In case you don't know NewPipe is an alternative app to view YouTube videos

Should consider using this App?

Firstly let's get this out of the way and tell you that NewPipe won't work on an ordinary phone.

What do I mean by that?

So when you use an Android phone you get the OS or the flavor of the Android OS as customized by the manufacturer. For example, OnePlus phones come with the OxygenOS which is developed by the OnePlus company based on stock Android OS for their phone.

These phone run what is the "Google Play services" which allow you to use Google services and use their Play store, without which you can't just install an Google App and use it including the YouTube app.

The problem with that is that Google can control your data and experience, moreover you get ads.

Just Avoid Ads

If you just want to avoid ads then you can simply use an AdBlocker and in the browser like Brave AdBlocker comes pre-integrated.

Sure you can open a regular old browser window on Brave, keep the AdBlocker on and watch your YouTube videos. But that doesn't give you the few features that an App provides.

Custom Roms on Android phone

You will need to install a custom rom in order to use NewPipe app

Note: Don't just install a custom rom to play YouTube videos on NewPipe, that's not what I am saying. But there are some great reasons to install a custom roms and you should be aware of both pros and cons of doing this before you decide.

If you want to know more about custom roms then read my article on the same here

A privacy focused custom rom like LineageOS doesn't run Google Play Services and can get around the Google data collection.

You can still install Play store and run Google services on LineageOS but that defeats the purpose of installing LineageOS.

If you want to run Google services on a custom rom the Pixel Experience rom is a better choice in my opinion as it gives to that clean stock Android experience.

How to get NewPipe App?

NewPipe app can be downloaded from the F-Droid store which can easily be installed on any Android phone.

I have talked about it on my Custom Rom article as well but it can also be installed on a regular phone running the manufacture's OS out of the box.

However, since the regular phone run Google Play services, NewPipe will not work on them even if you download and install it on a normal phone.

In case you have a phone flashed with a custom rom that isn't running Google Play services you can easily install and run it from F-Droid appstore.

YouTube Premium features without paying

There are some pros and cons of NewPipe and yes cons are there and it is not a perfect App by any means.

YouTube keep pushing you to sign up for Premium membership almost everyday nd aside from the access to the Premium content you also get a few additional features not available to regular users.

Pop up video: You know how you can pop up a video on certain app like Netflix and then play it over other app you might need to monitor or use. YouTube has that features are well but not on regular YouTube app.

Background audio Playback: Do you listen to music? if yes then do you listen to music on YouTube? Have you ever wished that you can just open a music video and listen to the song and lock the screen or even minimize the app and just play the audio? Yup YouTube has that feature just not for non-premium user.

No Ads: One of the features of YouTube premium is the removal of Ads and since NewPipe doesn't run show the Google ads that can sometimes be unskippable

With NewPipe you can get all those features except the Premium YouTube originals content, of course.

What doesn't work? (cons)

So NewPipe isn't perfect, you do see a few cons to this app, here are these cons:

• You can't manage your on channel on NewPipe like you can do on the official YouTube app.

• The comment section is not integrated that well as you can see the comment on a particular video but not the replies to those comments

All regular YouTube features are still there

Apart from those missing features all the regular non-premium features are still there like:

• Double tap to skip ahead or back shortcuts

• Make playlist

• Download download video

• Recommended videos

• Subscribe to channel

• Select all the available video quality

Final Thoughts

So NewPipe isn't perfect, but so isn't YouTube. If you are going to install a custom rom on your phone then NewPipe is a great App to have as an alternative to the official app.