Looks like Android Auto is getting rid of a feature nobody asked for

Back in early August, Android Auto rolled out a redesign that didn’t sit well with everyone. Google swapped in a Material You look for its media player, matching it with your phone’s wallpaper. The catch was the loss of the dynamic album art backgrounds, which plenty of users thought looked way better. Now, Google is reportedly testing a version that brings the album art visuals back.

The previous media player was a user favorite for its dynamic design. It automatically extracted colors from your music’s album art to create a vibrant, ever-changing interface that felt uniquely tied to what you were playing. The subsequent Material You shift changed this. It abandoned the adaptive artwork in favor of a static, single-color theme pulled from your phone’s wallpaper. The result was a visually bland experience that many considered a significant downgrade in both aesthetics and function.

Google now appears to be backtracking. Code found by Android Authority in the latest Android Auto beta reveals the wallpaper-themed media player is being scrapped, and the fan-favorite album art backgrounds are on their way back.

From static to dynamic

The shift back to music-focused design

In Android Auto version 15.2.653604, hidden options were found that let you bring back the older media player background. Rather than Material You colors, the background now uses a blurred version of the album art. Google isn’t ditching the refresh completely, though, as the play/pause buttons still pull colors from your phone’s theme.

Google isn’t just polishing up the current Android Auto look but also trialing album art-driven backgrounds in its overhauled UI. As seen in the second image above, this test build shrinks the icons a bit, makes the seek bar pop more, and gives album art extra prominence. Just a month ago, the redesign was limited to flat Material You colors, but now Google is clearly eyeing a more dynamic, music-matched vibe.

This change blends a fan-favorite design with the newer visual style for a consistent look. But since it’s still locked to a beta build, there’s no confirmed timeline for a public release yet.