YouTube Vanced alternatives for Android
The popular third-party YouTube client Vanced for Android is being discontinued. The developers announced the decision on the official Twitter account and through other channels.
I reviewed YouTube Vanced back in August 2020 here on this site. YouTube Vanced was never available on Google Play, which meant that its installation was not as straightforward. Once installed, it offered a number of features that improved the YouTube viewing and browsing experience.
Features like built-in blocking of ads, dark mode support, sponsor skipping in videos, more control over video resolutions and qualities, or disabling certain YouTube elements and features were what made it popular.
According to The Verge, Google sent the owners of Vanced a cease and desist letter. Details are not clear at this point, but the letter resulted in the discontinuation of YouTube Vanced. The app will continue to work according to the developers, but it will stop working eventually. Third-party YouTube apps (and others) need regular maintenance, especially when new changes are introduced that affect functionality on the official service.
YouTube Vanced Alternatives
YouTube Vanced users may continue to use the app for now on Android, but it will stop working eventually. The following list includes alternatives for Vanced that users may want to try out.
NewPipe
NewPipe is another open source client for YouTube that makes a lot of things better than the official YouTube app by Google. NewPipe is not available on Google Play, but Android users may download it from the developer website or through F-Droid.
NewPipe blocks video ads on YouTube, supports video downloads and background playback among other things. It is fast and efficient to use, and gives users a lot of options to customize the viewing experience on YouTube.
SkyTube
SkyTube is yet another open source third-party client for YouTube. The Android application is available via its own website and via F-Droid.
Like NewPipe, it is adding features that many users would call essential to the YouTube experience on Android. Videos play without advertisement and the option to download content is also provided. The app offers a view-experience only, which means that it does not support signing in to a YouTube account. Still, features such as channel subscriptions, bookmarks or reading comments are all supported by it.
LibreTube
LibreTube is an open source YouTube frontend that is currently available as a beta. It is updated regularly
The client, while in beta, supports major features such as an ad-free viewing experience and downloads.
Firefox for Android with uBlock Origin
Firefox for Android is one of the few browsers for Android that supports extensions. While it does not support all extensions available for Firefox anymore, it does support a few essential ones, including uBlock Origin.
All you need to do is download Firefox, select Menu > Add-ons, and enable uBlock Origin. When you visit YouTube in the browser, advertisement is blocked automatically.
Download to this is that you don't get any extra features that third-party clients offer, such as the downloading of videos. Functionality is limited to what YouTube's web version is offering.
YouTube alternatives and other options
YouTube users and creators who are looking for alternatives, may want to check out the following services:
- DTube -- DTube is a decentralized platform that uses blockchain and P2P technology. The platform is ad-free and revenue is earned through crypto-currency earnings.
- Invidious -- Another open source frontend for YouTube that blocks ads, disables tracking and offers lots of customization features. Runs in any browser.
- Piped -- Piped is an open source frontend for YouTube that several clients and services use. Users can self-host a Piped instance to benefit from zero tracking, no ads and more.
Now You: have other YouTube options that work on Android?
SkyTube, NewPipe, and Vanced aren’t really good or trustworthy. SkyTube was simply slow in every way, and I didn’t stick with it for long.
I’ve been using the iteroni.com version of Invidious for over a year and it’s been great. I use it on my phone or on my PC, and it’s been a great experience.
Is there a youtube alternative that supports using chromecast? I tired libretube and newpipe and both don’t support it.
Totally bummed about Vanced being discontinued! I’ve been using Vanced for a couple years now and because I have over 3 dozen channels that I follow being able to log into my account is a big deal for me. And I also really like the swipe gestures so using the actual YouTube app would be a serious downgrade for me. The Vanced app works great on my tablet and phone so I’ll have to figure out at some point what I want to use to replace it, till then I’ll continue to use it, for a few months anyway. All that said… I’ve never had to deal with the ads, and for a couple years now I’ve also had YouTube Premium. I like to support the channels I follow and I also don’t want to deal with the ads when using my TV’s, the HORROR!
Leave it to the googly to ruin a good thing!
Do you donate to any developers of things you like or is it just selfishness regarding others time spend putting food on the table that’s an issue?
I don’t know the alternative yet, but one thing is for sure: no youtube app on any family phone or premium. I really hate google for their shitty ads. No alternative?! Don’t care, I’ll stop using youtube.
Just pay subsribtion if u dont want ads
no :)
All these are alternatives for *Youtube*, not Vanced. There is nothing like it. None of them support signing in, which is crucial for those who make use of recommendations and playlists. The closest you can get is a mobile browser with an adblocker and the Sponsorblock extension. I use Iceraven, which is Firefox mobile with the shitty bits castrated.
https://github.com/yuliskov/SmartTubeNext
That’s the Vanced equivalent(sign in to your account, SponsorBlock and no ads) for Android TV, it doesn’t work on phones.
