Unify app listening session behavior on mobile

[lookeypl]

Hello Spotify team!

I'm not exactly sure when it happened, but for a few months now the mobile app exposes a weird behavior when I connect it to my car.

It used to be the case that all my devices running a Spotify app were separate in terms of their listening sessions - my PC would have its own play queue which is resumed after I close and reopen the app, same for my laptop, etc. Similarly, my phone is also treated as a separate listening device. However, recently there was one very specific situation introduced which separates from this behavior - when my phone connects via Bluetooth to my car's radio and Spotify switches to Car View, my phone will magically switch to a listening session I had even the other day on my last used device. This includes going back to a queue I listened to from my PC on a previous day, which just happened to be the last time I used Spotify. This also happens after a short delay, so I will start listening to something inside my car, just to be randomly dropped to a playlist with the same shuffle I had on my PC last evening.

I first thought this was a weird bug, but it's been months and the behavior remains the same, so I figured I should share it. If it's a feature - this is something that needs an on/off switch in the settings. I'm the kind of person that will listen to different things depending on the situation, and I also like to keep one shuffle going over multiple sessions, which this behavior prevents.

Another fun fact is that this behavior is only happening in the scenario above - when I listen to music inside my car, and then come back home and turn on my PC, the PC app still remembers the queue/session I had on my PC the day before and knows nothing of what I listened to on my phone inside my car. For the record - in my case this is a good behavior and I would like it to stay this way or at least have the option to turn it off.

For some technical details:

- My car's radio is just a regular built-in car radio with Bluetooth - no wireless CarPlay, no other extra bells and whistles, just a Bluetooth connection used to play music in the car + media controls + song information (title, artist, etc)

- Phone is iPhone 15 Pro Max with latest updates and iOS 18.1. Phone detects the connection as a car receiver, which enables Car View correctly.

- PC is running Windows 11 23H2 (did not get the latest 24H2 update yet) with latest Spotify app version as well.

If this is an intended behavior, please make it optional. It's actively a bad idea to force some new feature on your customers without giving them an option to opt out of it.

Thanks for your help!