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Vanced, an Alternative to YouTube's Official App, is Shutting Down (androidpolice.com) 40

Posted by EditorDavid from the sounds-of-silence dept.
"We're here to mourn the passing of YouTube Vanced," writes the site Android Police: If you weren't too fond of the official YouTube app, there were many alternatives at your disposal. One of them was YouTube Vanced — a modded version of the original app that added features like ad blocking, background playback, and many more without charging users like YouTube's Premium tier. We even put it on our list of the best indie apps you can get. It further gained popularity by bringing back dislike counts in videos just as Google removed them from their service...

The folks behind the project announced Sunday in the app's official Telegram channel and on the Vanced Twitter account that it will be discontinued. No clear reason was given as to why it was killed off, so we can only speculate — but it's likely due to Google's legal department taking notice of Vanced...

Vanced was never the only alternative YouTube app. Others include open-source NewPipe, which is more lightweight than the official app. But YouTube Vanced had a huge user base, and we'll miss it. It won't be updated anymore, but you can still get the last version. Do it quickly, though — the download links will soon be gone.
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Vanced, an Alternative to YouTube's Official App, is Shutting Down More

Vanced, an Alternative to YouTube's Official App, is Shutting Down

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  • Could this be linked to the Russian sanctions and the Internet cut off in Russia?
    • Even if it's not, I'm sure someone can find a way.

      • Due to legal threats from Google, apparently:

        https://www.theverge.com/2022/... [theverge.com]

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          This is very bad news. Vanced is the best YouTube client for Android and while NewPipe is okay, it doesn't integrate with your Google account so you have to manually copy over all your subscriptions and there is no desktop sync.

          I'm worried about other alternative clients now, like Smart Tube Next.

          Thing is, YouTube is just a website. Even the mobile and TV versions are just HTML, and the apps are just custom web browsers. Hopefully other apps that don't use any of the branding etc. can continue to exist.

          Hope

          • Should be easy to avoid, just don't use any logos that in any way resemble the YouTube logo, and just avoid any direct mention of YouTube to be safe. They asked the developers to stop linking to YouTube, but that was only because they had them for the trademark infringement already. Just don't give them any legal leverage to start with and you can link to whatever you want.

  • Vanced? Vanced.

  • The only downside to NewPipe is that I don't think it can cast to a screen. But I'm not sure Vanced could do that either. One things for certain, the ads on YouTube are ridiculous and obnoxious.

    • Can you sign in to a Google account with Newpipe? I spent 5 min on it, couldn't figure out how, am greatful Vanced can still be downloaded. It talked about importing subscriptions but the lack of a signin is a huge downside.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      NewPipe doesn't support SponsorBlock out of the box though, like Vanced does. There are versions that do, but you run into the "is it as well supported as NewPipe".

      Cuts out ads in the videos as well as excessive padding they add to make their videos fit more ads in as well.

      And yeah, it can hurt some sites, but I'm sure LinusTechTips will just have to make do with less free stuff to furnish his new house with.

  • good foss youtube client https://newpipe.net/ [newpipe.net]

  • Vanced repo is on github. I guess they are removing the pre-compiled application from the .com website, but not the code.

  • Very sad (Score:3)

    by diffract ( 7165501 ) on Sunday March 13, 2022 @07:50PM (#62354801)
    This app made youtube a lot better by blocking ads, and incorporating the sponsorblock extension to block sponsorship announcements. It is probably the only reason I don't buy an iPhone because I wouldn't be able to install it and use it there. Very sad to see it go, if they shut down due to operational costs, I would've rushed to donate to them. NewPipe doesn't have the same level of polish.
    Oh well, nothing left to do but say a big thank you to the developers. I'll keep using it till it breaks
  • unless you get the source and keep updating it. Google's web page churn regularly breaks all these alternative apps. Anyway, I'd rather do without Youtube than use the official app. How people use the web and particularly Google without heavy ad and nuisance blocking is beyond me. I'd rage-kill too much hardware if I had to endure that.
  • The second-best part (second only to ad blocking) was SponsorBlock integration. That is, a plugin for skipping garbage parts of the video, like when they do product placement or nag you to subscribe. There's a desktop plugin that does this but on mobile it was nice.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by gnite ( 3701059 )
      Yeah, that is my main reason for using it. I already pay for premium, so ads and background play should work with the normal app, but I need sponsorblock and RYD...

  • Popularity (Score:3)

    by Bert64 ( 520050 ) <.moc.eeznerif.todhsals. .ta. .treb.> on Sunday March 13, 2022 @09:24PM (#62354907) Homepage

    When something like this becomes popular, it becomes a target.
    For something like this to continue it needs to remain relatively anonymous. If lots of people are using it for things like adblocking, the drop in advertising revenue will be noticed.

  • I subscribe to YouTube Premium and use Vanced for preferences not available in the official app:

    Default playback speed
    Buffer size control
    Format control
    Bandwidth control
    Black theme

    and background playback before I subscribed.

    YouTube could do a much better job with their own app. Two of those are accessibility features for me.

    I guess I'll try out NewPipe now or see how many of my channels are mirroring to Odysee. If YT thinks shutting down Vanced will give them more control, they're very confused.

    I do surmise

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by gnite ( 3701059 )
      How is sponsorblock a problem for youtube? Afaik, those segments are between the creators and the sponsors, yt doesn't care about them at all. They just want the ad money or premium subscriptions.
  • garbage.... I like using Vanced and to stream from my phone to my car via Bluetooth without having the screen on all the time. When I am driving, I do not look at the screen... That's all I need.

  • Amazon Fire Toolbox let us watch YouTube back in the days when Amazon and Google were fighting over whose tablets can watch YouTube and there wasn't any official YouTube app for Amazon Fire tablets.

    Since then, Amazon devices now have an official YouTube app.

    I didn't need the extra features (ad blocking, playing in the background, etc.) so I have mixed feelings with the announcement of the demise of YouTube Vanced now that the official YouTube app is available on Amazon devices.

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