Is notifications about new videos from favourite channels available in NewPipe? I haven’t found this option. If so, where can I find it and how often does it check for new videos?
No there are no notifications. Feed view is available though for subscribed channels. That’s the main feature of Newpipe – no notifications, no tension. One more reason to not look at your phone constantly.
It’s not a dedicated YouTube app, but Iceraven for Android ( Available directly at https://github.com/fork-maintainers/iceraven-browser/releases or indirectly via the ffupdater app on F-Droid), a general purpose web browser, has add-ons like “UBlock Origin”, “Video Background Play Fix”, “Sponsor Block”, and several more extensions that modify YouTube, all of them available to easily install right from the Iceraven add-on manager menu (Anecdotally, the first two I mentioned work like a charm from install to daily use, whereas the third one works if installed, but sometimes doesn’t appear on the list of available add-ons for some reason.).
I understand why some people prefer a non-browser app, but if a web browser is fine with you, or something you feel like you might want to try while exploring your options now that your favorite dedicated YouTube app is gone, Iceraven might be worth a try.
New versions of Vanced weren’t even doing Chromecast anymore, it was cool you could log in and sync with your google account but it was already failing so I guess it was easier to pull the plug with lame Google sending them legal crap, guess world expect people to be anonymous devs when they are trying to fix the internet.
If anyone else is still using Firefox for Android, we are like ten persons, “Video Background Play Fix” is another useful extension to use. A possible alternative are Chromium based browsers that don’t block extensions, like Brave and Yandex’s Browser, I’ve used a little the latter in conjuction with an userscript to bypass the 18 years age limit of some videos (I’m not going to give them my credit card just for confirming my age).
I agree adding “Video Background Play Fix” extension improves YouTube on Firefox.
This allows playing videos in the background.
uBlock Origin blocks the ads.
Also look at the Brave browser; it’s very good right out of the box.
Newpipe is awesome, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the next one that gets shut down. If only we had actual competition for Youtube, it might not have become the garbage cesspool (with more ads than there are on TV) that it is now.
There are actually competitors to Youtube but barely anybody uses them.
Mike,
A lot less likely to happen.
Vanced was literally a mod of the official app (and a very buggy and badly written mod at that).
Newpipe is an actual alternative client written from scratch.
People follow specific content creators who just happen to use only Youtube because of the size of the potential audience and those sweet advertising bucks. So there’s no point looking at alternatives like Vimeo or Dailymotion if the guy whose videos you like doesn’t host them there. A few creators have started mirroring their content on Bitchute and Peertube, which is a good start.
Goddamnit, why?! I just want a client where I can still use my account, but has sponsorblock and RYD built in… I already subscribe to yt premium so adblocking as such is no issue. This sucks…
They did some thing with NFT, Google didn’t like that and decided to shut it down.
If you are already premium why bother using Vanced?
What emiron said. I was pretty clear as to what I want from my youtube app. I could live without ryd if I had to, but sponsorblock is a must-have, it’s so nice to just auto-skip all the annoying intros, vpn-ads and the rest.
Because yt premium doesn’t have ryd and sponsorblock
I’m surprised almost no-one mentioned FreeTube (Windows, Mac, Linux)
https://freetubeapp.io/
YouTube front end that uses Invidious instances for improved privacy. Works very well.
Get a life and don’t use youtube. Period.
Firefox with adguard on android , works and no adds to be seen. The downloading can be done
on the computer.
It’s a pity, but this was predictable. With Vanced one could use their own Youtube account. Same can’t be said of any of these alternatives.
Also does any of them offer Chromecast support or support the import of saved playlists? Newpipe does not
GOOGLE CAN * [Editor: removed]! I WILL NEVER STOP USING IT!
Newpipe for Android, Piped for web. I also sometimes use YouTube website for comments.
Used Vanced, was a good app. Never signed-in with Google account though. What’s the point if you have to tell Google everything anyway.
As always that’s the Big Tech for you. Barinsta was also taken down by Instagram(never used it but knew about it).
Best way to use Android is – never login with an OEM account. Never use Google account either. Use F-Droid for the most part. Reduce dependency on Aurora Store. You never know it might be next. Use Apkmirror for downloading apps, use RSS feeds to get notified of app updates. Keep other options handy. And use an adblocker. Most Play Store are huge trackers.
‘Tell Google’ what? That you liked or disliked a certain video so that they can give you better recommendations? How horrible. Of course the videos you like on a platform they run is supposed to be a state secret. /s
Make them work for you. I like scifi shorts and videos about WW2, so over time of indicating my preferences, I get recommendations that are more like that. And with all ads blocked on all my devices from all sources, they are welcome to know my video watching preferences given I am not going to receive a single ad they send my way, Vanced or no Vanced.
Barinsta stopped? Weird, I still use it.
It still kinda works for now but much like Vanced, the developer was handed a cease and desist order and has since stopped developing the app. Once the respective websites make some changes it is bound to break the app.
