Volvo, Spotify Partner For In-Car Music App
CARS.COM — Volvo and digital music provider Spotify have teamed to offer an in-car version of the app in the 2016 Volvo XC90 SUV and the automaker’s forthcoming S90 sedan and V90 wagon. Volvo’s homegrown Spotify music streaming app lives in the XC90’s crisp and responsive Sensus 9-inch touch-screen and is a new way —independent of a smartphone — to access Spotify’s massive music library.
Related: We Bought a 2016 Volvo XC90
Current options for streaming Spotify to the XC90 include linking a smartphone with Spotify mobile via the car’s Bluetooth, USB or Apple CarPlay connections. Volvo says in a statement that the advantage of its in-car app is a richer experience with a familiar user interface and search functionality that the other options don’t deliver. Volvo certainly has a lot of real estate to leverage considering the touch-screen’s large portrait layout.
Using the in-car app requires Spotify’s premium subscription — $9.99 a month at the time of publishing — though a 30-day free trial is available for new users; the premium option bumps up sound quality as well. Volvo’s in-car Spotify app also requires an active internet connection, and according to a Volvo spokesman, that either can be the onboard modem connection through AT&T — the XC90 comes with a six-month data trial — or a data connection via a tethering-enabled phone.
Current XC90 owners will be able to download the Spotify app through the car’s Remote Update Service without a trip to the dealership when the update is released in spring 2016; one of the internet connections described above is required for downloading. Stay tuned for more because we’ll load the new Spotify app when available into Cars.com’s long-term Volvo XC90 and put it to the test.
