What’s the best music app to use with Android Auto?
Introduction
Android Auto is Google’s customized interface for using Android apps in your car’s infotainment system. It connects your Android smartphone to the car’s display and audio system, allowing you to access key apps and functions like navigation, calls, messages, and music playback in a simplified, driver-friendly format. With Android Auto, you can seamlessly stream music from your favorite apps on your phone through your car’s speakers. This provides a far superior listening experience compared to just using your phone’s small internal speakers while driving. The goal of this article is to recommend the best music app option to use with Android Auto, based on factors like compatibility, audio quality, library size, and unique features.
Google Play Music
Google Play Music is the default music app developed by Google for Android devices. It has deep integration with Android Auto, allowing users to access their full Google Play Music library from their car’s head unit display (Source: Android Auto – Apps on Google Play).
Key features of Google Play Music for Android Auto include:
- Stream songs, albums, playlists, and stations from your Google Play Music library
- Get personalized recommendations based on your listening history
- Play music both online and offline
- Voice control music playback and selection using Google Assistant
- Browse your library or search for artists, songs, albums, genres etc.
As Google’s proprietary music service, Google Play Music offers unlimited uploads for songs in your personal library and integrates with other Google services. On the downside, it lacks highly curated playlists and some social features of streaming services like Spotify (Google Play Music review). Overall, it provides a seamless experience optimized for Android Auto and broader Google ecosystem.
Spotify
Spotify is one of the most popular music streaming services available today, and it works well with Android Auto. Spotify offers access to over 80 million songs that can be streamed directly through the Android Auto interface (reference).
Key features of Spotify’s integration with Android Auto include:
- Ability to browse and play Spotify playlists, albums, songs, and podcasts
- Personalized recommendations based on listening history and preferences
- Voice commands via Google Assistant to search for and play content
- Seamless switching between Android Auto and mobile Spotify app
- Offline listening for premium subscribers
One unique offering from Spotify is the Car Thing, which is a dedicated in-car device for controlling Spotify hands-free. It has a display screen and voice controls, providing quick access to playlists, stations, and podcasts (reference). However, the Car Thing requires a Spotify Premium account and has received mixed reviews.
Overall, Spotify is a top choice for music streaming with Android Auto due to its robust catalog, personalized recommendations, and ability to download content for offline listening. Downsides are the requirement of a paid subscription for full access to features.
YouTube Music
YouTube Music is Google’s music streaming service that comes pre-installed on many Android devices. It offers over 70 million official songs, albums, thousands of playlists, and artist radio stations. YouTube Music has seamless integration with Android Auto and allows you to play audio and video music from YouTube.
Some of the key features of YouTube Music on Android Auto include:
- Access to YouTube Music’s extensive catalog of songs, albums, playlists, and music videos
- Personalized recommendations based on your listening history and preferences
- Offline downloads for listening without an internet connection
- Hands-free voice commands to search, play, pause, skip tracks etc.
- Ability to cast music to compatible devices
YouTube Music offers a free ad-supported tier as well as a paid YouTube Premium subscription without ads. It’s automatically available on Android Auto for Android users. The integration works smoothly for searching, queuing up songs, playlists etc.
Some drawbacks are that it lacks some features offered by competing services like high-quality audio, lyrics support and does not allow uploading your own song collection. But overall, it’s a solid option for Android Auto users who want seamless access to YouTube’s massive music library.
Cited from: https://carplayhacks.com/android-auto-youtube-music/
Amazon Music
Amazon Music is available on Android Auto as one of the supported music apps. To use it, you’ll need to have the Amazon Music app installed on your Android phone and an active Amazon Music subscription, either Amazon Music Unlimited or Amazon Prime Music (for Prime members).
Amazon has focused on improving integration with Android Auto over the past couple years. In a recent Reddit discussion, users reported the experience has gotten much better after some initial struggles (Source). You can now search for artists, albums, songs, playlists, and stations using your voice through Android Auto. The full Amazon Music catalog is available.
Some key capabilities with Amazon Music and Android Auto include:
- Streaming music, both on-demand songs and customized radio stations
- Access to Amazon Prime Music for Prime subscribers
- Seamless integration with Alexa voice assistant
- Ability to download songs for offline listening
- Podcast support
One downside reported by some users is slower search compared to apps like Spotify. But many find Amazon Music still very functional for Android Auto, with voice search being a good workaround for clunky text search (Source). Overall, Amazon Music provides a full-featured option worth considering among music apps for Android Auto.