That sucks. :(
Well, I barely use instagram anyway. Guess I’ll stick to a web-app with Firefox for Android then.
Barinsta was the best instagram client for just about everyone. It allowed even the casual instagram browser such as myself to access a users public profile without having to sign up and do so much more than what instagram allowed. It’s a damn shame that a fork never actually took off. When it comes to these kinds of apps one must always stay in the shadows anonymously and work away at it. Affiliating yourself with such a product can only lead to problems down the line.
There is definitely a lot that can be done to remove the many analytics from apps and definitely something I would recommend. The sheer amount of crap devs and google put into their apps is astonishing. We wouldn’t stand for it on windows so why should we stand for it on whats likely a more sensitive and personal device.
I have happily been using NewPipe (SponsorBlock) and whilst it may break on the odd occasion due to Google updating Youtube for some completely stupid reason it doesn’t take long for Newpipe to be updated.
I visit youtube a lot and tend to have a lot of extensions on my browser to make my experience better but I also use Freetube on windows which is great too but lacks a few things but for the casual viewer it’s pretty good.
Vanced for me jumped the shark when they required their manager to be installed also and required me to disable some push notifications from it to stop getting stupid notifications.
I can browse any instagram public account easily. Install the extension Kill Sticky by Eemeli and you get rid of those annoying things that pop up telling you to join or to accept ads etc etc, just click on the Kill Sticky icon and POOOF! gone, surf on baby. Works on pinterest, 9gag, instagram etc etc you name it..
I tried this kill Sticky and it destroyed the whole page?
Yep Barinsta had great use cases.
Never used Vanced manager though. SAI from F-Droid can install apk’s’. Downloaded Vanced from Apkmirror.
I’ve been using Invidious for a long time, it doesn’t work on 100% of videos, probably 96-97% of them, some just refuse to start buffering/loading even if I wait for them for 30 minutes. In which cases I just use the YouTube website.
I’ve tried SkyTube, NewPipe and Vanced and they aren’t very good or reliable. SkyTube was just slow in everything and I didn’t last long with it, NewPipe’s API breaks at least once a month and you have to wait for the developer to release an update before the app starts working again, which is a huge problem, Vanced, the last time I tried was showing me ads in between video results and didn’t get much updates in the last 1-2 years, which is already bad in its own way.
I’ve been using the iteroni.com instance of Invidious and it’s working fine, I use it on my phone or on my PC and it’s generally been a good experience for over a year now. I think Invidious and other websites that use the YouTube API are the best, because YouTube can’t shut them down, they have alternative domains and don’t rely on physical updates like apps in order to work if they are broken.
What a nonsense review. Vanced was updated regularly. Newpipe doesn’t have the issues you’ve described, other than ones caused by changes pushed out by YouTube, and those are usually fixed in a day or less. If you have this many issues with all the major YT alternatives then I’m strongly suspecting a lot of user error here.
@Maxlyft
LOL
So it’s user error that I open NewPipe and I want to play a video and it doesn’t work, I try another one and it doesn’t work, then I look on the internet for solutions and learn that this is a common occurrence and everyone is waiting for the developer to release an update to fix it and until then the app is useless.
And it’s also user error that I check every few weeks for new Vanced updates only to see they are still serving the same version from months ago.
Yeah right, if something doesn’t sit well with your beliefs, you are quick to rationalize that it’s the other person’s fault. Big brain moment, GG.
@dumbledalf
It’s amazing how it somehow doesn’t register in your head that broken things need to be fixed in order to work. You probably scream at potholes too, don’t you? Now if Google broke NewPipe the very second your royal highness wanted to watch a video is unfortunate, but to rant about it and feeling personally insulted by NewPipe of this catastrophic event that ruined your day is just amazing. There actually ARE people like you! I read about them, I saw memes..I thought idiots like this were a product of imagination, I was wrong. You know, Google Premium is actually developed for people like you. Just pay up and SHUT THE F**K UP you spoiled little insignificant useless human.
“NewPipe’s API breaks at least once a month” That’s a lie. It breaks exactly when Google changes something in their code, and they do often that JUST to break NewPipe nothing else. So of course NewPipe have to then fix the issue that Google caused. Blame Google for this, not NewPipe. Sometimes that might take a day or two but always get fixed.
Kiwi browser with uBlock Origin, no one in their right mind uses anything by Mozilla in 2022. The Mozilla we all loved back in the day has been murdered and buried ages ago.
And yeah, NewPipe for the win. They don’t use google services so I doubt Google can kill them easily, however Google does have an income of maybe 500 trillion dollars per minute so I am sure they can afford to BRIBE NewPipe to stop. Remains to be seen.
Anyways, the second I am forced to watch ads on YouTube is the very second I will stop using YouTube, which by the way is the largest source of illegal videos/audio known to mankind..