User Manual.
Connect to power outlet Table of contents Table of contents Meet Car Thing Get to know Car Thing Front Back What’s in the box? Start the device Setup Connect to the car’s media system No car connection Connect with the aux cable Connect with Bluetooth Before pairing Phone calls Connection problems Mounting parts Pair from Car Thing Connecting parts Pair from the car’s media system Other parts Set-up guide Mount in the car Choose your mount The options Before mounting Removal of mounts Attach the dock
Play music (and podcasts) Turn play at start on/off Control music (and podcasts) Voice optimization Ask questions Perform voice optimization Save music (and podcasts) Voice Show content Select voice Music level Network connection Limited network connection Smart caching Presets Set a preset Play a preset Set music level About Help Updates Power Power modes Settings Microphone Turn microphone on/off Connect to car Connect via aux Connect via Bluetooth Forget device Account Link account Unlink accou
Recycling and disposal Technical specifications Dimensions Display Weight Wireless technology Battery Ports & Connectors Location Services Power Environmental conditions Important Safety Information Regulatory and Compliance Information Federal Communication Commission Interference Statement 4
Meet Car Thing Car Thing makes it easier than ever to play your favorite music and podcasts in the car. To set up, just connect to the car’s media system with Bluetooth or the aux cable and mount it so it’s easily accessible while driving. The dock allows you to easily grab and bring Car Thing with you when you leave the car. Car Thing has a built-in 4G/LTE modem. This means you can play music and podcasts without using your phone, or any other device.
Get to know Car Thing Front 1. Screen - See and control what’s playing. Press up, down, left, right, and center to navigate and perform different actions. Note: The screen is not a touch screen. You need to push the screen firmly but carefully until you hear it click. 2. Dial - Turn to explore music, settings, and options. 3. Preset buttons - Save your favorite music and podcasts to play instantly. 4. Microphones - Control Car Thing with your voice. Back 1. Restart button - Press to make the device restart.
What’s in the box? Mounting parts Dash mount - Attaches to any vertical surface in the car with a sticky adhesive. Vent mount - Attaches to the car’s vents. CD mount - Attaches to the car’s CD slot. Dock and screw - Connects Car Thing to power and aux. On the back of the dock, the screw attaches the dock to the mounts.
Connecting parts Car Thing - Plays your music or podcasts through the car speakers via Bluetooth or the aux cable. Power adapter - Connects the dock to the 12V power outlet in the car. Aux cable - Can connect Car Thing to the car’s media system. Note: The aux cable is one option to use to connect to the car’s media system. You can also connect with Bluetooth.
Other parts Storage pouch - Stores Car Thing when it’s not in use. Cable organizers - Helps keep Car Thing’s cables neat and out of the way. Cleaning cloth - Cleans the surface before you place the dash mount. Also included: Velcro band (wrapped around the aux cable), Set up guide, Meet Car Thing guide, product and safety instructions, and your warranty.
Set-up guide These are the steps to getting Car Thing set up in your car and ready to play: 1. Mount in the car. Use one of the three mounts included in the box (CD mount, vent mount, or dash mount) to secure the device to your dashboard. Which one you use is up to you. 2. Connect to power. Set up Car Thing on the dock and connect the dock to a power source in the car with the provided power adapter. 3. Start the device. Start the device for the first time. 4. Connect to the car’s media system.
Mount in the car Choose your mount The options CD mount: Attaches inside the CD slot. This mount is appropriate if: ● The car has a CD slot located in a spot that makes it easy and safe for you to set up and operate Car Thing. ● The CD slot isn’t used to play CDs Vent mount: Attaches to the bars in a small vent. This mount is appropriate if: ● The car has a small vent located in a spot that makes it easy and safe for you to use Car Thing.
Before mounting Consider the following when choosing which mount to use and where to put it: ● The mount must be out of the way from important functions in the car (such as gear stick, parking brake, light switches and speedometer). ● Car Thing should not be placed in front of or above any airbag. ● Car Thing must be safely secured with the chosen mount. ● Car Thing needs to be close enough for you to easily see and reach from the driver’s seat.
Attach the dock to the mount Once you’ve chosen your mount you need to attach the dock to it. You do this by using the screw on the back of the dock. The dock attaches in the same way regardless of which mount you’re using. 1. Loosen the screw on the back of the dock. 2. Insert the ball joint on your chosen mount into the grip on the back of the dock. You need to insert the ball through the hole in the screw. 3. Fasten the screw to secure the mount.
