Why is Google Play Music the only app that produces a "Browse" button on my car stereo?

Question

If I connect my phone via Bluetooth to my car (2016 Toyota Corolla), and then play music using the Google Play Music app, the car shows a Browse button, which allows me to navigate through artists and albums with the car's buttons:

If I install another app, it doesn't show the Browse button on the car stereo.
Apps that produce a Browse button:

Google Play Music ☠ (RIP)

Apps that do not produce a Browse button:

AIMP
BlackPlayer
Canaree
FPlay (found by searching for "AVRCP")
JetAudio (found by searching for "AVRCP")
kure
MediaMonkey
Music [com.maxfour.music]
Music [com.android.music stock]
Music Player Go
Musicolet
Nyx
Odyssey
Omnia
Oto
Phonograph

Vinyl

Pretty Good
Pulsar
Retro

Metro

Samba Player (found by searching for "AVRCP")
Shuttle

Shuttle+

Simple Music Player [com.simplemobiletools.musicplayer]
Timber
Vanilla
VLC
YouTube Music

Is there some Bluetooth feature that needs to be supported by an app in order for this button to show up?  What is the feature's name?  How do I find apps that have it?
This is especially important now that Google has killed off Google Play Music and replaced it with YouTube Music, which does not provide this Browse button on a Bluetooth connection.
If I knew what this function was called, I could try to pester Google, or the third-party app developers, and ask them to add support for it.

Venkata · Accepted Answer

The Bluetooth snoop log with the other players shows that the players do not support browsing as part of the GetFolderItems request on AVRCP.That is the reason why browsing is not working with other players.
It shows that browsing support is advertised only with GPM and the player is marked as BluetoothPlayer and not GPM in the snoop log.

Walter Wolf · Answer

This "browse" feature is probably part of "Audio/Video Remote Control Profile" aka AVRCP. AVRCP has different versions with different feature sets. Browsing of playlists was introduced in version AVRCP 1.4 and improved in version 1.5, according to wikipedia.
This bluetooth profile must be supported (in the correct version) by the the car stereo, the mobile phone as well as the app.

Nick Hudson · Answer

There may be the following solutions, from Android Authority:

Problem #3 – Tracks missing on phone but available on web player
  In the Settings menu, go to Apps or Application Manager, search for Google Play Music. Then tap on “Storage” and then press “Clear
  Cache.” On some devices, you may find this under the “Storage and USB”
  section in the Settings menu. Restart the device, then open the Play
  Music app and all your music should now be available.
  
  Problem #4 – Songs not uploading
  
  Also, make sure that the audio you are trying to upload on Google Music is of a supported format. Supported formats include MP3, AAC
  (.m4a), WMA, FLAC, OGG, ALAC (.m4a), and DRM protected AAC (.m4p).
  Some music file types like WAV are not supported. ... If songs aren’t
  uploading, make sure that the library isn’t full. Currently, you can
  upload up to 50,000 songs to your library. If you have gone past that,
  your only option will be to delete some other tracks to make room for
  new ones.

Hope this helps you!

Why is Google Play Music the only app that produces a "Browse" button on my car stereo?

3 Answers

Add your own answers!

Ask a Question