For many years, Google Maps has been the app of choice for all of your navigational needs. Changes are unavoidable with any modern program, but not all of them are positive. When Assistant Driving Mode was eliminated from the navigation experience in April, we were reminded of this.
This also meant that music apps were no longer supported in Driving Mode; instead, a floating action button (FAB) that could be accessed via the Settings’ “Show media playback controls” setting took its place. The Google Maps team now appears to be reconsidering this as well.
This toggle was removed from Settings > Navigate in Google Maps for Android, according to a report.
According to reports, the toggle has also been removed from the stable version of Maps for Android. Additionally, the navigation settings no longer include the “Default media app” option that allows users to select Spotify or YouTube Music as the default music app.
Is it a temporary bug or a deliberate removal?
It’s hard to tell if this is a feature of the Android version of Maps or if Google intends to remove it because the toggle is still accessible and functional in the iOS version of the app. We genuinely hope it’s the former because there isn’t a substitute for media playback controls while navigation.
For the time being, Android users of Google Maps will have to utilize the usual app settings for music, which is not desirable if you depend on smartphone navigation. Although YouTube Music is not supported by Maps on iOS; only Apple Music and Spotify are, you may still use Maps on an iPhone to restore the media controls.
Given the possible outcry this could generate among regular Maps users, we’re hoping to hear more from Google regarding this omission in the days ahead. As part of its plan to switch Assistant to Gemini across Android, Google discontinued Assistant Driving Mode. The appearance of a Gemini-based Driving Mode when it is made available to consumers is unknown, though.
