ONonboardram·Dec 6, 2017
There are clients like Newpipe[1] that directly parse the Youtube website instead of using the API.
[1]: https://github.com/TeamNewPipe/NewPipe/
In Google Blocks YouTube Access from Amazon's Streaming DevicesTeamNewPipe
NewPipe
Java2016–2026
TeamNewPipe / NewPipe
NewPipe
A libre lightweight streaming front-end for Android.
66Distinct people
81Mentions
1Explicit recommenders
40.6KGitHub stars
What to know before exploring
What it is
A libre lightweight streaming front-end for Android.
GitHub
Where it is used
No documented product use was verified in the last source check.
What people are saying
I love NewPipe and use it heavily on my phone and Shield TV. https://github.com/TeamNewPipe/NewPipe
2OEH8eoCRo0 used a recommendation phrase. 2 indexed comments match. This is a phrase match, not a verdict.
No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.
Also in these discussions
- yt-dlp/yt-dlp · linked in 3 of the same discussions
- iv-org/invidious · linked in 2 of the same discussions
- polymorphicshade/newpipe · linked in 2 of the same discussions
Mentioned in the same Hacker News threads. That is not proof they are substitutes.
This week on Hacker News
Nov 8–Nov 15 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/15/2026, 12:45:45 PM UTC.
No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.
Mentions over time
HN mentions by year81 dated mentions
Observed mentions: 2016-11-29 23:42:59 UTC to 2026-08-15 05:47:47 UTC.
* An incomplete calendar period is marked with an outlined bar. Its count is not directly comparable with a full period.
Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.
View mention counts and date ranges
| Period | Start (UTC) | End (exclusive, UTC) | Mentions | Submissions | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2017 | 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 2018 | 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2019 | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 14 | 2 | 12 |
| 2020 | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 17 | 1 | 16 |
| 2021 | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 11 | 1 | 10 |
| 2022 | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 11 | 0 | 11 |
| 2023 | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 8 | 4 | 4 |
| 2024 | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 9 | 3 | 6 |
| 2025 | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 2026 (partial) | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2027-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
What Hacker News says
4 sourcesYou can use youtube-dl[1] to download videos from YouTube (and transcode them to free formats) without runnning their proprietary JavaScript. There's even a free software Android project[2] that lets you stream videos without running their proprietary JavaScript -- and in my opinion it's much better than the proprietary YouTube app.
RMS's concern with YouTube is that they use proprietary JavaScript and they use patented media formats. However, RMS has always made it clear that if you have the ability "at hand" to rip DVDs then purchasing a DVD is not unethical. Both of the pieces of software I mentioned allow you to avoid running proprietary software.
His other concern is that RMS wants people to publish things he appears in in a way that is much easier to access with only free software. The Internet Archive and CCC provide video hosting
Read the rest
that is completely free software, with non-patented formats like VP9, and is easy to use. The idea is to make those forms of publishing more widely known about.
[1]: https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl
[2]: https://github.com/TeamNewPipe/NewPipe
They're working on it, the plan is to fake subscription by subscribing to channel RSS feeds. https://github.com/TeamNewPipe/NewPipe/pull/620
In Firefox Roadmap for Flash End-Of-LifeAnd on Android there's a free software app that implements a similar thing (without needing any proprietary libraries), and actually is much better than the official app. https://github.com/TeamNewPipe/NewPipe
In Firefox Roadmap for Flash End-Of-Life