Place the mount CD mount This mount has wings that can be flattened to fit into the CD slot. Important! Make sure you put the wings in the right way. The tips should be pointing upwards. 1. Insert one of the wings into the CD slot. Important! Make sure the CD slot is empty before inserting the mount. 2. Gently bend the other wing and rotate it in. 3. Carefully push the mount into your CD slot until it feels secure.
Vent mount This mount has grips that can attach to the bars of a small vent. The grips slide on tracks which makes it possible for you to adjust the mount to the positioning of the vents in the car. Tip! The mount can be placed vertically or diagonally as well as horizontally, depending on the orientation of the vent bars. Try it out to find the position that gives the best stability. If you place the mount vertically or diagonally you can twist the dock’s position so Car Thing is placed horizontally. 1.
Dash mount This mount attaches with adhesive to any vertical surface you choose. Important! Before you mount the device, you should carefully consider the mounting location. The adhesive is very sticky, can be difficult to move, and is not reusable. 1. Pick an appropriate surface to place the dash mount. The surface shouldn’t be horizontal as the ball joint can’t tilt 90 degrees. Tip! Try out different locations with the protective strip still attached before deciding on a surface. 2.
Connect to power Connect to dock The dock enables Car Thing to become connected to power. Important! Always remove Car Thing from the dock and bring it with you when you leave the car. If you leave Car Thing on the dock your car might still supply it with power, which risks draining the car’s battery. Note: Car Thing retains only a limited amount of power when unplugged, so it needs to remain on the dock when in use. 1. Place Car Thing on the dock, making sure the connectors on the two devices line up. 2.
1. Locate the 12V power outlet in the car (it’s usually the cigarette lighter). Important! Make sure the outlet you use is actually 12V and that it’s providing power. For some cars that means the ignition has to be turned on. 2. Plug the power adapter into the power outlet. 3. Plug the USB cable into one of the outlets on the power adapter (you can use the extra outlet to charge your phone!) Important! Go to the Safety information for more information about how to install the mounts safely.
Start the device As soon as the device is connected to power it will start automatically. If you’re using the device for the first time, you will be guided through the setup of the device. Setup At start up the device will check if the following is available: ● ● ● Car connection Linked account Network connection If any of these are not available when you start the device it will guide you through setting it up.
Connect to the car’s media system You can connect Car Thing to the car’s media system in the following ways: ● ● With the aux cable. With Bluetooth. Once Car Thing is connected to the car’s media system, it can play music through the car’s speakers. It’s possible to have both aux and Bluetooth connected at the same time. Music is then played via the aux connection. If you disconnect the aux cable, the Bluetooth connection is used instead.
No car connection If the device has no car connection a symbol indicating this is shown on top of the screen. If this symbol shows, you need to connect the device to the car’s media system with the aux cable or Bluetooth to play music through the car’s speakers.
Connect with the aux cable The provided aux cable is an easy way to connect Car Thing to the car’s media system through the aux port. Note: Not all cars have an aux port. Refer to the car’s user manual for information about whether it has an aux port, where it’s located and instructions on how to set aux mode. 1. Plug one end of the aux cable into the aux port in the car. 2. Plug the other end of the cable into the aux port on the dock. 3. Set the car’s media system to aux mode. 4.
Connect with Bluetooth When using Bluetooth to connect Car Thing to the car’s media system, you first need to establish a connection by pairing the devices to each other. You can do this either from Car Thing or from the car’s media system. After you’ve paired them they will connect automatically every time you use Car Thing in the car. Before pairing Ensure the following: ● Car Thing is not already paired to another Bluetooth device.
Pair from Car Thing Follow these instructions if you want to establish the connection from Car Thing. Note: Some cars don’t support pairing from another device. If that’s the case try pairing from the car instead, go to Pair from the car’s media system for information about how to do this. 1. Go to the Bluetooth settings in the car’s media system and set it to be discoverable by other Bluetooth devices. This will make the car’s media system discoverable for other Bluetooth devices 2.
Note! The car’s media system might ask you to input a code at this stage, if it does enter the code 0000. 6. You now get the option to perform voice optimization, which makes Car Thing better at picking up your voice requests. Press the center of the screen to start voice optimization. Go to Voice Optimization for more information. 7. Car Thing will pair to the selected Bluetooth device. The name of the device is shown as your car connection when you go to Settings > Connect to car.
Pair from the car’s media system Follow these instructions if you want to establish the connection from the car’s media system. 1. On Car Thing, go to Settings > Connect to car. Note: If no car connection is found when you start the device, you’re automatically taken to this page. 2. Press the center of the screen. This will make Car Thing discoverable for other Bluetooth devices (it remains discoverable until you exit Bluetooth settings). 3.
