LibreTube - uses Piped as video source by default. Subscriptions and playlists can be created, all without actually interacting with YouTube.
Clipious - uses Invidious as the video source. Also allows for subscribing and accounts. Lesser known client
NewPipe - Gets the source directly from YT. Allows for subscribing and creating playlists
Additionally, there’s also ReVanced that lets you patch the regular YT app to include useful features.
Piped also has support for accounts and LibreTube supports that too. Really nice to have your subscriptions and playlists synchronized between your devices.
If LibreTube is not working for you (the reader, not OP), enable HLS here:
3 dots > Settings > Audio and video > Use HLSSee this.
That’s what I remember doing when I set it up, is this due to differences in CDNs across continents?
any app that can also show recommended videos?
Tubular A fork of NewPipe (Github) that implements SponsorBlock (Github) and ReturnYouTubeDislike (Github). https://github.com/polymorphicshade/Tubular?tab=readme-ov-file#a-fork-of-newpipe-github-that-implements-sponsorblock-github-and-returnyoutubedislike-github
Anybody know if some of these platforms support streaming? I’ve been meaning to try out kick.com as well as a Twitch alternative but it’s still a business with proprietary solution.
Peertube and owncast are Fediverse alternatives to twitch. Peertube less so. I run an owncast server and love streaming to it, but discovery is shit. If you just want to stream, it’s great. If you want to make it a job, stick to twitch
Switching from Twitch to Kick is like leaving Twitter for Truth Social. Kick was started by people who were kicked off Twitch for gambling and other banned content. And I don’t just mean poker, I’m talking about those skin gambling sites where streamers were found “promoting” but really owned and were rigging their bets to make it look like you can win big.
Plus Kick’s backend uses the same Amazon services that Twitch does, so if your point is not to support Twitch and their parent company Amazon, Kick definitely isn’t the right choice.
Dang.
I know this is /c/android but semi related for desktop I’ve been using and loving Freetube for a good while now.
Make sure you go through all the settings though (like sponsorblock), I recommend base theme “catppuccin mocha” btw
NewPipe subscriptions can also be imported into Free tube to get it in sync with your phone subscriptions.
Be sure to use NewPipe with sponsor block (forked project). Although this had been giving me trouble and there’s another fork called Tubular that works great.
Is there any eli5 guides to things like f-Droid or the other platforms(?) (it used to be called ‘rooting’, don’t know what it is now) to be able to install LibreTube? Following the faq link from github, I see 3 download options, one I recognize as f-Droid, and 2 others.
I realize this should be “android 101”, but my ability to problem solve stuff like this is slipping away from me. (protect your brain, kids!).
Most F-Droid stuff AFAIK should be pretty plug and play. It’ll download an APK which you then just open in order to install the app. You may need a file browser app if your phone OS doesn’t come with one. You may also need to allow installs from third party somewhere in the settings. But android isn’t like iOS and won’t generally restrict your ability to install whatever you want, outside of an options popup to make sure you know what you’re doing.
I don’t use LibreTube personally and can’t speak on that specifically though, if it does something other than just download you an APK file.
Using Tubular, which is a fork of newpipe with sponsorblock integration. It’s a bit buggy but I like not having to skip every sponsor
LibreTube is OP but Piped is a joke. Disable that shit.
What’s the issue with piped?
…it doesn’t work. Like, ever. Same with all of these other frontends like invidious, teddit, rimgo, bibliogram, etc.
Doing it wrong.
I didn’t do anything but install the app…
Nome of the frontends you mentioned have apps.
Bruh. LibreTube? The app this thread was about? Hello?
Same with all of these other frontends like invidious, teddit, rimgo, bibliogram,
This you?
Besides which… it’s well understood that all of these apps are brittle as in they stop working every other day when youtube changes whatever thing so they stop working.
In the case of newpipe for example, if you install from the app store or even f-droid the version there will be a few weeks old and just won’t work. The best approach is to install the apk and allow it to update itself when a new version is released. I’ve been using newpipe for several years in this manner and it’s very reliable.
