What you need to know
- Spotify gets Android 13's latest media player support.
- The music streaming platform brings minor visual changes with the new update.
- The feature was first spotted in its beta version early this month.
Spotify is releasing a new stable version of its app through the Google Play Store that supports Android 13's new media player, which displays album artwork and features a dancing playback bar for compatible apps.
The popular music streaming platform initially rolled out this feature via a beta version 8.7.92.115 for beta testers (via 9to5Google). However, the feature is now available for more users, provided they are running the stable 8.7.92.521 version from the Google Play Store.
The 9to5 report notes that with the new Android 13's media player support, Spotify gets visual changes, particularly seen in the notification shade on Android phones like the Pixel 7.
The new update displays a large, rounded squircle for playing or pausing a track. In addition, users can see the "previous" and "next" buttons of the media player placed on either end of the squiggly seek bar. Also, two customizable buttons are placed next to the seek bar, which are mapped to the "shuffle" and "like" by default.
The above-mentioned changes apply to the new media player for playing music tracks. Likewise, while playing podcasts on Spotify, the "previous” and "next" to a 15-second forward and rewind like we usually see on streaming platforms like YouTube. The "shuffle" and "like'' buttons will be replaced by a "speed up playback" button and an "add to library" media button in the new update.
By default, the Android 13 media player supports YouTube, YouTube Music, Google Podcasts, and Google Chrome playback. However, some third-party apps also utilize this feature, including SoundCloud, Shazam, and Pocket Casts.
It's great to see Spotify join the list, albeit a little late to the party. If you're a Spotify user on an Android device, you should be able to see the new media player after updating the app in the Google Play Store.
In other news, the platform also released the "Spotify 2022 Wrapped" playlist early this month. If you still haven't taken a look at yours, it's not too hard to find the year-end playlist on the music streaming service.
