Photo: Google
Last year, Google introduced an Android Auto change that not everybody was a big fan of; the company killed off Google Play Music and tried to move users to YouTube Music.
It goes without saying that some people just resisted the switch until the very last minute, despite all efforts made by Google to make the transition as seamless as possible.
Now that Google Play Music is no more, YouTube Music is obviously Google’s recommended choice not only on Android mobile devices but in the car as well. But since the Mountain View-based search giant keeps insisting so much on Android Auto users to try out YouTube Music, some believe the company even turns to questionable tactics to reach its purpose.
A glitch that was recently discovered by Android Auto users and reported here on Google’s forums causes YouTube Music to always return as the default music app in the car.
In other words, while users manually configure another app as the default music app in Google Assistant, YouTube Music keeps coming back overnight as the configured choice.
This makes it harder to listen to music in the car with Android Auto on the head unit, as the app always tries to launch YouTube Music, obviously recommending a subscription for access to the entire feature lineup.
“I do not want to use YouTube Music and do not have it installed on my phone. All of my music is stored locally on my phone,” someone says on the forums.
Of course, it was just a matter of time until people out there started thinking of dirty tactics employed by Google to push more users to YouTube Music, though this really doesn’t seem to be the case here.
Most likely, it’s all just a problem with the way Google Assistant handles the default music player settings for Android Auto, and while the search giant hasn’t said anything in this regard, expect some fixes to be included in the next Google app updates.
Now that Google Play Music is no more, YouTube Music is obviously Google’s recommended choice not only on Android mobile devices but in the car as well. But since the Mountain View-based search giant keeps insisting so much on Android Auto users to try out YouTube Music, some believe the company even turns to questionable tactics to reach its purpose.
A glitch that was recently discovered by Android Auto users and reported here on Google’s forums causes YouTube Music to always return as the default music app in the car.
In other words, while users manually configure another app as the default music app in Google Assistant, YouTube Music keeps coming back overnight as the configured choice.
This makes it harder to listen to music in the car with Android Auto on the head unit, as the app always tries to launch YouTube Music, obviously recommending a subscription for access to the entire feature lineup.
“I do not want to use YouTube Music and do not have it installed on my phone. All of my music is stored locally on my phone,” someone says on the forums.
Of course, it was just a matter of time until people out there started thinking of dirty tactics employed by Google to push more users to YouTube Music, though this really doesn’t seem to be the case here.
Most likely, it’s all just a problem with the way Google Assistant handles the default music player settings for Android Auto, and while the search giant hasn’t said anything in this regard, expect some fixes to be included in the next Google app updates.
Google News