It’s bad wording from the article. The actual Spotify support page says this:
We recommend resetting your Car Thing to factory settings and safely disposing of your device following local electronic waste guidelines. Contact your state or local waste disposal department to determine how to dispose of or recycle Car Thing in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.
What exactly about the manual release damages the car? When my friend got his Model 3 he told me his friends would constantly use the manual release because the normal electronic one was less obvious. His car and doors didn’t break in any of those cases.
AdGuard DNS is free and super simple to setup, no app required. It’s my favorite no-fuss solution I found when I switched from Android a few years ago.
Go to that link, scroll down to method 2, and download an iOS profile. You’ll need to be using Safari for the download to work properly.
You get more customization and features through AdGuard’s app but then you have to pay a subscription for DNS blocking features. While it’s super cheap, I’ve personally been perfectly satisfied with this free solution. It blocks ads system-wide, not just in the browser. For example, in my shopping list app there’s usually a banner ad but it doesn’t load with the adguard DNS enabled. I’m 99% sure it won’t block ads in YouTube though (I sub to premium so I’ve never tried it.)
Next DNS is also free and appears to be the same thing but their website lets you fine-tune your profile, similar to using paid AdGuard. Might be worth looking into that, especially because it appears you can integrate AdGuard’s block list.
If you use the app then you have to pay for their subscription to use DNS features. If you don’t pay then you’re really just limited to adblocking in Safari. The profile I linked is free and will work for all apps. It’s not as robust or customizable as the AdGuard app, sure, but I’ve never had any real issues or need for anything more. Plus it’s one less app to have installed.
Just scroll down to method 2 and download the profile from the iOS section. You’ll need to be using Safari for the download to work properly. Then if you ever need to disable it the setting is in Settings > General > VPN & Device Management