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:


Toyota Bluetooth Audio UI with Browse button


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.


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.


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