I’ll never listen to Spotify in my car the same way after learning this trick

Spotify Jam is a collaborative feature within the Spotify music streaming service that allows multiple people to join together to share a single, unified music queue. When a Jam session is taking place, everyone with the app installed on their phone is able to pick between songs, switch tracks, and control audio playback.

As a Spotify Premium user, I’ve been enjoying the ability to host Jam sessions at home since its release in 2023. The best part is that non-Premium members can still join the group, so long as they’ve signed up for a free account. Within the context of a house party or other social gathering, Jam is the ideal tool for vibing out to some ambient tunes.

Back in early July of this year, Spotify finally brought its popular Jam feature to Android Auto via an over-the-air (OTA) software update. For me, this was a long time coming: Jam is perfectly analogous to the old-school practice of passing around “aux cord privilege,” during road trips, but without the hassle of tangled-up cables and dealing with 3.5mm headphone jack dongles and adapters.

Spotify Jam and Android Auto were made for each other

My road trips will never be the same again

With the porting over of Spotify Jam to Android Auto, my on-the-road commutes have become more lively and interactive than ever. As someone who often travels from point A to point B with friends, family members, and colleagues in the passenger and back seats, it’s great to be able to collaborate on an ongoing playlist of tunes that speaks to everyone’s individualized tastes.

The setup flow for Jam is as simple and intuitive as it gets: as the host, I can quickly initiate the process by tapping Now Playing > Jam on my car’s infotainment display panel. From here, a QR code appears on the screen, which passengers can then scan to join in on the fun.

According to the official Spotify website, Jam for Android Auto requires Spotify app version 9.0.50 and above, along with Android Auto version 14.5 or above.

As the host, I’m able to manually add or remove guests from the Jam session, and all active guests are able to play / pause / skip tracks at will. Guests can also rearrange the queue and add additional songs via search or by picking them from the conveniently available Group Recommendations section.

A curious quirk of the system is that, as the host, I’m the only one that can change the volume level of playback through the application on my phone. Of course, the person sitting in the passenger seat can always adjust the volume via the physical knob on my car’s dash, but it’s strange to me that back-seat passengers can’t increase or decrease the decibels unless I hand them my phone to do so remotely.

In any case, I’m glad to finally have Spotify’s Jam feature available while out on the road via Android Auto. With the feature also being available on Apple CarPlay-compatible vehicles, I expect a surge in collaborative playlist making over the course of the coming months and years.