The Android Auto media player has been getting a serious makeover. If you've noticed your Spotify or YouTube Music player looking different in the car lately, you're not imagining it. Google has been rolling out one of the biggest redesigns the media player has seen in years — and it's still not fully done.
Whether you're confused about the squiggly progress bar, wondering why your controls moved, or just want to know what's actually live right now, this breakdown covers everything.
Key Takeaways
- The Android Auto media player redesign started rolling out with version 13.4 in late 2024 and continued with the bigger Material 3 overhaul in version 16.0
- The redesign introduces a wavy (squiggly) progress bar, blurred album art backgrounds, and relocated playback controls
- Apps like Spotify, YouTube Music, and Pocket Casts are now on the new standardized Media Playback template
- A redesigned dashboard media card with more controls (shuffle, repeat, like) is still in testing and not yet widely available
- There is currently no user-accessible toggle to revert to the old design
- A beta version (17.0) introduces swipeable cards for switching between multiple media sessions on the dashboard
- Some bugs exist, including the wavy progress bar reverting to a straight line in Spotify's full-screen mode
Audio is one of the most used features in any car. People stream music, podcasts, and audiobooks on nearly every drive. The media player isn't just a nice-to-have — it's one of the most-used parts of Android Auto.
For years, the layout stayed fairly simple. Big album art dominated the screen, with basic controls underneath. It worked, but it had real limitations:
- Secondary actions like shuffle, repeat, or thumbs up were buried in menus
- Different apps looked different from each other
- The whole interface hadn't caught up to what Android's modern design language was doing on phones
As car displays got bigger and more powerful, Google had more room to work with. And as the company pushed its Material 3 design system across Android, the pressure to bring that same look into the car grew. The result is the redesign we're seeing now.
According to Samsung Magazine, Google designed this update around safe control while driving — not just visuals. Every extra button accessible without opening menus means fewer distractions behind the wheel.
Android Auto 13.4 — Late 2024: The First Big Shift
Version 13.4 was one of the first Android Auto releases in a while to actually change how things look. Here's what moved:
- Album art shifted from center-screen to the left side
- The progress bar moved to the right of the artwork
- Track title, artist, and time info sat below
- Playback buttons stretched across the full width at the bottom
- Text got slightly smaller to fit the new layout
- A new font was introduced
It looked cleaner and more organized than before.
Critically, this wasn't just a Spotify change. The new layout applied across all audio apps on Android Auto. That was Google's first big move toward standardization.
9to5Google reported that 13.4 was one of the first Android Auto releases in a while to deliver noticeable UI changes, with the music player gaining a revamped layout that shifted the album art off to the left side.
Android Auto 16.0 — January 2026: The Material 3 Overhaul
This is the big one. Android Auto 16.0 (version 16.0.660224) brought the new Media Playback template to the stable channel, making it available to a much wider audience.
The new design features:
- A wavy or squiggly progress bar in Material 3 Expressive style
- The play/pause button relocated to the bottom left corner
- Track controls (previous/next) grouped alongside play/pause on the left
- App-specific actions like thumbs up/down, shuffle, and repeat on the right side
- Blurred album art backgrounds in supported apps
- Material You accent colors derived from the album art
The new layout appeared across Spotify, YouTube Music, and Pocket Casts. Spotify showed the most dramatic change — blurred artwork backgrounds and dynamic color theming that shifts with every track.
9to5Google reported that the initial rollout hit beta users earlier in January before the stable release followed shortly after.
March 2026: The Squiggly Line Goes Wider
Not everyone got the wavy progress bar at the same time. In March 2026, 9to5Google reported that the squiggly Material 3 media player was rolling out more broadly, based on multiple Reddit reports of the design appearing "overnight."
One Reddit user noted that updating Android Auto triggered several changes at once — including the app icon switching from blue to green and the squiggly line finally showing up. Small details, but reliable signs that the new UI has arrived on a given device.
The Disappearing Act
Here's where it gets a bit confusing. The wavy progress bar didn't arrive cleanly for everyone.
According to 9to5Google, the initial launch hit a bug that broke steering wheel controls — causing Google to pull the redesign temporarily. Once fixed, the rollout resumed, but unevenly. Some users saw the squiggly line. Others saw it disappear again.
Android Authority reported a specific bug where the wavy bar reverts to a straight line in Spotify's full-screen mode, while it still appears correctly in split-screen.
By mid-2026, autoevolution noted the feature "should now be available to everybody," while still acknowledging reports of it mysteriously going missing in certain setups. The inconsistency is tied to how Google deploys features through server-side flags rather than just app updates.
