The Dream of Spotify Car Thing Is Being Kept Alive by Devoted Tinkerers

Spotify’s Car Thing officially has expired. Long live Spotify’s Car Thing. Yesterday was the last day to enjoy the Car Thing as Spotify had intended, as a stand-in to grabbing playlists and podcasts for those of us with old cars without a head unit. But that’s not stopping tinkerers from keeping the dream of Spotify’s Car Thing alive.

Folks in the official Car Thing subreddit and elsewhere on the internet have figured out how to get around the annoying launch screen that locks them out of a once-operational device they spent $80-$120 on not too long ago. Since the expiration date, some Car Thing devices have been rendered unusable, forcing users to a splash screen with a long goodbye. There are a few ways to get beyond the splash screen or avoid it altogether to keep the dying device on life support. It all depends on how much you’re willing to work to resuscitate it.

Android Authority found that some users could get through the discontinuation screen by canceling the update to their device. Remember the Car Thing I reviewed three years ago? I dug it out of the closet for this story and can still use the interface as if things were viable. Even the Spotify voice service offered aid a few times. Other folks have been able to jump the splash screen by holding the settings button, back button, and the first preset button while booting.

So far, the main advice from the community seems to be not to connect the Car Thing to the internet. At the same time, Spotify encourages you to contact customer service to discuss your “refund options” no later than January 14, 2025. I’m curious what the service will offer me because Gizmodo outright bought the device so we could write about it in 2021. I’ve seen scattered Reddit reports that the company provides premium subscriptions instead of full refunds. I reached out to Spotify for further clarification.

What do you do with the Spotify Car Thing if you have one and it’s rendered useless? You could try diving into the tinkering community to see what you find. I stumbled upon Desk Thing, which lets you prop up the Car Thing on a desk for quick access to media, and Glance Thing, which enables you to add app shortcuts and additional Spotify controls. Nocturne also does the same and provides a different take on the Car Thing interface. All the hacks require some knowledge of jailbreaking and tapping into the command line. I hoped to toil away a bit before filing this piece, but it requires focus, which I cannot offer during the working hour. Another route that’s popped up a bit is this random-ass third-party dongle. It appeared in a comment on a subreddit devoted to hacking the Car Thing. It essentially adds button and knob functionality if you have Android Auto or Apple CarPlay already available.