How do I turn off album art on lock screen Android?

Album art refers to the cover image that is displayed on your Android device’s lock screen when music is playing. The album artwork comes from the metadata of the music files on your device or streaming service. While some users enjoy seeing the album art for the music they are listening to, others may find it distracting or want more privacy on their lock screen. Disabling the album art prevents images from automatically appearing on your lock screen whenever you listen to music. There are a few different ways to turn off album art on your Android device’s lock screen, depending on your specific device model and Android version. This guide will provide step-by-step instructions for disabling lock screen album art using your device settings, third-party apps, and other workarounds.

Check Your Android Version

Newer versions of Android have the feature built-in to disable album art on the lock screen. Beginning with Android 10, Google introduced more customizable lock screen controls. Then in Android 12, additional settings were added to manage media recommendations and album artwork display on the lock screen.

To find your Android version, go to Settings > About Phone. Look for the Android Version or Software Version. If you have Android 10 or newer, you can simply turn off “Show media recommendations” and “Show album artwork” in your lock screen settings.

According to Google’s Android 14 announcement, even more lock screen customizations are coming. So if you have the latest Android OS, disabling album art will be straightforward.

Older versions of Android require alternative solutions covered in the sections below.

Use a Launcher App

One way to turn off album art on your Android lock screen is by using a custom launcher app. Popular launcher apps like Nova Launcher provide settings to disable or customize the lock screen, including removing album art.

To use Nova Launcher to remove lock screen album art:

Download and install Nova Launcher if you don’t already have it.
Open Nova Launcher and go to Settings > Look & Feel > Lock Screen.

Toggle off “Widget” to disable the lock screen widgets entirely.

With the lock screen widget disabled in Nova Launcher, album art and other media notifications will no longer appear on your lock screen. You can also customize the lock screen in other ways through Nova Launcher if you want to keep some widgets active.

Other popular Android launcher apps like Evie Launcher, Microsoft Launcher, and Lawnchair also provide ways to customize or remove the lock screen, so you have options if Nova doesn’t fit your needs.

Adjust Lock Screen Settings

Many Android devices allow you to toggle album art on or off directly in the lock screen settings. To adjust these settings on a Samsung device, open the Settings app and go to Lock Screen > Notifications. Look for the “Show Music Player” option and toggle it off. This will prevent album artwork from displaying on your lock screen during music playback [1].

On a Pixel device, go to Settings > Sound & vibration > Media. Turn off the “Show media artwork on lock screen” option to disable album art. Other Android devices like LG, Motorola, and Sony have similar settings to control media artwork on the lock screen, usually under Sound/Media or Display settings [2].

If you don’t see a dedicated toggle for it, look for “Media cover art”, “Now Playing”, or “Music on lock screen” and disable those options. Adjusting the system settings is the simplest way to turn off album art on your Android lock screen.

Use a Lock Screen App

One way to customize or remove the album art on your Android lock screen is to use a dedicated lock screen replacement app. These apps give you more options to control the look and functionality of your lock screen compared to the default Android lock screen.

Some popular lock screen apps include Dr.Fone, AcDisplay, Always On AMOLED, and Floatify. Many of these apps let you select custom wallpapers, widgets, shortcuts, notifications, and other lock screen elements.

Within the settings of a lock screen app, look for options to disable or customize the media controls and album art. For example, AcDisplay has a setting to enable or disable media cover art on the lock screen. With full control over the lock screen layout, replacement apps make it easier to remove or reposition album art.

The advantage of using a dedicated lock screen app is the expanded customization options compared to the stock Android lock screen. If you want to keep album art off your lock screen, a lock screen replacement app likely has settings to accommodate this.

Clear Media Notification Cache

Clearing the media notification cache on your Android device can sometimes help stop album art from appearing on your lock screen. When you receive media notifications, such as from a music player app, your Android device caches the album artwork and displays it on the lock screen. Over time, this cache can build up and continue showing album art even if you are no longer playing music.

To clear the media notification cache on Android:

Go to Settings > Apps & notifications > See all XXX apps.
Find the Media Storage app.
Tap Storage & cache > Clear cache.

This will wipe the stored album artwork from media notifications. After clearing the cache, your lock screen should no longer display any album art. You may need to reboot your device for the changes to take effect.

Clearing the media notification cache forces your Android device to rebuild the cache from scratch. So if any apps are still sending notifications with album art, it will start appearing on your lock screen again over time. But clearing it can provide a quick fix if album art is showing up unwanted.

Disable Media Notifications

One way to stop album art from appearing on your Android lock screen is to disable media notifications entirely. Media notifications are what trigger the album art to be displayed. By disabling them, you prevent any media playback information or images from popping up.

To disable media notifications on your Android device:

Open the Settings app.
Tap Notifications.

Locate and select Media Output.
Toggle off “Show media output.”

With this setting turned off, you will no longer receive any notifications about media playback on your lock screen or notification panel. This prevents album art from being displayed. However, it also means you won’t get notified about music, podcasts, or other media that you play on your device.

Some users may find this workaround too disruptive if you regularly play media and want notifications about it. But if album art on your lock screen is particularly bothersome, disabling media notifications can resolve the issue.

Use Do Not Disturb

The Do Not Disturb feature on Android devices allows you to mute notifications and stop interruptions while the mode is turned on.^[1] This can effectively disable the lock screen notifications as well if you enable the “Block visual disturbances” option under Do Not Disturb settings.

To enable this on Android:

Open Settings and go to Sound & vibration > Do Not Disturb.
Tap on “Turn on now” to enable Do Not Disturb immediately.
Tap on “Schedule” to set specific times when Do Not Disturb should turn on automatically.

Under “Behavior”, enable the “Block visual disturbances” option.

With visual disturbances blocked, you will no longer see any notifications on your lock screen while Do Not Disturb is active. This prevents album artwork and other media from appearing as well.

Just keep in mind that enabling this option blocks all visual notifications, so you won’t see any alerts or notifications at all until you turn Do Not Disturb off again. Use this selectively for times when you don’t want any interruptions.

^[1] https://www.androidcentral.com/how-use-do-not-disturb-android

Other Workarounds

There are a few other workaround options you can try to disable album art on your Android lock screen:

Use a custom lock screen app – Apps like Lock Screen – Lockscreen and Nova Launcher allow you to customize the lock screen and may provide more control over hiding album art.

Use ADB commands – You can use Android Debug Bridge (ADB) commands to disable some system UI tuner settings, like media cover art. However, this requires connecting your phone to a computer and some technical know-how.

Clear app cache/data – Deleting the cache and app data for music/media apps like Spotify may stop them from displaying album art temporarily. However, it will likely reappear when the cache rebuilds.

Disable media notifications – Turning off notifications from media apps may prevent album art from displaying. But you would also miss out on other notification sounds/popups.

Use a third-party utility app – Some apps like Xposed Additions give granular control over system UI customization, and may allow disabling lock screen album art specifically.

Troubleshooting Issues

If none of the above solutions work to remove album art from your Android lock screen, here are some troubleshooting tips:

Check that media notifications are actually enabled in your system settings. Go to Settings > Notifications and verify the Media setting is turned on.

Try force stopping the Spotify app and clear app cache/data before testing again. This may reset any glitchy behavior.

For Samsung devices, go to Settings > Lock Screen > Notifications > View Style and set to ‘Icons Only’ to prevent fullscreen previews.

As a last resort, backup your phone and perform a factory reset. This will wipe your device and start fresh, which can fix underlying software issues.

If you’ve tried all troubleshooting steps and still see unwanted album art, submit feedback directly to Spotify and your device manufacturer. There may be bugs they need to address in future updates.