The boneheads went and created an NFT to make money and drew attention to themselves and Google hit them with a Cease and Desist. Le sigh. When will people learn that NFTs ruin everything.
I gather that there are some alternatives but YT Vanced was really nice (and will keep being so on my phone till Google does something that breaks my current install).
I just ordered a new handset so I guess the search for alternatives starts now.
Unfortunately, from what I’ve seen so far, none of them seem to allow you to log in to your Google account (which Vanced did).
Supposedly you can do it with Firefox or FF Nightly on Android and install add-ons.
There’s supposed to be something called Newpipe but I don’t know if it lets you sign in.
I don’t think Newpipe does. 🙁
Vanced was a hacked version of the official YouTube client which is not open-source, so Google was probably within their rights here.
Newpipe is not a hacked YT client, it’s open-source, so it’s safe. You don’t login to your Google account, but what difference does that really make other than not browsing your YT history on the website? You can migrate all your subscriptions and so on.
There’s also skytube and a couple others but I don’t believe they let you login either. Browser with adblocking (and the sponsorblock addon too, if you’re a cool guy) would work.
And of course you can always subscribe to YouTube Premium. If you VPN to Argentina this is something like $1.65/month, and includes YouTube Music too.
Edit: Actually “Skytube Extra” looks like it’s another hacked YouTube apk. They call it Extra but it’s also free, no charge. You just can’t download it from F-droid as it isn’t open-source, so you need to get it directly from their website.
I don’t use any of the above, I have an iPhone and use the excellent SmartTubeNext on AndroidTV.
You can subscribe to youtube for no ads.
Yep. It’s what I do. I subscribe to YouTube Premium, which means zero ads and I still support all the content creators I watch. Simply blocking ads doesn’t sit right with me personally.
Newpipe doesn’t show channel playlists, so it is pretty limited in functionality if that’s something you use. Skytube Extra doesn’t seem to be a hacked YT client - it just says that it uses non-OSS libs vs. their open client. It at least shows channel playlists, but not a fan of the layout.
Just using Firefox works fine. Not a perfect UI, but no loss of functionality that way.
I did this with Android Firefox and installed the Ublock Origin addon. Seems to work, but how do you dismiss a video in a mobile browser? The normal down arrow that appears if you tap on the upper left doesn’t appear. :-/
EDIT: Hitting the YT icon dismisses the current video but doesn’t seem to remember where you were in it, even when signed in. Maybe if I pause first… NOPE, not then either. Hmm.
Yeah, same.
Youtube with ads is unwatchable. It is nice that Google includes youtube premium with the music streaming. The nice thing is that I know that I am getting creators paid too, without watching ads!
Yep. Me too. I love and watch YouTube way too much and do want to support the creators, so this seems like a reasonable way to help support everyone.
Also screen-off viewing is vital for my sleepy-time fan noise video habit. Browser would take care of it, too, but that feels silly to do on a phone, hah.
Oh yes. Forgot that came with premium. Screen Off lets me listen to some TTRPG actual plays as to a podcast when I’m out and about.
Yep, I do that sort of thing too. Out walking the dog with my phone in my pocket, play YouTube content where I don’t care what’s showing on the video but want to listen to the audio.
Yes, that’s one of the reasons ie I start watching something on desktop YT and then want to carry on watching it on mobile.
Indeed, sometimes I’ll start watching on my computer and then switch to my AndroidTV box.
OMG that’s ridiculous. Do you only have to do that to sign up for premium or do you always need to use the VPN? Would I not be able to do that since I already tried the Youtube Premium 3 month trial using my Canadian credit card?
You only need it to sign up. Should work on your existing account but I’d probably make a dedicated one if I was going to do it. Easy enough to migrate all your subscriptions.
Yeah, guy I know subbed to Youtube Premium while he was on vacation in Brazil. Can use it fine over here (Europe) without VPN and such.