Now that Android Auto is available in a few more cars from General Motors and Hyundai, we thought it was time to take a look at a few apps that are compatible with Android Auto. So we’ll start off with Spotify, which is a pretty popular streaming music app. Remember that manufacturers aren’t allowed to skin Android Auto, so no matter what car you have, or aftermarket head unit or even what smartphone, it’s going to look the same on your car as well. Which is great, as it means that you will have the same experience no matter what unit you have.
With Spotify, you’ll obviously need an internet connection. But you can easily switch between playlists, radio, albums and more in the app. As well as skip songs, or go back to the previous song. On the main screen, you get the album art in the background behind the controls for play/pause, skip, and music list. Which looks pretty nice, actually. You can also browse through music available on Spotify from Android Auto. While it’s not as easy as just using the app on your smartphone, it does work, and is pretty simple for the UI it’s using. You can also use the microphone to use voice commands to play music. Which makes everything easier to do.
Of course, Spotify isn’t the only music app that can be used with Android Auto, there’s also Google Play Music, iHeart Radio, Pandora, and many others as well as podcast apps. In one of the screenshots in the gallery below, you can see that you are able to choose between Google Play Music and Spotify – those are the only two shown because those are the two apps that are installed on the phone I had connected to the Android Auto unit. Just simply tap the headphone icon in the bottom row again, and you can choose which app you want to use.
So in a nutshell, that’s Spotify for Android Auto. It’s pretty simple, which is necessary for Android Auto. As you don’t want to be paying too much attention to the screen when you are driving, obviously.
