Spotify’s First Native In-Car App Is Hitting Audi EVs First

Built without Google’s design restrictions, the new app will go live on the Audi A6 e-tron and Q6 e-tron around the world.

Photo by: Spotify

By: Iulian Dnistran

Oct 22, at 2:56am ET

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Spotify is launching its first truly native in-car music streaming app, and Audi has dibs.
The new application breaks free of the design limitations previously imposed by Google.
On cars with a passenger display, Spotify can show lyrics.

There’s a new Spotify in-vehicle app, and Audi EVs are the first to get it. And no, you’re not wrong—Spotify already has an application designed for Google-based infotainment systems, but the new one was built from start to finish by the Swedish company without having to comply with Google’s design restrictions.

The previous iteration of Spotify’s Android Automotive app worked as a headless setup, where the music streaming service was in charge of the data, playlists, and music catalog, but Google guidelines set hard rules on how the interface looked. Now, the new app is headful, meaning that Spotify can do whatever it wants with the user interface, drawing pixels on the car’s display as it desires.

Photo by: Spotify

“We’re drawing all the pixels,” said Jonathan Tarlton, Automotive Business Development Lead at Spotify, in an interview quoted by The Verge. “We own the user experience. So we’re not in a template or a framework. It’s 100 percent Spotify.”

As a result, the new setup can take advantage of all the crazy features found in today’s cars. On cars with a passenger display, Spotify can show music lyrics. The front passenger can scan a QR code to join a shared listening session and add songs to the shared queue.

The center display can show videos and lyrics, too, but once the car starts moving, these features are restricted, and only the audio continues playing. Voice commands are baked in, with Spotify claiming its new app taps directly into the vehicle’s built-in voice assistant. On Audi vehicles, drivers can use the “Hey Audi” command to manage playback hands-free.

Gallery: Spotify's New In-Vehicle App Debuts On Audi Models

Source: Spotify

To get the new Spotify in-car app, Audi owners can install or update it directly from the Audi Application Store on the car’s infotainment system. A smartphone is required to complete the sign-in process by scanning an on-screen QR code, but after this step is completed, the in-car experience is decoupled from personal devices.

That said, Spotify is not giving up on phone projection systems like Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The company said it’s still “heavily invested” in phone projection, but it wants to offer users choice. “We want to be wherever they are, and we want to make sure that they’re accessing Spotify in the way they want to access it, whether they’re locked into the iOS ecosystem or Android on the phone as well,” said Tarlton for The Verge.

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The new Spotify in-vehicle app is available now in the United States for the A6 e-tron and Q6 e-tron electric models, as well as the A5, Q5, and A6 combustion models from the model year 2026 onwards. Audi said the new app will be launched in 47 markets worldwide, including Europe, North and South America, Asia, Africa, and Australia.

This is just the beginning, though. While Audi is the first automaker to ship the new Spotify app, more car manufacturers are expected to join in the future.