Spotify Car Thing: Difference between revisions

==Incidents==

Production of the Car Thing is quietly halted due to poor sales.<ref>[https://archive.is/Lodo1 "What Happened to Spotify’s Car Thing? Spotify Exits Hardware"] - archive.is - archived 2025-01-28</ref>

Spotify reduced the price by $60 in order to clear out their stock. The SCT would eventually become sold out exposing more consumers to its discontinuation.

Root access was gained on the SCT through local means.<ref name=":1">[https://archive.is/WFjUd "Spotify Car Thing - Root and Custom OS toolkit"] - archive.is - accessed 2025-01-28</ref> While this can be seen as a large issue for the SCT's security, it was not significant to consumer security, instead giving consumers the ability to repurpose the device by uploading their own software. There is a risk that resold jailbroken SCTs could contain malware but this is an unlikely target. Spotify's response to the exploit was "that the product is unsupported, and end-of-life, and therefore no bugs would be accepted pertaining to the product",<ref name=":1" /> which would mark the first time Spotify officially announced the discontinuation. The bypass guide is available [https://github.com/oddsolutions/superbird-bulkcmd here]

Spotify officially announces the Car Thing's discontinuation on their website warning users that it will cease functioning entirely after December 9th, effectively bricking the device.<ref name=":2">[https://web.archive.org/web/20250128235625/https://support.spotify.com/us/article/car-thing-discontinued/ | "Car Thing discontinued"] - archive.org - archived 2025-01-28</ref> The announcement created a large scale panic with Car Thing owners who had found use out of the product and were disappointed by the future bricking incident.<ref name=":3" />

Spotify was served a [[Class-action lawsuit|class-action lawsuit]] in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The lawsuit claimed "Spotify misled consumers by selling them a soon-to-be obsolete product and then not offering refunds, reports Billboard".<ref name=":3" /> Prior to the lawsuit's filing Spotify had setup a refund page for buyers through email which directs customers to [https://support.spotify.com/us/contact-spotify-support/ this link], customers can receive refund with proof of purchase.<ref name=":3" /> The lawsuit was dismissed by the plaintiffs after Spotify began issuing refunds.<ref>[https://archive.is/pwsVe "‘Car Thing’ Class Action Lawsuit Voluntarily Dismissed After Spotify Begins Issuing Refunds"] - archive.is - archived 2025-01-28</ref>

The removal of the Spotify Car Thing API completely bricked all Car Things in distribution.