Link account To play music on the device, you need to link your Spotify account to it. Note: Use a mobile device with an internet connection and a browser, such as a phone or tablet, to perform this. 1. Go to Spotify.com/pair. 2. Enter the email address and password for your account. 3. Enter the code that appears on Car Thing’s screen. 4. Tap Pair to confirm.
Organize the cables After you’ve set Car Thing up and mounted it, you can use the cable organizers to arrange the cables. These let you arrange the cables in a neat and tidy way to keep them away from important functions in the car. Place the cable organizers 1. Decide on appropriate spots to place the cable organizers. This should be in spots that places the cables out of the way from important functions in the car. 2. Clean the surface where you will put the cable organizers. 3.
Navigate Car Thing 1. Settings Here you can manage Car Thing. To get to Settings, press up from Now Playing (default screen). ● Turn the dial to scroll through options and sub-options ● Press the center of the screen to select options. ● Press down to return to Now Playing. Note! Go to Settings for more information about the different settings that are available. Important! When you’re driving, most of the Settings menu is not available for safety reasons.
● ● ● ● Press the screen left for previous song (if the current song’s been playing for less than 30 secs) or beginning of the current song (if it’s been playing for more than 30 secs). Press the screen up to get to Settings. Press the screen down to get to Actions. Turn the dial to browse featured music and podcasts. Scroll to the right to find to find recommendations for you and scroll to the left to find what you’ve recently played on the device.
For albums, artists, and playlists: ● Press up to start Radio. This starts a playlist of similar songs to what’s currently playing. ● Press right to like the song - saves to Your Library. Press right again to remove from Your Library. ● Press left to Dislike - you will skip ahead to the next song and it won’t be played again in this mix. ● Press down to return to Now Playing. For Daily Mix: ● Press up to start Radio. This starts a playlist of similar songs to what’s currently playing.
Talk to Car Thing The easiest way to control Car Thing is by talking to it! Car Thing is created for you to talk to while driving and playing music, so it can hear you even when you have music playing. Important! Go to the Safety information for information about using the device safely while driving. Get Car Thing to listen To talk to Car Thing you first need to get it listening. You can do that one of these ways: ○ Say: “Hey Spotify”.
What can I ask Car Thing to do? This is a list of common things you can ask Car Thing to do. Be aware that the list doesn’t cover everything you can ask. Remember! Always start out by saying “Hey Spotify” or press and hold the center of the screen to get the device to listen before asking it to do something. The screen needs to look like this when you ask something! Play music (and podcasts) To do this Say “Hey Spotify…” Play something ...play. ...start playing. Play a song ...play {song}. ...
...play {genre} Radio. ...play more like this Play the previous song Play a podcast ...play {name} podcast. ...play {podcast name}. Ask questions Play a preset ...play preset {number}. To do this Say “Hey Spotify…” Control music (and podcasts) Find out what’s playing ...what’s playing? To do this Say “Hey Spotify…” Save music (and podcasts) Shuffle music ...shuffle. ...shuffle playlist. ...shuffle album. To do this Say “Hey Spotify…” Stop shuffling ...stop shuffle. ...shuffle off. ...
Network connection Car Thing has a built-in 4G/LTE network. This means it will automatically connect to the internet when network coverage is available. The device also fetches a few songs ahead of what is currently playing. This means less risk of streaming interruptions due to short periods of limited network connection such as when you drive through a tunnel.
Presets If you want to easily find your favorite music and podcasts, you can set them as presets. You can set any of the following to a preset: ● Playlists ● Albums ● Artists ● Singles / EPs ● Podcasts ● Spotify Radio ● A Daily Mix Play a preset Whenever you want to play something that is saved to a preset you can do it in one of these ways: ● ● Say “Hey Spotify, play Preset {number}”. Press the preset button for the option you want to play.
Settings In the Settings menu you can change the settings for how the device behaves. You can also access information about the device and get support for how to use it. Note: Even when the microphone is off, you can get Car Thing’s attention by pressing and holding the center of the screen. Then make your request. When you’re driving, most of the Settings menu is not available for safety reasons.
Connect via Bluetooth Link account If you choose to connect with the car’s media system with Bluetooth you don’t need any cords or other equipment. Car Thing can remember several Bluetooth devices and you will see these in a list. Go to Link account for more info. Go to the Connect with Bluetooth for more info. Forget device If you no longer want Car Thing to pair to a certain Bluetooth Device you can have Car Thing forget it. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Go to Settings > Connect to car in Car Thing..
Turn speaking on/off 1. Go to Settings > Options > Speaking. 2. Press the center of the screen to switch on/off. Play at start When Play at start is on, music starts playing immediately when you turn on the device. It will be whatever you were last playing on your account. Turn play at start on/off 1. Go to Settings > Options > Play at start. 2. Press the center of the screen to switch on/off.
