Android Auto Improvements

Plex Labs
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1

I have been using Plexamp for a couple of years now, and I love the app. However, I have had a couple persisting issues…

  1. I have never been able to use the search feature in Android Auto. When the kids ask to play a song, I type it in and there’s nothing. I want to listen to Tool - type in Tool, and there’s nothing.

  2. The “Stations” that are in the app are fantastic. I want to use them in the car through Android Auto. Right now, the only way to play, for example, “Library Radio” or “Random Album Radio” is by picking up my phone and using the app - I’d love it if these were available on Android Auto.

3 Likes
2

Not sure what’s going on there, some people report success. We’d need Plexamp logs to see if the app is receiving a search command, and Android Auto appears to only show some of the results we send back.

Stations should be available from the main home page area, right after playlists. We just pass the data back, it’s up to Android Auto to render.

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Hi, Elan -
Thanks for the reply. I went out to my car to check, and I did find the stations.

This has helped me better understand my issues with Plexamp and AA, and I think most of my issues could be solved with letting me have control over what is shown - by hiding, pinning and reordering items. Maybe there is already a way to do this, and I am just missing it? Wouldn’t be the first time! Or second!

For example:

Recent Plays is less important to me, because I prefer not to hear the same music over and over. This is the first item in the list. I would prefer this item be hidden.

The second item is Recently Added in Music. I don’t add music to my library very often, and I really don’t like seeing the same 4 albums in perpetuity. There are currently 4 albums listed and they were added on:
Aug 29
Oct 8 (2)
Feb 11

That means the album I added on Aug 29 has been on my home screen for ~7 months and the two added on Oct 8 have been there for over 5 months. Add the fact that only 3 albums fit on a line, so the 4th album is on its own line with blank space next to it, and it makes a huge part of the scroll completely useless to me. I would prefer a time limit (for example: items added in the last 30 days, and the category is hidden if there is nothing to show).

The third item is Recent Playlists, which I do use, but I wish I could pin playlists I use frequently so they don’t get shoved down the list when I decide to use another playlist every once in a while.

The 4th item is Stations, which I will use more often now, I just hate that have to scroll past a bunch of stuff I won’t use while I am driving. If given a choice, this would be 1st in the list for me; the Library Radio would be an awesome thing to pin at the top of the screen for me.

I have the plexamp logs, and I can see that the search is being run and it logs how many items are returned. Are the logs safe to attach? Are there tokens or anything in the logs that I should be concerned about when posting?

Here are a few lines that show the search for “tool” and results:

Mar 23, 2025 14:41:02.483 [Javascript] INFO - [PlayerService] onSearch, query: tool
Mar 23, 2025 14:41:02.484 [Javascript] INFO - [CarScreenManager] Fetching screen with loopback: 36 and data tool.
Mar 23, 2025 14:41:02.486 [Javascript] DEBUG - [CarScreenManger] Attempted to request car screen from react server: true
Mar 23, 2025 14:41:02.504 [0xc0157cb0] DEBUG - Networking: Create request 120: (GET https://38-15-41-86.099ce0b544bf43dd9eaa75e0dced1645.plex.direct:25208/hubs/search?query=tool&excludeFields=summary&limit=5&includeFields=thumbBlurHash&X-Plex-Device-Name=Nick’s%20phone) network type 1.
Mar 23, 2025 14:41:02.697 [0xc0793cb0] DEBUG - Networking: Completed request 120: (GET https://38-15-41-86.099ce0b544bf43dd9eaa75e0dced1645.plex.direct:25208/hubs/search?query=tool&excludeFields=summary&limit=5&includeFields=thumbBlurHash&X-Plex-Device-Name=Nick’s%20phone) with code 200 (have 24839 bytes) in 192 ms.
Mar 23, 2025 14:41:02.719 [Javascript] INFO - [CarScreenHelper] Car screen with [7] items created for path 36

4

Sorry, there’s no way to do that currently.

That does look correct. In the other example I saw, Android Auto was only showing track results and hiding other result types.

5

Thanks, Elan -
I tried to search for the album “Opiate” by Tool, and as I was typing the track “Opium” from Gorillaz came up - so it appears as if only track results are showing up. Was a solution found for the other example?

Do you know if improvements to the Android Auto experience with Plexamp are on the development roadmap?

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions!

6

Unfortunately not. Do you see artist/album results coming back in other apps?

Android Auto will continue to pick up any improvements we make to the core of the app and the car menu system, which is shared between Android Auto and CarPlay.

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I just tried searching “Tool” with Spotify, and it brought up the artist and albums, as well as Puscifer.

8

Have some fixes for you in the next release.

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That’s great news! Thank you! What does the schedule look like?

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Depends how long Google takes to approve. They’ve been massive pains in the ass lately, failing the review because of IAP text which has been there for years, etc.

1 Like
11

I wanted to let you know that after the update the search is working great! Thank you!

1 Like
12

Woohoo, thanks for letting us know!

13

Elan - can you clarify on what is preventing home screen customization, or at the very least, a re-think on how items are ordered?

Similar apps such as Symfonium allow users to change the order or remove items from their Android Auto home screen.

Here’s screenshots from Symfonium’s app with the Android Auto customization options:
Screenshot1
Screenshot2

Thank you for your efforts!

14

FWIW I agree with @nickofearth and the way they describe using the Stations from my library more often than the content current shown above the Stations in Android Auto.

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