What's the point?

[StaticFaction]

Plan

Premium

Country

USA

Device

Operating System

My Question or Issue

I just received my car thing. I was under the impression this was a standalone unit. I know it needs to connect via Bluetooth but when I try to use it, the Spotify app opens on my phone and plays through there. Meaning, I have the song playing through my car stereo on the phone app and Car Thing at the same time. It shows on both screens, car and Car Thing simultaneously. So, what's the point of having a Car Thing if it just launches the app and plays through there? Am I missing something? Is there way to just have it play through the Car Thing and free my phone up for other things?

[MattSuda]

Hey @StaticFaction 

The way Car Thing works is that it's connected to your phone via Bluetooth and acts as a remote for the Spotify app on your phone.

The Car Thing doesn't have an internet connection or speaker. The Spotify app on your phone is loading the songs and doing all the main playback. The phone is sending the audio to the car via Bluetooth.

This is how the setup works:

• Car Thing connected to phone via Bluetooth (for the Car Thing to control the Spotify mobile app)
• Phone connected to car via Bluetooth (to send the audio to the car speakers) AUX and USB also supported if you don't want audio to go through Bluetooth. Most newer phones do not have a headphone jack anymore though so the most popular setup option will be Bluetooth.
  
  

You can find more info and help guides for the Car Thing here:

https://support.spotify.com/device_help/car_thing/

[MattSuda]

Car Thing is mainly made for older cars that don't have Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. It makes it so you don't have to touch your phone while driving and instead can mount and use the Car Thing which has an always on screen and easy to use buttons.

From your post, it sounds like what's happening is that you are plugging in your phone to your car and CarPlay or Android Auto is showing up on your car screen, and the Spotify app is also showing on the car screen.

You can close out of the Spotify app so that it is just playing in the background and you should be able to still pull up other apps.

From the support article here:
https://support.spotify.com/article/setting-up-car-thing/

"If Apple CarPlay or Android Auto is available in your car, you can use it with Car Thing. Just connect Car Thing to the sound system with the USB cable.

Car Thing’s screen will then also show on the head unit’s screen, but you can still use Car Thing to control what is playing."

[StaticFaction]

Thanks. I don't have CarPlay or Android Auto. I am connecting my paired phone to the stereo through Bluetooth, the Car Play is also paired with my phone. When I play a song on Car Thing, it also plays on my stereo because I have Bluetooth selected as the input. My car stereo screen shows the same information as the Car Thing screen as well as my phone screen. So, when I play a song, it's showing up on 3 screens at the same time. I might have the option to plug Car Thing into a USB port so I'll try that next. Otherwise, I'll try to close the Spotify app on my phone after Car Thing opens it and see if that works. to eliminate the redundancy. 

[MattSuda]

@StaticFaction 

Ah, thanks for the clarification. Your setup sound similar to mine. I have an older car without CarPlay or Android Auto. I have my phone paired to the car's bluetooth and on the car screen I have Bluetooth selected as the audio source.

Before I used Car Thing, I would just open the Spotify app on my phone and start the playback. Then my car screen would show me the song and artist name information on the screen that it gets from Bluetooth.

When I am using the Car Thing, the song information shows up on the Car Thing and it also shows up on my car screen. This is because Bluetooth usually includes the song and artist name in the information that is sent. It's similar to a setup without the Car Thing, but what the Car Thing does is make it easier to control the music playback without having to get out your phone or unlock your phone if you also have it mounted. The Car Thing is mounted and it has an always on screen and easy to use controls so that it's easier to control the playback while driving. The Spotify app on your phone is still playing the music and sending it to your car via Bluetooth, it's just that now you have an extra device in the mix that acts as an easy to use controller while driving.

The Spotify app on your phone screen can be closed and the audio should still be sent to your Car stereo via Bluetooth in the background. That way you can open up maps or browse something else while music is playing.

For my setup, I also have my phone mounted in my car and what I do sometimes is have maps open on my phone screen while Car Thing is showing me the playback information for the music and I can control it from there. The car screen also shows me the Bluetooth information such as current song and artist name, but I usually just look at my Car Thing screen. My Honda car has a button to push that will change what is shown on my car screen for example I can show the current gas milage instead or show a big clock. I usually just keep the Bluetooth song information shown even though it's redundant.

[blacktideao]

I love Spotify, but yeah, really, what's the point of this? Maybe if it came out 15 years ago when smartphones sucked, or you had a flip phone with data. Maybe if it connected to vehicle's data plans via agreements (no doubt for a premium). Maybe if it was attached as a smart device to an existing mobile plan.

But as of right now, there's simply no point to this device if you have to have a smart phone. Stick your smart phone to the dash where this would go, and let it automatically switch to car mode and be done with it.

If Spotify wants to waste resources like this, bring back the best feature you've ever had that you got rid of because you're marketing team is stupid: The Run mode, where it would create a playlist of your flavor but match the BPM in real time to your run pace. This was truly game changing for athletes, and you canned it. I may be bitter about it. Never, ever, take away a feature nobody else has.

[jasonvelocity]

Agreed. 

When I first heard of the Car Thing it *seemed* like a good idea, but the reality is that it offers less features for more money. I cannot think of a viable use case. 

[Gregsfork]

Matt...same issue with me...Spotify running in my phone and on The Thing....and even crazier no on/off
option....all my 12v car adapters run all the time...so I have to plug in and out ? Disaster....return/refund policy of 14 days? Terrible for a loyal Premium subscriber. 2013 Ford Flex, Galaxy S8+, SYNC system. Sooo disappointed! Greg Cant tell if I can get Spotify App on to my SYNC, but I think not...