Photo: 9to5Google
If you’re a long-time Android Auto user, you probably know already that last year, Google killed off what was considered by many the best music app this platform ever had.
Google Play Music was retired in favor of YouTube Music, the service that Google is now insisting on, not only on Android but also on Android Auto.
Unfortunately for both Google and the users who indeed made the switch from Google Play Music to YouTube Music, the modern alternative isn’t necessarily working exactly as expected on Android Auto.
And most recently, users have added another entry to the list of YouTube Music problems that need to be resolved on Android Auto.
A discussion thread on Google’s support forums reveals that after a mysterious update that was installed recently, YouTube Music is no longer capable of playing the media files stored locally. This means YouTube Music can only stream music but without actually loading the music that users have already added to their own libraries stored on the Android device.
Oddly enough, playing the locally stored media is still possible when the Android device isn’t connected to a head unit to run Android Auto. But the moment the Android Auto connection is established, YouTube Music stops playing the music and then fails to load any local files.
The problem was first discovered a few weeks ago, and since then, more than a handful of users have reported a similar behavior in their cars too.
Needless to say, the generic workarounds that the typical Android Auto user turns to don’t seem to make any difference. So if you’re thinking of reinstalling the app, clearing the cache, and removing the data, these steps appear to be just a waste of time as nothing fixes YouTube Music right now.
Google hasn’t yet acknowledged this problem, so it remains to be seen if a fix is indeed coming and, if it is, just how fast it will land in the hand of users eager to listen to their own tunes.
Unfortunately for both Google and the users who indeed made the switch from Google Play Music to YouTube Music, the modern alternative isn’t necessarily working exactly as expected on Android Auto.
And most recently, users have added another entry to the list of YouTube Music problems that need to be resolved on Android Auto.
A discussion thread on Google’s support forums reveals that after a mysterious update that was installed recently, YouTube Music is no longer capable of playing the media files stored locally. This means YouTube Music can only stream music but without actually loading the music that users have already added to their own libraries stored on the Android device.
Oddly enough, playing the locally stored media is still possible when the Android device isn’t connected to a head unit to run Android Auto. But the moment the Android Auto connection is established, YouTube Music stops playing the music and then fails to load any local files.
The problem was first discovered a few weeks ago, and since then, more than a handful of users have reported a similar behavior in their cars too.
Needless to say, the generic workarounds that the typical Android Auto user turns to don’t seem to make any difference. So if you’re thinking of reinstalling the app, clearing the cache, and removing the data, these steps appear to be just a waste of time as nothing fixes YouTube Music right now.
Google hasn’t yet acknowledged this problem, so it remains to be seen if a fix is indeed coming and, if it is, just how fast it will land in the hand of users eager to listen to their own tunes.
Google News