Android 13 revamped the notification shade controls for media playback. In addition to displaying the album artwork throughout its entirety, the new media player features a wavy progress bar. Additionally, it has a new and more intuitive arrangement of media control buttons. However, support from third-party applications for the new media player has been extremely slow in coming. Spotify was previously one of them, but no longer.
The most recent beta version of the Spotify app for Android (version 8.7.92.115) is compatible with Android 13’s media player layout (via 9to5Google). If you are not enrolled in Spotify’s beta program for Android, you will have to wait until the stable release of the new version of the app to experience the new media player, as Spotify has ceased accepting new public sign-ups via the Play Store.
Spotify’s new media player displays a rounded square button to play and pause music. The previous/next track buttons are located on either side of the music playback bar. The new media player also permits apps to provide two buttons of their choosing, and Spotify has opted for shuffle and like buttons.
If a podcast is being played, the previous/next track buttons are replaced with 15-second rewind/forward buttons, and the shuffle and like buttons are replaced with buttons to speed up playback and add a podcast to your library. Unfortunately, Samsung has not incorporated Android 13’s original squiggly media player progress bar into One UI 5.0, and we do not know if the company has any plans to do so in the near future.
In addition to Spotify, the Android 13 media player now supports YouTube, YouTube Music, Google Podcasts, SoundCloud, Shazam, Pocket Casts, Play Books, Chrome, and Recorder. Apple Music, Tidal, and Pandora are among those that have yet to add support for the new media player.