What Actually Changed: The Full Breakdown
Before the redesign, the full-screen player was dominated by album art. Basic controls sat underneath. It worked, but it didn't leave much room for anything else.
The new full-screen player:
- Moves album art to a smaller position on the left (not the whole background)
- Places the progress bar to the right of the artwork, running prominently across the layout
- Groups play/pause and skip controls on the left side
- Moves app-specific actions (like, shuffle, repeat) to the right side
- Uses a blurred version of the album art as the background in apps like Spotify
- Applies Material 3 typography and accent colors from the artwork
The result is a more structured, functional layout. Controls are easier to find at a glance, and the interface feels more in line with what Android looks like on phones.
The dashboard card is the smaller widget that shows alongside navigation — like when you're using Google Maps and playing music at the same time. It's separate from the full-screen player.
Google is testing a redesigned version of this card, discovered through APK teardowns by Android Authority. In the new design:
- Album art is centered and shown at a smaller size
- Track title and artist are placed beneath the artwork, centered
- The background is a blurred version of the album art's colors
- Extra controls (shuffle, repeat, like) appear below, depending on screen size
- The play/pause button shifts to a more central position when extra controls are shown
Whether those extra controls appear depends on your car's head unit. Larger, higher-DPI screens can fit them. Smaller screens revert to the simpler layout.
This card has not officially launched. It remains hidden in current builds and Google has not confirmed a release date. But given how closely it aligns with the rest of the redesign, most coverage expects it to ship at some point.
Swipeable Multi-Session Cards (Beta Only)
Android Auto 17.0 beta (version 17.0.162144) introduced another new feature: swipeable media cards on the dashboard. Instead of one media card, you can swipe between multiple cards — each representing a different app or recent media session.
So if you were listening to a podcast in Pocket Casts and then switched to Spotify, both sessions would be accessible with a quick swipe on the dashboard.
This hasn't reached stable yet. It's an exciting feature, but very much a work in progress.
The Wavy Progress Bar: Love It or Hate It
No single element of the redesign has generated more debate than the squiggly progress bar.
According to BGR, reactions on Reddit were split right down the middle:
People who love it say:
- It makes the currently playing track easier to spot
- It adds personality to the interface
- It gives Android Auto a distinctive look compared to Apple CarPlay
People who hate it say:
- It's distracting and unnecessary
- They want a way to turn it off
The answer to that last point, for most users, is no. There's currently no setting inside Android Auto to revert to a straight progress bar. The only known workaround is downgrading to an older version of the Android Auto app — which comes with its own risks and isn't recommended.
From a design standpoint, the wavy bar is a direct expression of Material 3's philosophy. It replaces a mechanical straight line with something more organic and expressive. Whether that fits a driving context is exactly the kind of debate Google is navigating right now.
Album Art Backgrounds: A Complicated Story
The treatment of album art backgrounds is one of the messier parts of this redesign.
At one point, Google tested replacing dynamic album art backgrounds with wallpaper-derived Material You colors. So instead of your player reflecting the colors of whatever you're listening to, it would match your phone's theme. AndroidPolice reported that many users weren't happy about this. The consensus: the album art version looked way better.
Google responded. Version 15.2.653604 included hidden options to bring back blurred album art backgrounds. That behavior has since become the default in most current builds, at least in apps like Spotify that have fully adopted the new template.
But some users have ended up with a plain grey background, particularly in certain builds or configurations. Reddit threads describe this as "a horrible UI redesign," with one user saying the background is "just grey now instead of adapting the colours from the album art," and that the seekbar is "crammed under the timestamp."
PhoneArena covered this reaction, describing users as genuinely frustrated despite the changes being mostly visual. The grey background isn't universal, but it's not uncommon either. Whether you see blurred album art or a plain grey background can depend on your version, your car, and which flags Google has enabled for your setup.
Why Google Is Making These Changes
It's not just about looks. There are real reasons behind each design decision.
Consistency Across Apps
Before the Media Playback template, every app built its own in-car player UI. Spotify looked different from YouTube Music, which looked different from Pocket Casts. As you switched apps while driving, the controls moved around. That's a safety issue.
The new template means all apps share the same basic layout:
- Play/pause is in the same spot
- Skip is in the same spot
- App-specific actions have their own reserved area
Your hands and eyes don't have to relearn the layout every time you switch services.
Safety Through Fewer Taps
The dashboard card redesign is explicitly about reducing distraction. Right now, if you want to shuffle a song or hit the like button while driving, you often have to open the full media app. That's more taps, more screen time, more distraction.
By putting shuffle, repeat, and like directly on the dashboard card, Google lets drivers do those things in one tap — without leaving the navigation screen.