About Get information about Car Thing by going to Settings > About. Here you’ll find: ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Serial number IMEI number FCC label App version OS version Voice version Language version Help You can get help on how to use Car Thing by going to Settings > Help. Here you can access brief help information in text form about different topics.
Updates Updates will be available for the device regularly. When an update becomes available, it will initiate the next time the device is connected to power or restarted. You don’t have to do anything for these updates to be performed, but you might briefly see a screen saying that the device is updating while it starts up. The update will at most take a few minutes to perform.
Power Power modes Car Thing has different modes depending on if it’s in use or not. The mode also depends on if Car Thing is connected to power or not. ● ● ● ● Playing - When Car Thing is currently playing music and is connected to power. Standby - When the music has been paused for more than 5 secs. The screen becomes slightly dimmed in this mode. This mode also happens when Car Thing is disconnected from the dock. All music is automatically paused when the device is disconnected.
Put in sleep mode The device will automatically go to sleep after being disconnected for about 5 seconds. You can also put the device in sleep mode by tapping the power button on the back briefly. Power problem The message Power problem is shown if the device is plugged into the wrong power source. The device won’t be able to operate. Try plugging the device into another power source if this happens.
Factory reset By doing a factory reset you will clear all saved data from the device. The following data will be cleared when you perform a factory reset: ● User data such as: ○ Bluetooth settings ○ Preset settings ○ User settings ● Fetched content ● App data ● App updates OS updates performed on the device won’t be cleared during a factory reset. Perform factory reset 1. Go to Settings > Power > Reset. 2. Turn the dial to get to Factory reset. 3. Press the center of the screen to perform a factory reset.
Removal of mounts To decrease the risk of damage, use both hands and firm and steady movements when you remove a mount. Never yank on it. Preparations Detach the dock and Car Thing from the mount before removing it. This makes it easier to remove the mount and also prevents damage to the dock and Car Thing. 1. Put the string behind the mount. 2. Move the string back and forth in a sawing motion to detach the adhesive.
Cleaning If your device needs to be cleaned, we recommend you use a lint free and scratch resistant cloth (microfibre preferred). Use this cloth to clean both the screen and all other external parts. Dampen the cloth slightly if needed and clean the screen using soft, even strokes. Important! Never use any type of cleaning solvent or other chemical agents to clean the device.
Recycling and disposal Devices that are no longer operational should be returned to Spotify, together with all equipment included. Visit support.carthing.com for information about how to do this. If this is not possible you should abide by your local regulations regarding recycling and disposal of electronic waste. The device must be disposed of separately from ordinary household waste because it contains a battery and is considered electronic equipment.
Technical specifications Dimensions ● ● ● Width: 3.9” (98 mm) Height: 1.7” (43.3 mm) Depth: 1.2” (31.7 mm) Wireless technology ● ● Display ● ● Size: 1.27” (Height) x 1.40” (Width) (32.19 mm x 35.52 mm) Pixels: 290 (height) x 320 (width) - 229 ppi Weight ● ● ● ● ● ● Main Unit: 3.9 oz (110 g) Dock: 1.9 oz (54 g) Power Adapter: 0.8 oz (22 g) CD mount: 0.3 oz (9 g) Vent mount: 0.9 oz (27 g) Dash mount: 0.3 oz (8 g) Bluetooth 4.
Power ● ● ● ● ● Power supply requirements: 5V, 1.8A Power supply supplied: 12V in, 5V 1.8A +1.8A out Average power consumption, operational: 5W Peak power consumption: 10W Idle power consumption, 12V plug: 0.
Battery and Heat Warning. Important Safety Information ● WARNING Read and keep this information for future reference. Failure to follow these instructions or heed these warnings could result in fire, electrical shock, bodily injury, or property damage. Visit our website for the most up to date product and safety information. Handle with Care. Car Thing is an electrical device that should be handled with care. Avoid dropping Car Thing. Do not expose Car Thing to liquids. Keep away from dust.
Follow All Applicable Laws. Federal, state, or local laws or requirements may apply to your use of Car Thing. Spotify does not assume any responsibility for any fines, penalties or damages that may be incurred as a result of any federal, state, or local laws or requirements relating to the use of Car Thing. or neck. If you experience discomfort after using Car Thing, stop use and consult your doctor. Risk of Hearing Loss.
● The mounts may not stay attached in all circumstances. Do not place the device or mount where it will become a distraction should it become detached.
Regulatory and Compliance Information Federal Communication Commission Interference Statement This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions: 1. This device may not cause harmful interference, and 2. this device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation. This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules.