Er go, if it doesn’t work for you, you’re doing it wrong.
Because it is not a pipe
Honestly where’s my pipe, this is false advertising
Just find a good instance like piped.adminforge.de or host your own
Just find a good instance like piped.adminforge.de
You mean the default instance? Yeah, doesn’t work.
or host your own
Sure, I’ll just pop over to the local university and pick up my software engineering degree.
I imagine you’re exaggerating but if not then I’d say that’s a tad extreme. That being said, their official setup guide does provide steps on how to install it but I think if I didn’t have prior experience with some of the software it mentions I think I’d struggle so maybe a different guide by someone else is better?
However these obviously require having something that this can be run on, like a VPS, which aren’t free, so that is another barrier for entry to consider.
their official setup guide does provide steps on how to install it
Do you think normal people understand the words on this page?
I would use Libretube, but it simply doesn’t work on my phone. On PC I always use piped.
Try enabling “Use HLS” inside:
3 dots > Settings > Audio and videoThanks. That fixed it.
Do you know, why this does fix the problem?
I was using LibreTube only as a music player and was a bit unreliable (sometimes it would crash or get stuck in infinite loading). Trying to use it for videos was impossible, since trying to skip even just 10s the video would load endlessly or just go black and freeze.
So I looked up on their github issue tracker and found this pinned.
Ah, thanks :)
Libretube seems to almost never work for me no matter what instance i try.
Also worth adding Smarttube for AndroidTVI’ll add these to the list if you don’t mind:
- GrayJay for Android
- FreeTube for desktop and also works on Android.
- SmartTubeNext for your Amazon fireTV and Google tvs and the likes
- NewPipe for Android.
FYI, SmartTubeNext has been renamed to just SmartTube.
Nice. Thanks for that. Let me fix my post.
FreeTube on Android? Where do I find that?
I can’t seem to find it anymore :/
It’s in the IzzyOnDroid repo: https://apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid/index/apk/io.freetubeapp.freetube
I think I’ve seen it on f-droid before
FreeTube Cordova it is called
Newpipe has to be the choice for android. Also, Tubular is a pretty neat fork that adds sponsorblock and return youtube dislike
Thank you so much for this. I have been using NewPipe sponsorblock and it’s been discontinued and haven’t been able to find anything else.
Tubular is actually the successor to NewPipe x SponsorBlock. It’s made by the same developer.
Ah, makes sense why it’s a carbon copy of it. Glad they’re back at it. I’m curious to know why change to a new app.
Grayjay is propertiary. Just giving a heads up
I thought it was FOSS? Here their GitHub. I’m not an expert in licenses and all that, but it looks like it has even been forked. You can’t even see proprietary, let alone fork it. I could be wrong, though. Correct me if I’m wrong, please.
It has a joke of a license that certainly isn’t free. It onky alpows you to see the source code aka it ia “source availible” not opwn source nor free
I see. I think Louis Rossmann (he works for Futo, the company behind this app and other FOSS apps) said in a video that they’ll eventually open source it? I don’t remember exactly.
Yup. And they still haven’t.
We need to hit him up about it on one of his videos. They do advocate for FOSS all the time. They even pay people create FOSS apps. Not sure why not this one.
I don’t like Louis enough to care enough sorry
Might be a dumb question but why not just use Piped?
Every time I click on a Piped link that has been posted here by the bot after someone posts a YouTube link, I just wait and wait for it to start playing. Eventually I run out of patience and click the YouTube link, which starts to play immediately.
This is, in fact, a dumb question
Well, you still need a client if you’re on mobile. I’m not going to watch my video essays through a browser if I can do it through an app. I use libretube which ends up being Piped ahunder the hood, it’s just smoother.
I also used to use revanced because it allowed me to keep a few public playlists up to date (something you can only do by interfacing with Youtube). People have their reasons for things.
I’m having great time with FreeTube Cordova lately, you have to setup the UI initially, understanding its limit for mobile, but it works very well.
