Making Listener Profiles Portable Across Car and App

Executive Snapshot

I mapped how legacy account and subscription systems worked across business units, then translated the proposed separation of accounts, profiles, subscriptions, and devices into wireframes and prototypes for the existing mobile and in-car experiences. I considered web in the broader model and focused the detailed design on mobile and in-car. The mobile listener profile work moved into development for an in-car product iteration. Broader identity work depended on account and access decisions across services.

What follows the listener

Account

Ownership and billing

Manages→

Subscription

Plan and playback access

↓Governs household sharing

↓Determines eligible playback

Listener profile

Name, avatar, and preferences

Personalizes listening when linked→

Vehicle or device

Linked listening endpoint

A Household Could Share Listening Without Sharing Account Control

The in-car and streaming services used different rules for who could manage a subscription and who could listen under it. I mapped where those rules differed so a listener could use the same profile in both places while each service continued to apply its access rules.

I used scenarios like the shared car to make the distinction concrete. In the scenario above, the secondary listener's profile was linked to the shared vehicle. Their name, avatar, and listening preferences belonged to the profile. Their permission to stream or listen in the car depended on the access granted by the primary subscriber and the relevant link. The scenario set also explored what happened when that household access ended. A former secondary listener could still sign in on mobile and see their profile data, while playback through the former household plan was unavailable. That gave us a concrete way to design for profile continuity and subscription access as separate states.

Continue an In-Car Listener Profile on Mobile

I designed the mobile experience to pick up where the listener had left off in the car. I designed for two states after sign-in. A listener with a profile started in the car could continue setup on the phone. A listener without a profile could start from scratch. For the household member in the opening scenario, this meant picking up the setup they had already begun.

The sequence shows how a listener can carry a profile from the car into the app. The household account still governs ownership, and playback depends on the subscription access available to that listener and the device they're using.

What Moved Into Development and What Depended on Broader Identity Work