Google Maps remains one of the best apps for Android devices, but it's not perfect. There are many ways Google can improve the Maps experience, and a good first step is to keep features that users use and not remove them, especially when there's no alternative available, like music controls.
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The latest change to Google Maps makes it significantly harder to control music while navigating, and it's pretty annoying. As spotted by 9to5Google, both the stable version 25.28 of Google Maps and the beta version 25.29 have removed the media playback controls that used to appear at the bottom of the app while navigating.
Media controls were accessible with a simple scroll up from the bottom of the screen and made it easy to play or pause music. Users could also tap the “Browse” button for nine quick song suggestions. For more options, there was a handy shortcut to open the music app. If you needed more screen space, you could drag the controls down to temporarily hide them.
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These useful media control shortcuts had to be enabled via Google Maps Settings > Navigation > Show media playback controls. This feature was compatible with YouTube Music and Spotify, and there was also the option to choose the default music app. However, the new Google Maps update — both in the stable and beta versions — has removed this feature entirely.
While there are external ways to control playback, having the controls directly on the navigation screen was extremely convenient, as it reduced distractions and extra gestures for simple actions like changing songs. Now, users have to either switch apps and go to their music player or use the system's notifications to control playback, which means they're looking away from the navigation screen and — worse — being distracted for a few seconds while driving.
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It's not yet clear whether this removal was intentional or a bug, but the feature remains available in the iOS, for what it's worth.
Source: androidauthority
