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Spotify seems to be secretly building a feature that watches what you’re looking at through your smart glasses and picks the song to match.
Code strings found inside a recent Spotify APK (v9.1.66.1259) teardown by Android Authority point to a Gemini-powered experience built for Android XR smart glasses. Once a user connects their Google account, they’ll reportedly be able to say things like “Hey Gemini, soundtrack what I’m looking at” and have the glasses’ camera feed that context into Spotify to use it as an inspiration to pick music.
Think about this as being in the middle of a set at the gym, phone locked in a locker, and how cool it would be if the right song simply played without you pausing, music that perfectly matches the vibes of your surroundings.
How tech is shifting to contextual AI for personalized outcomes
Wearables, smart glasses, and headsets featuring Android XR are expected to ship with a built-in camera, and that’s apparently the piece Spotify wants to use. The strings suggest Gemini can read and analyze the scene around you, like a gym, a sunset, a crowded train, and then pass on that context to Spotify so the app can play something that fits the moment instead of whatever’s next on shuffle.
That’s one step ahead of using voice control. Most assistants can already skip a track or start a playlist on command. However, reading your surroundings and picking music based on what you see completely changes the perspective, and it’s the first time I’ve seen the future of Spotify and music discovery being described that way.
What we know versus what’s still buried in code
We know the strings exist in the Spotify app, and we know they will be clearly referencing Gemini, smart glasses, and voice prompts for both playback and unique playlist creation. What we don’t know is when, or if, any of this actually ships.
APK teardowns dig up work in progress, not confirmed features, so you might want to take this as a strong signal that something will appear in the near future, but it’s not a promise.
Interestingly, there’s also a playlist-building feature buried in the same strings. A prompt like “Hey Gemini, make a playlist with all my favourite artists” suggests Spotify wants hands-free playlist curation to work through natural language and voice prompting, which might partially eliminate the use of a phone.
I’m truly intrigued by all these developments in the tech world and where we are heading with AI and Android XR. However, at the same time, I’ve also seen plenty of APK teardowns describe features that quietly disappear before launch. So for all this to work, Android XR itself needs to create its space among the users, which means a lot has to go right for a feature like this to reach anyone’s face.
Still, if it does ship, it changes what “just play something” means. This will also help the music industry flourish as people will be discovering new songs based on their surroundings.
