Nintendo Music gets Apple CarPlay and Android Auto support

Nintendo Music became a touch more useful today, thanks to a notable update that introduces native CarPlay and Android Auto support to the app. This means you can access the music player directly from your car’s screen, doing away with the need to fumble about with your phone.

Now, I don’t know how many folks are yearning for access to Nintendo tunes in the car, but this is a clear improvement. Previously, listening to Nintendo’s music app in the car meant hitting play on your phone before plugging it in. It was workable, but not ideal. Now, thanks to this update, you’ll see a dedicated app icon on your CarPlay home screen.

I took the new Nintendo Music CarPlay integration for a spin:

As you can see, the interface is simple and clean — pretty much what you’d expect from a native CarPlay app.

You’ve got four menus across the top: Home, Search, My Music, and Play Offline.

Home surfaces any of your recent listens along with Nintendo’s featured content. My Music pulls in anything that you’ve favourited (starred). Play Offline does exactly what you’d expect — although it’s not a feature I’ve tested. Finally there’s Search — you can’t type (for obvious safety reasons), but you do get soundtracks organised by console which works well enough. In addition to that you can also search via Siri using your voice — it works.

One thing I didn’t mention in the video is that in addition to the usual music controls (shuffle, favourite, repeat) there’s also the Extend option. This means you can have an extended version of a given track playing at the hit of a button or two. Hour-long Animal Crossing beats to drive to, anyone?

Beyond the CarPlay and Android Auto changes, today’s update also brings a tablet app and a much welcomed desktop web app. This will likely see more use from me as I tend to only use the service when I’m working. I like listening to music without lyrics when I’m trying to focus, so it more than fits the bill.

Nintendo Music isn’t something I reach for often when behind the wheel, but having the option properly integrated is a win. The safety argument alone of not having to mess about with your phone to queue up some SNES Mario Kart music on the school run makes it worth having I reckon.