Spotify Car Thing accessory no longer relevant

The company announced that the Spotify Car Thing dashboard accessory, which was supposed to improve the listening experience in the car, is no longer being made.

• What is happening? Spotify has abandoned Car Thing. The dashboard accessory will soon be unavailable for purchase. Existing devices should continue to work.
• Why care? The voice-activated accessory for the Spotify app promised to provide a holistic listening experience for people who don’t use CarPlay or Android Auto.
• What to do? If you have a Car Thing, sit back and relax as it will continue to work. Non-owners can imagine themselves as a fly on the wall while Spotify’s top executives pondered the pros and cons of bringing Car Thing to market.

Spotify is phasing out its useless Car Thing hardware

Annoyed on April 13, 2021, Spotify Car Thing no longer exists. Spotify’s latest earnings report [ download PDF ] confirmed that the company has ceased production of the Car Thing. “Based on several factors, including product demand and supply chain issues, we have decided to discontinue further production of Car Thing devices,”a Spotify spokesperson told TechCrunch. The decision is based on several factors, including “product demand and supply chain issues,”the company added.

Will my Car Thing stop working?

Fortunately, this is not the case. Existing Car Thing devices will continue to operate without interruption, the company said. “Existing devices will work as intended,” the company confirmed. Spotify says it has learned a lot from this project. “We remain focused on the vehicle as an important place for audio,” he added.

What is Spotify’s Car Thing?

Car Thing is a media player that was supposed to provide a smooth, personalized listening experience in the car. It was launched in February 2022 for $89.99. Car Thing cannot operate on its own, you will also need another device such as a smartphone to connect Car Thing to the Internet.

Features include four beamforming microphones for “Hey Spotify”voice control, a dialing knob for quick navigation, four preset buttons and a built-in touch screen. The goal of Car Thing, according to Spotify itself, was to “better understand in-car listening and bring audio to a wider range of users and vehicles.”

Why was Car Thing discontinued?

Car Thing failed because several people saw value in a separate device just to use Spotify in their car. With Google’s Android Auto and Apple’s CarPlay, Spotify is available as a downloadable app to run through the car’s infotainment system. As with Car Thing, the Spotify app on your phone can be used to access Spotify’s entire catalog of music and podcasts on the go.

And even without Android Auto or CarPlay, people can still use Bluetooth and the Spotify app on their smartphones to stream their favorite music and shows to the car’s internal speaker system. To put it mildly, the future of Car Thing was bleak.

Faced with unfavorable reviews and falling sales, Spotify admitted on a conference call with analysts on July 27, 2022 that it had ceased production of the short-lived dashboard accessory. Read: How to hide, show and move apps in Apple CarPlay

How to Purchase Car Thing from Spotify

Spotify is no longer building new Car Thing divisions. The device will be on sale while stock lasts, so hurry up if you want to get it before it disappears from store shelves. Car Thing is available on the Spotify website for a discounted price of $49.99 from the original asking price of $89.99.