Spotify Car Thing

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Basic Information
Release Year	2022
Product Type	Physical application extension
In Production	No
Official Website	archive.org

The Spotify Car Thing was a physical device that allowed extended control of the Spotify app. When connected to a device running the Spotify app the Car Thing accesses an API for communication with the app, interacting with the Car Thing attempts to make API calls for interaction. Production of the Car Thing stopped July of 2022. The product ceased functioning on December 9th 2024 when the Car Thing API was shutdown, preventing the device from interacting with the Spotify app.

Consumer Impact Summary

User Freedom

• Revocation of control - the discontinuation bricking of the device ultimately took away user control for thousands of people. Control was only regained after security vulnerabilities in the device were exploited.
• Dependence on a phone app for basic functions - the Car Thing dependence on the Spotify app required that a phone authorized with the Spotify app always be present and connected to the Car Thing. The car thing's lack of offline support forced the user to use an app possibly unnecessarily.
• Retroactive resale falsification - the discontinuation bricking incident has created some potential risk for reseller false advertising which has been documented here.
  

User Privacy

• Data collection - Spotify openly admitted that the Car Thing had been developed to collect data on "how people listen to music and podcasts". How the data collected through the SCT is useful for this purpose is unclear, in addition it is also unclear what the data is.
• Security Concerns - The root access exploit while beneficial to user freedom, allowing them to jailbreak their device also raises some concerns for future buyers of jailbroken Car Things -- a malicious seller could upload malware onto the device -- resold SCTs may be a potential security risk.
  

Consumer Protection Incidents

Production discontinued (July 27, 2022)

Production of the Car Thing is quietly halted due to poor sales.

Price reduced from $89.99 to $29.99 (August 20, 2022)

Spotify reduced the price by $60 in order to clear out their stock. The SCT would eventually sold out exposing more consumers to its discontinuation.

Root access in the SCT is cracked by Security researchers (October 20, 2022)

Root access was gained on the SCT through local means. While this is damning for the SCT's security it was not significant to consumer security, it merely gave consumers the ability to repurpose the device by uploading their own software. There is a risk that resold jailbroken SCTs could contain malware but this is an unlikely target. Spotify's response to the exploit was "that the product is unsupported, and end-of-life, and therefore no bugs would be accepted pertaining to the product" which is actually the first time Spotify officially announced the discontinuation. The bypass guide is available here

Total discontinuation announced (May 23, 2024)

Spotify official announces the Car Thing's discontinuation on their website warning users that it will cease functioning entirely after December 9th, effectively discontinuation bricking] the device. The announcement created a large scale panic with Car Thing owners who had actually enjoyed their product and were disappointed in the future bricking incident.

A now dismissed class action lawsuit is filed against Spotify (May 28, 2024)

Spotify was served a class-action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The lawsuit claimed "Spotify misled consumers by selling them a soon-to-be obsolete product and then not offering refunds, reports Billboard". Prior to the lawsuit's filing Spotify had setup a refund page for buyers through email which directs customers to this link, customers can receive refund with proof of purchase. The lawsuit was dismissed by the plaintiffs after Spotify began issuing refunds.

SCT API is shut down and removed from the Spotify App (December 9, 2024)

The removal of the Spotify Car Thing API completely bricked all Car Things in distribution.