The official YouTube client for android is full of ads and other tracking scripts. If you use it, then you will be forced to watch tens of intrusive ads from video to video, and your privacy will be under attack because of Google’s tracking activities.
Luckily, you don’t have to go through all this. You can use an alternative YouTube client app for android in order to avoid this situation.
NewPipe is an open source YouTube client for android, which also happens to be completely free of charge. It allows you to watch and browse any content on YouTube without having to use the official YouTube app from Google. In this way, you won’t see any ads and you will never be tracked by Google.
Moreover, the app provides the following features above the official YouTube client:
- Option to download the requested video in any supported format.
- Option to run the requested video in a background player, so that you can play YouTube videos in the background even when your smartphone’s screen is locked.
- Ability to subscribe to any YouTube channel locally, without needing to have an account or something.
- Ability to play the videos in popups.
- Bookmarks support to save videos you like in a local list.
- Privacy-by-design, not using any Google API at all in the software.
- Lightweight user interface.
The following pictures can demonstrate some of these features for you:
It is worthy to note that NewPipe also supports PeerTube and SoundCloud streaming services too. While this support is still in beta, you’ll find it working fine in general without critical issues. Hence, you can use this app as your central multimedia station on your mobile phone.
The app does not require any special permissions or steps to use. Just download the latest release from its official website and install it on your android device, and you’ll be good to go.
However, because of Google’s continuous updates to YouTube’s structure, the software may suddenly stop working and require an update, and instead of updating it manually each time, you can get it from the F-Droid app store in order to always keep it up to date.
It was a pity that the software was not available in the Google Play app store, as Google prohibits this kind of apps from being available on the store in its terms and conditions. That’s why you’ll need to use F-Droid or manually download the .apk file in order to use the app.
You can learn more information about NewPipe from its official website, or check its source code on GitHub. The software is licensed under the GPL 3 license. Alternatively, you can get Youtube Vanced APK app for an additional method to browse YouTube without ads.
Hanny is a computer science & engineering graduate with a master degree, and an open source software developer. He has created a lot of open source programs over the years, and maintains separate online platforms for promoting open source in his local communities.
Hanny is the founder of FOSS Post.
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