Google can’t stop them all, no matter how hard they try.
Now that Google has officially killed YouTube Vanced, a project that aims to deliver YouTube Premium features for free, users have no choice but to pay for YouTube Premium right? If it can bring back dislikes maybe it’s worth a shot. However, Vanced is one of many apps that has this goal. It just so happens it’s the most popular option.
Google will definitely take down many of these alternatives one by one. Time will tell to when they will cease to exist. However if there’s one thing that’s guaranteed, as one falls, ten rises.
Here are some worthy alternatives to YouTube Vanced!
NewPipe
NewPipe is a free and open source project that is essentially Vanced before it was a thing. It came out way earlier than Vanced and also comes with the same features such as PiP video, background play, and video downloading. It is constantly being updated. It’s available freely on their website, GitHub, or on F-Droid. One downside of it is that the app does not allow you to sign in with your Google account, possibly for legal reasons. It is also privacy-conscious and free from ads. Take note that downloading third-party apps that access YouTube means you cannot financially support your favourite creator as they will earn no money from views coming from these third-party apps, hence the reason why YouTube had to take it down.
There’s also the SponsorBlock version of the app, which primarily skips the sponsors seen on almost all YouTube creators’ videos.
LibreTube
LibreTube is another open-source alternative to Vanced. It’s currently in beta and is only available for download on Github, which means there are going to be bugs and glitches that will surface from it as it is still under development.
One interesting thing about LibreTube is that it uses Piped servers rather than Google’s so it doesn’t connect directly This provides better concealment and immunity to the death letters.
While Piped is aimed at PC users, and there’s already a PC port for it, LibreTube brings this concept to your phone. Pretty amazing actually.
SkyTube and SkyTube Extra
Most of these alternatives are open-sourced. This allows developers to fork these already-existing apps to their own, thus increasing their chances of multiplying if ever one gets taken down. A good measure to keep the YouTube Premium experience for those who refuse to pay for it.
There are two versions, as you saw from the title. The regular version is slower to update and is available on F-Droid. While slower, you could access video downloading, background playback, no ads, and a lot more. The Extra version is only available on their website but also grants access to the official YouTube player and casting, as well as closed libraries. This version is also updated much faster.
Return YouTube Dislike, UBlock Origin, AdBlock, SponsorBlock
We’re now going to the extensions category which you can download and install to provide yourself a handpicked YouTube experience
You probably heard of “ad blockers” by now. They block nearly every single form of ad, including video ads on YouTube. Adblock for instance, is available as an extension on several browsers like Edge, Chrome, and Firefox. Other alternatives include Adblock Plus and UBlock Origin. Firefox openly supports extensions on their Android app. Alternatively, there’s also the Opera Browser and Brave browser. Both of which also supports VPNs and Opera has its own built-in VPN extension.
YouTube has officially killed dislikes, with the doublethink motive of supporting smaller creators and hearing their voices. However, this comes at a price. A price that means that creators can upload with lesser restrictions as no one can judge at first glance whether the video is truly worth watching or not. Safe to say, YouTube despises criticisms and always finds a way to become a Stalinist version of its former self.
Thankfully though, several extensions exist. One such extension is Return YouTube Dislike which we actually have. The extension allows you to see real-time dislikes as if they weren’t actually removed. It gets updated every time too.
SponsorBlock is basically the Skip button for sponsors. It allows you to skip segways and sponsorship segments from every YouTube creators. Sponsors are a great way for YouTubers to earn money while making videos and are so far quite effective. YouTube is a business and a job, so those doing YouTube full-time agree on sponsorship deals.
Pay for YouTube Premium
If you don’t want said alternatives above and want to do access Premium features literally and legally, then you could just pay for YouTube Premium. Not only are you getting the features mentioned above such as PiP video and background play, but also you will be able to support your favourite content creators. In the Philippines, there’s a one-month free trial, and when that trial ends you are automatically charged. You can cancel it thankfully anytime before the trial ends.
YouTube also has two other plans. These are the Student and Family plans which cost Php95 and Php239 a month respectively. For the family plan, you can add up to 5 family members aged 13+. You can always remove members if you wish to add another one. The Student Plan requires an annual verification and is designed for students to use.
We hope this guide helped you find alternatives to YouTube Premium!
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