Amazon Music now has a car mode, but don’t use it while driving

By Simon Cohen April 7, 2021

Amazon Music Car Mode — Amazon

The Amazon Music app for iOS and Android now comes with an optional car mode that offers up a simplified interface that can automatically launch as soon as you connect to your car’s Bluetooth system.

It looks like the ideal solution for those who don’t have an infotainment system that’s compatible with Apple CarPlay or Android Auto but want to stream music from Amazon Music while driving. According to an email from Amazon’s PR partner, the new feature was designed “to limit extensive browsing while driving.” Curiously, however, on the webpage that promotes car mode, Amazon warns its customers that they should not “interact with this app while operating your vehicle.” Which naturally raises the question: Why give the app a car mode at all?

As if this warning weren’t sufficiently direct, the page follows up with an even more dire statement: “Interacting with the Amazon Music app while driving is dangerous and may result in serious injury, death, or property damage.”

The car mode interface provides a big, easy-to-use set of playback controls at the top of the screen, with a series of big-font preset buttons below that can be used to access favorite playlists, stations, or albums. Amazon Music also includes Alexa voice command functionality, so you can simply ask Alexa to control your tunes for you — perhaps a less risky way of interacting with the app while driving.

While the new mode is intended to launch automatically when your phone reconnects to your car’s Bluetooth, you can shift in and out of car mode manually at any time, and it will work just fine even if your car has no Bluetooth system at all.

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Contributing Editor, A/V

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