since yesterday to music controls instead of podcast/audiobook control. As a result, clicking physical fast forward/backward buttons no longer skip 15s forward or backward, but skips to next episode in queue or back to beginning of the episode (or previous episode)

[srb228]

I have the same problem. I'm also on a Pixel 7 pro. Problem started in the last day or two.

[Eni]

Hey folks, 

Thanks for getting in touch about this here in the Community. 

Could you let us know if this started happening after a specific event such as an update? 

On another note, it's well worth running a clean reinstall of the app to get rid of any cached files that might be causing trouble. 

If this doesn't do the trick, would you mind sending us a video of the issue happening so we can take a closer look? 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 be on the lookout.

[jnrfalcon]

Don't think it was right after an update. But there was a new update right after it started. So I can't even tell if there was another update about 3 days ago.

I don't want to do a clean reinstall because I don't want to spend hours redownloading all my music. I did try clearing cache and use the Archive function to reinstall the app itself (Archive should leave all settings and data alone. In theory this won't help). Neither worked.

[Ivelina]

Thanks for the response @jnrfalcon.

We totally understand that it can be annoying to have to redownload your content, but just to make sure that we've gone over this troubleshooting step, it'd be very helpful if you could give Spotify a clean reinstall as suggested by @Eni and let us know if this made any difference.

Additionally, make sure there aren't any pending OS updates and you can even ask a relative or a friend to log in to their account to test if the same thing continues to happen.

If there's no change in the behavior, please send us the following so we can continue to investigate:

• Exact Spotify version.
• The devices' make, model and OS versions.
• A video showing how the buttons work.

Appreciate the cooperation and hope to hear from you soon 🙂

[americangame]

Not the original poster but I did a clean reinstall on my device. The issues still exists. 

Spotify version 8.9.60.560

Device Google Pixel 7 Pro

[srb228]

Same here. Clean reinstall did not fix the issue

[Janelle7]

Same here, App installed and reinstalled Phone Galaxy A53 5G My phone did do a software update on 27 July 2024 which could be related? On android auto it also doesn't show a menu anymore for current podcasts but instead just randomly plays one

[americangame]

I did a little more testing. This issue only occurs when I start/select a podcast from the "your episodes" playlist. If I start a podcast on the new episodes or directly from the list. It still allows for the 15 second skip through the audio controls on my car.. 

[MihailY]

Hey,

Apologies for the late reply, folks, and thank you for sharing the requested info.

@americangame, kudos for the in-depth testing! Can the rest of you check if you're seeing the same behavior on your end? 

@Janelle7, can you also send us a few screenshots or a short video showing the issue with the menu?

Cheers,

[Janelle7]

Looks like it sorted itself out

[jnrfalcon]

I can also confirm that it has been fixed.

[jnrfalcon]

Nope. As of this morning, the problem is back. There was no recent update on client side. So it must be a server side change that broke it. 

[Susan_GP]

Hi @jnrfalcon,

Thanks for keeping us updated on this. 

We understand the problem is back, so we can investigate further, please confirm if you've managed to try the reinstallation, and send us the Spotify version you're running and a video/recording showing how the buttons work.

Additionally, could you folks @Janelle7 and @americangame confirm if they issue is back for you as well? Or is everything working correctly?

We'll be here.

[jnrfalcon]

Yes. It doesn't help 

[albertwenty1]

BTW, if you've stumbled on this post because you are also experiencing this issue with Android Auto or some other 15s forward/back skip issue, please LIKE the original post above so that this gets properly prioritized by the good people at Spotify.

[albertwenty1]

I've detailed the problem in another post here: https://community.spotify.com/t5/Android/quot-Your-Episodes-quot-broken-15s-skip-on-Android-Auto/td-... with screenshots and explanations. This happened recently, the last week or two. Prior to that the 15s behavior worked flawlessly. Only broken in "Your Episodes" as far as I can tell — playing podcast episodes via other means seems to preserve the correct 15s behavior.

[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.