Spotify’s Car Thing can now take calls and control other apps

Just a couple months after it started selling its $90 Car Thing to anyone in the US, Spotify is rolling out a bunch more features for the device this week that should make it more useful. Among the updates is what Spotify says is one of the most-requested features: an add to queue option. There are a few ways to put more songs or podcast episodes onto your ad-hoc playlist. You can tap the add to queue icon next to a track or hold down the dial when you have a song highlighted. There’s voice ]support as well, so you can say something like “Hey Spotify, queue ‘Happier Than Ever'” or any other song you’d like to hear. You can view the queue with a voice command or by holding down the dial in the Now Playing view. Also new is a way to generate a playlist based on a genre, mood or activity. You can say something like “Hey Spotify, play upbeat Sunday morning pop” and the platform will put together a personalized playlist on the fly that fits those criteria. The feature is available on all platforms with Hey Spotify support. Elsewhere, there are a couple more Car Thing features that should prove useful. You’ll be able to see, answer and reject incoming calls. There’s also a way to play and control other media. You can switch back to Spotify control by tapping the screen, using presets or issuing a voice command. These two features are iOS-only for now. They’ll be available for Android later. Updates to Car Thing, which requires a Premium Spotify subscription, also roll out automatically for iOS users.