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Google Play Music 8.7 gains setting to remove album artwork from the lock screen

In light of the rumored revamp of Google’s music streaming services centered around YouTube, Play Music for Android has been light on updates in recent weeks. Today, a new version is rolling out that adds the ability to disable album artwork from the lock screen.

This new setting appears to be the only user-facing addition in version 8.7 of Play Music. The app received its last minor update with version 8.6 in December.

It is accessible by heading into Settings and navigating to the Playback category. The new “Show album art on lock screen” option is at the very bottom. This toggle is enabled by default and I’ve noticed that it takes a second for the change to apply after enabling/disabling it.

After toggling off, album artwork will no longer replace your background on the lock screen when music is playing. Of course, users still have access to the playback notification.

It’s a minor tweak, but useful for some who don’t want to offend with NSFW artwork. Another problem it addresses is low-resolution images or no album art at all. In the latter case, Play Music would annoyingly display a generic gray background of its logo.

Play Music’s future is unclear given the rumored revamp to YouTube’s music offering next month. Then again, it is sill receiving updates, albeit very minor ones. It is rolling out now via the Play Store.


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Avatar for Abner Li Abner Li

Editor-in-chief. Interested in the minutiae of Google and Alphabet. Tips/talk: abner@9to5g.com

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