In the latest Android Auto update, Google is widely rolling out a new music players for all apps including the likes of Spotify, Apple Music, and more.
Android Auto 13.4 has been rolling out over the past week or so, and brings with it some of the first noticeable changes we’ve seen to the platform in quite a while. As we first reported last week, this includes some Material You accent colors throughout the system. Beyond that, though, the music player on Android Auto has also picked up a redesign.
On Android Auto, all audio apps share the same core design for the music player. Buttons may change, but the layout stays consist to the benefit of the driver, who doesn’t need to re-learn the layout for each app, something that could cause trouble behind the wheel. Since the 2023 redesign of Android Auto, the music player (pictured above) hasn’t changed all that much, but the Android Auto 13.4 update is delivering a revamp.
In Android Auto 13.4, the music player has moved the album art off to the left side, opening up space next to it for the track progress bar which has the track title, artist, and time underneath as it did before. The text is slightly smaller to fit as well. Below that, the buttons have also changed to take up the full width of the display, but they’re pretty similar to how they were before.
The main change is to the placement of the track progress bar.
Below, the new UI is pictured with Spotify, but the change should apply to all audio apps on Android Auto.
This could be a sign that Google is moving closer to its “Car Media” update, which is expected to allow Android Auto to play local media from a car including radio stations, as we’ve previously reported. There’s still no sign of that being live in this update, though.
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