Pandora
Pandora (source) is a popular music streaming app that offers personalized stations based on your favorite songs, artists, or genres. Pandora has integrated support for Android Auto, allowing you to access your Pandora stations directly on your car’s display.
Some of the key features of Pandora on Android Auto include:
- Ability to create new stations from your Android Auto interface
- Browse and play existing personalized stations
- Thumbs up/down tracks to further customize stations
- View album art and info on your car’s display
- Use steering wheel controls for basic playback functions
One downside is that Pandora has limited support for offline playback in the car, requiring an internet connection for streaming. There are also some reports of issues with recent UI changes in Android Auto mode.
Overall, Pandora is a solid option for enjoying personalized radio stations through Android Auto. It provides a good combination of discovery, customization, and integration. Just be aware it is reliant on connectivity for streaming.
SoundCloud
SoundCloud is a popular music and podcast streaming service that lets users upload, record, promote and share audio content. It has a large catalog of user-generated content as well as tracks from major label artists (Source).
SoundCloud is available as a free service with limited skips and offline downloads, or through a SoundCloud Go+ paid subscription which removes limits. The mobile app is available on both Android and iOS.
SoundCloud has direct integration with Android Auto, allowing you to stream music hands-free in your car (Source). Just make sure you have the latest version of the SoundCloud app installed and are logged in.
The pros of using SoundCloud with Android Auto include access to user-generated content and remixes you won’t find on other services. The large catalog of podcasts is also a benefit. However, the interface and recommendations may not be as polished as paid streaming options. There are also limits on skips and offline downloads with the free tier.
Tidal
Tidal is a premium music streaming service that offers high fidelity sound quality, including support for master quality authenticated (MQA) encoding which provides better-than-CD quality audio (1). Tidal has a catalog of over 70 million tracks and 250,000 high quality videos available (2).
Tidal integrates nicely with Android Auto, allowing you to access your library, playlists, and stations directly through the Android Auto interface. You can ask Google Assistant to play songs, artists, albums, playlists, and stations from Tidal just by voice. Tidal also supports offline listening, so you can download playlists and albums to your device for seamless listening even without an internet connection.
Some of the pros of using Tidal with Android Auto include the high quality audio, robust catalog, voice controls, and offline listening. However, a downside is that the app itself lacks some features available on other platforms, like high quality album artwork and queue management (3). The subscription can also be more expensive than competitors at $9.99/month for standard quality or $19.99/month for HiFi quality.
Overall, if you’re looking for a premium listening experience in your car, Tidal is an excellent option to use with Android Auto. The sound quality and library cannot be beat. Just be prepared to pay a higher monthly fee for access.
(1) https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/tidal-for-android
(2) https://tidal.com/
Recommendation
Based on the analysis, Google Play Music is likely the best overall music app for Android Auto. Here are some of the key reasons:
- It comes pre-installed on most Android devices and is tightly integrated with the Android operating system.
- The user interface is optimized for in-car use, with large buttons and text for easy interaction while driving.
- It offers access to a large library of songs through your Google account and allows uploading of your own music collection.
- Playlists and stations can be easily accessed and controlled through your voice using “Ok Google” commands.
- It supports offline playback for when you lose cell service.
- The search functionality makes finding artists, albums, and songs quick and intuitive.
While Spotify and YouTube Music have larger catalogs, Google Play Music’s native Android Auto integration, offline playback, and voice control give it the edge for most users. It provides a seamless audio experience optimized for driving without distraction.
Conclusion
To conclude, the best music app to use with Android Auto is Spotify. Spotify has a massive library of over 70 million songs that you can access on the go. It has playlists and radio stations tailored to your taste. Spotify also works seamlessly with Android Auto allowing you to control playback through your car’s interface.
The other options like Google Play Music, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, and Pandora are decent too but they lack some key features compared to Spotify. Overall, Spotify offers the best combination of music discovery, custom playlists, podcasts, compatibility with Android Auto, and is also reasonably priced. So I would highly recommend using Spotify as your go-to music app for Android Auto.