Material 3 Alignment
Android's design language on phones is now fully Material 3. The car interface needed to catch up. Blurred backgrounds, dynamic color theming, organic shapes, and expressive progress indicators are all part of that system. Bringing it into Android Auto creates visual consistency across all your Android devices.
What Drivers Can and Can't Control
One of the biggest frustrations users have expressed is the lack of control over the new design. Here's the real picture:
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Can't do: Disable the wavy progress bar from Android Auto's settings
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Can't do: Switch back to the old layout through official settings
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Can't do: Turn off blurred album art backgrounds from Android Auto (some apps like Poweramp have their own settings, but they may not override Android Auto's presentation)
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Only workaround: Downgrade Android Auto to an older version — not recommended
One practical tip that appeared in Reddit threads: use split-screen view, make the Maps window larger, and reduce the media player's visual size. It doesn't change the design, but it reduces how much of your attention the blurred background grabs.
App-by-App: Who Got Updated
Not every app is showing the new design at the same pace.
Spotify is the most visible example. It now shows the blurred album art background, Material You color theming, and the wavy progress bar. It's also been the source of the main known bug — where the wavy bar reverts to a straight line in full-screen mode.
YouTube Music has the new layout and added a more prominent Thumbs Down button alongside other controls. Some users noticed the Library tab disappearing after the update, though resetting the app on the phone appears to fix it.
Pocket Casts also supports the new Media Playback template and shows the wavy progress bar in the updated layout.
Apple Music and other apps are following the same standardized template, so they share the same basic layout even if individual theming varies.
9to5Google noted that Spotify and YouTube Music are among the most visible examples of the new Material 3 styling rolling out more broadly.
What's Still Coming
The redesign is ongoing. Here's what's still in development:
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Redesigned dashboard media card — Centered album art, blurred background, extra controls, display-size-adaptive layout. Confirmed in APK teardowns but not officially announced.
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Swipeable multi-session media cards — Available in Android Auto 17.0 beta. Lets you swipe between active media sessions on the dashboard.
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Possible user customization options — No official confirmation, but the ongoing user feedback about grey backgrounds and the wavy bar suggests Google is paying attention. Future updates could introduce limited settings.
What This Means If Your Car Doesn't Have Android Auto Built In
If you're driving an older vehicle without a modern infotainment system, none of this reaches you. Android Auto runs through your phone and projects onto a compatible head unit. If your car doesn't have one, you miss everything.
That's where aftermarket head units come in. A modern Android head unit gives you access to Android Auto, wireless CarPlay, and all the apps and connectivity features that come with it — including these media player improvements as they roll out.
At Car Tech Studio, we sell wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto upgrades for hundreds of vehicle models, including Tesla-style screens and premium head units that bring your car's infotainment system fully up to date. Whether you drive a Toyota, Ford, Jeep, BMW, or something else entirely, chances are we have something built for your specific make and model.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Android Auto media player redesign is a series of visual and structural updates Google has been rolling out since late 2024. The changes include a new wavy progress bar, blurred album art backgrounds, relocated playback controls, and a standardized layout across all media apps via the Media Playback template.
The new media player started rolling out in version 13.4 (late 2024) and became more widely available in Android Auto 16.0 (version 16.0.660224) in early 2026. If you're on the stable channel and have updated recently, you likely have the new design.
Can I turn off the wavy progress bar?
No, there's currently no official setting to disable the wavy progress bar. The only known workaround is downgrading to an older version of Android Auto, which isn't recommended for most users. Google has not announced plans to add a toggle.
Why does the wavy progress bar disappear in Spotify?
Android Authority reported a bug where the wavy progress bar reverts to a straight line when using Spotify in full-screen mode. It still appears correctly in split-screen view. This appears to be a rendering issue specific to how Spotify integrates with the Media Playback template in full-screen, and Google is expected to address it.
Yes. The new design is part of Google's standardized Media Playback template, which all media apps on Android Auto are expected to follow. Apps like Spotify, YouTube Music, and Pocket Casts have already adopted it. Others will follow as they update their Android Auto integrations.
The new dashboard media card is a redesigned version of the compact media widget shown alongside navigation. It features centered album art, a blurred background, and extra controls like shuffle, repeat, and like directly on the card. It was discovered in APK teardowns but has not officially launched yet.
Android Auto uses server-side feature flags to control which users see certain features, even within the same version number. That's why two people on Android Auto 16.0 might see different layouts. Staged rollouts, bug responses, and regional differences all contribute to this inconsistency.
The core layout works across all Android Auto-compatible head units, but some features are display-dependent. The redesigned dashboard media card's extra controls (shuffle, repeat, like) only appear on larger or higher-DPI screens. Smaller head units revert to a simplified layout with fewer buttons visible.
