Tesla owners finally have a way to play Spotify in their Model S, Model X and Model 3 thanks to third-party, browser-based app ‘TesPlayer‘ that can manage playlists and play music directly from the vehicle’s center touchscreen.
Spotify is among the most popular music streaming platforms on the market today, thanks in part to its vast library of content. Tesla uses Spotify as its provider of choice in Europe, though vehicles in the United States are equipped with Slacker Radio instead. While Slacker is impressive on its own right, it falls short when compared to Spotify and its insanely vast plethora of content.
Ahead of Tesla’s official integration with Spotify in the US, TesPlayer creator Michael Latman found a workaround that allows owners to interact with the service using the vehicle’s latest Chromium browser.
TesPlayer is essentially a Spotify remote for Tesla’s in-car web browser. It still utilizes a smartphone’s Bluetooth connection, though it allows owners to browse through tracks and playlists from the Model S, Model X, and Model 3 infotainment screen.
Tesla owners must be an existing Spotify Premium subscriber and have firmware 2019.12.x to be able to leverage the services of TesPlayer. The Spotify app must also be installed on a mobile phone and connected to the vehicle via Bluetooth.
How to play Spotify in a Tesla
- Step 1: Pair your smartphone to a Tesla Model S, Model X, or Model 3 using Bluetooth.
- Step 2: Click the Bluetooth icon on the upper right corner of the vehicle’s center touchscreen and set “Media Source” to your phone.
- Step 3: Open Tesla’s web browser from the center touchscreen and navigate to https://tesplayer.com/. This will launch TesPlayer. Bookmark the page.
- Step 4: Login to TesPlayer using your Spotify Premium account credentials. TesPlayer saves users’ login credentials for convenience.
- Step 5: Once logged in, your Spotify playlists and favorites will appear directly on the vehicle’s center touchscreen and can be accessed.
Tesla Model 3 owner and Youtuber Tesla Raj has a great tutorial on the setup process. As noted by Tesla Raj, TesPlayer is in early stages but additional features to enhance the user experience such as Shuffle, Search, Artists, and Browse, will be making their way in future builds.