As smartphones continue to vie for our attention in every situation imaginable — dinners, conversations, and even inside movie theaters, frustratingly — the risks associated with focusing on a screen instead of our day-to-day lives increase.
Distracted driving has been a growing problem in many countries. Apple attempts to solve this by bringing driving mode-related features into iOS, letting the person behind the wheel respond to messages or make simple commands without taking their eyes off the road.
Spotify Takes On Distracted Driving, Sort Of
Spotify also wants to make sure its music service doesn't cause its users any road accidents. So it's apparently testing a Driving Mode, according to some Reddit users. The mode opens up a new set of options that allows users to turn on a dedicated driving mode. This mode does a number of things: it enlarges the in-app buttons for easy tapping, announces songs out loud, and gives users hands-free voice control options, although this particular feature remains inactive at this time.
These enhancements could minimize distractions while on the road, resulting in a safer drive altogether.
The Reddit thread includes some screenshots of the new user interface, which you can see below:
In the regular Spotify Now Playing screen, there's now a car icon on the lower left corner, which presumably enables driving mode. Tapping the icon will enlarge the next and back buttons, and adds microphone icon — presumably for when you want to ask Spotify to play a certain song. Additionally, Spotify also announces the next song so the driver doesn't have to look down just to see.
Will Spotify Roll Out This Driving Mode For Everyone?
There's no telling when this new driving mode will end up on Spotify, or if it'll ever, for that matter. There's also no telling whether this is intended for either iOS or Android users only or both, although it looks like there's no reason to make it a platform-exclusive feature.
Spotify tests a lot of features before rolling them out, although some — like a rumored Hi-Fi audio tier — haven't come out yet. This driving mode, according to the screenshots, was meant only for Spotify employees but somehow landed on public devices. That said, given how many people are using Spotify today and how of those people use the app while driving, a driving mode should be more than essential.
Do you think Spotify should roll out a driving mode for all its users? Feel free to sound off in the comments section below!
