Roadly brings Spotify into the Tesla's built-in browser, but it needs a Spotify Premium account: without Premium there is no playback at all. If the car's browser supports the content-protection system Spotify requires, the music comes out of the car's speakers; if it doesn't, Roadly acts as a remote control for Spotify playing on another device of yours. It is audio only, and listening while you drive is as ordinary as turning on the radio.
2How to connect your Spotify account
You link once, from Roadly's Spotify section, and the sign-in happens on Spotify's own page: Roadly never sees your password.
- Open Roadly in the car's browser and go to the Spotify section.
- Tap the connect button; Spotify's sign-in page opens.
- Sign in with your Spotify credentials and approve the permissions it asks for.
- Come back to Roadly, which can now see your library and your content.
The authorisation stays valid until you revoke it. You can remove it at any time from your Spotify account settings, in the page listing connected apps: Roadly loses access immediately, with nothing to undo inside the car.
Typing an email address and a password on the car's on-screen keyboard is awkward. Most people find it quicker to do this step while parked, before setting off.
3Will the sound come out of the car's speakers?
That depends on your Tesla's browser, and Roadly tells you the answer at startup. Spotify requires a content-protection system in order to play music inside a web page: Roadly checks whether the car's browser provides it, and behaves accordingly.
If it is there, Spotify plays in the car and from the car: you choose and you listen in the same place. If it isn't, Roadly doesn't play in the car and becomes a remote control instead, driving Spotify on another device of yours. Those are two genuinely different things, and it is worth saying so plainly rather than calling both of them "it works".
| What you get | Playback from the car | Roadly as a remote |
|---|---|---|
| Where the sound comes from | The car's speakers | The device you are controlling |
| What you need beyond Premium | Nothing | Another device of yours with Spotify active |
| What you do inside Roadly | Search, choose, listen | Search, choose, control |
| How you tell which one you got | No device named: it is playing right here | Roadly shows the name of the device it is playing on |
Which of the two your car's browser gives you has not been confirmed yet: software versions change, and we are not going to promise an outcome we haven't measured on your car. You will find out in thirty seconds by opening the Spotify section and seeing whether a device name appears.
4What "Roadly as a remote" actually means
It means Roadly controls Spotify while the sound is produced somewhere else. The music runs on one of your devices with Spotify active — a phone, a computer, a speaker — and Roadly gives you the big on-screen interface in the car to drive it.
- Browse your library, your playlists and search results from the car's screen.
- Pause, resume, skip forward and back, change track.
- Roadly always shows which device is playing, so you are never guessing where the sound is coming from.
There is a simple way to still get the music through the car's speakers in this case: if the device playing is your phone and the phone is paired to the car over Bluetooth, the audio reaches the car's system like any other playback from the phone. Roadly then serves as the comfortable screen for choosing what to play, while the audio path stays the phone's.
5Synchronised lyrics
There is a view with lyrics that scroll in time with the track. The lyrics don't come from Spotify: they come from a public community archive, so coverage depends on what the community has contributed.
In practice: many well-known songs have them, niche tracks and very recent releases often don't, and the timing is occasionally a little off. That isn't a Roadly fault and it isn't something we can fix track by track.
One sensible note: reading is a visual activity. The lyrics view is for passengers, or for when the car is parked. Whoever is driving just listens, exactly as with any radio.
6Can I listen while the car is moving?
Yes. This is music, not video: listening while driving is what people have always done in a car, and there is no reason for it to be different here.
The rest of Roadly is built around the problem of video, which the car treats in its own particular way while moving. With Spotify that problem doesn't arise: there is no moving picture to show, just a still cover, the controls and — if you want it — the lyrics. The audio stream keeps running while you travel.
7What Roadly does not do with Spotify
Roadly is a window onto your Spotify, not a copy of it. It downloads nothing and stores nothing.
- No downloads: tracks are never saved anywhere, neither in the car nor on our servers.
- No offline listening: with no data connection the music stops, as it would on any web page.
- No music library of ours: the catalogue, the playlists and the listening history belong to Spotify and live in your account.
- No changes to the car: Roadly is a web page open in the browser. Nothing is installed and nothing in the car's software is touched.
Roadly is independent and is not affiliated with Spotify or with Tesla, Inc. If Spotify changes its rules or its interfaces, what can be done from here changes with them: we don't promise that any given feature will stay available forever.
8How much data does it use
Very little, compared with video. Streaming audio is about the lightest thing you can do with a modern data connection, and a long trip spent listening to music costs a fraction of what the same hours of video would.
Lyrics are text, so their weight is negligible. Cover art is a small image, loaded once. If you are running off your phone's hotspot and watching your data allowance, music is the part of Roadly to worry about least.
9Frequently asked questions
Does it work with free Spotify?
No. A Spotify Premium account is required. Playback inside a web page needs a permission that Spotify grants only to Premium accounts, and there is no alternative route: with a free account no sound starts.
How do I know whether the audio will come from the car or from another device?
You see it as soon as you open the Spotify section. Roadly checks at startup whether the car's browser provides the content protection Spotify requires. If no device name is shown, it is playing right there in the car; if a name is shown, Roadly is acting as a remote control for that device.
Can I listen while driving?
Yes. It is audio, like the radio. The part you look at — the synchronised lyrics — is for passengers or for when the car is parked.
Do all tracks have synchronised lyrics?
No. Lyrics come from a public community archive rather than from Spotify, so coverage varies: well-known songs usually have them, niche tracks and very recent releases often don't.
Does Roadly keep my password or my music?
No. Sign-in happens on Spotify's own page and Roadly never sees your password. No tracks are downloaded or stored, and you can revoke the authorisation whenever you like from your Spotify account settings, in the connected apps section.