explaingit

libre-tube/libretube

★ 11,857KotlinAudience · generalComplexity · 2/5LicenseSetup · easy

TLDR

A free, open-source Android YouTube client that routes your traffic through the Piped privacy proxy so Google never sees your IP or viewing history, with no ads and built-in tools to skip sponsors and restore dislikes.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((libretube))
    What it does
      YouTube via Piped proxy
      No Google tracking
      No ads
    Privacy tools
      SponsorBlock
      ReturnYouTubeDislike
      DeArrow titles
    Features
      Background playback
      Downloads
      Piped account sync
    Audience
      Privacy-conscious users
      Android users
    Install
      F-Droid
      IzzyOnDroid
      GitHub releases
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Code map

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Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Watch YouTube on Android without Google tracking your IP address or viewing behavior

USE CASE 2

Automatically skip sponsored segments inside YouTube videos using the built-in SponsorBlock integration

USE CASE 3

Browse YouTube with restored dislike counts and de-clickbaited titles replaced by community-submitted alternatives

USE CASE 4

Sync subscriptions across devices by logging into a Piped account that works on desktop too

Tech stack

KotlinAndroid

Getting it running

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min

Not available on Google Play, install via F-Droid, IzzyOnDroid, or direct APK from GitHub releases.

Free to use and modify, but any modified version must also be released as open source under the same GPL v3 license.

In plain English

LibreTube is a free, open-source Android app that lets you watch YouTube videos without being tracked by Google. Instead of connecting to YouTube's servers directly, the app routes requests through Piped, a privacy-focused proxy service that sits between your phone and YouTube. This means Google never sees your IP address or viewing behavior during normal use. The app does not show ads and does not send your activity to Google's data collection systems. The feature list covers the basics you would expect from a YouTube client: subscriptions, playlists, watch history, search, and downloads. Background playback lets videos keep playing when you switch to another app. There are also integrations with three community tools: SponsorBlock, which automatically skips sponsored segments inside videos, ReturnYouTubeDislike, which restores the dislike count that YouTube removed, and DeArrow, which replaces clickbait titles and thumbnails with more accurate alternatives submitted by other users. Optional account support lets you sync subscriptions with a Piped account, which also works on desktop. The README notes a comparison with NewPipe, another popular privacy-focused YouTube client for Android. The key difference is that LibreTube routes traffic through Piped by default for stronger privacy, while NewPipe fetches from YouTube directly. NewPipe also supports other platforms like SoundCloud and PeerTube, whereas LibreTube is YouTube-only. The app is available through F-Droid and IzzyOnDroid, two app stores for free and open-source Android software, as well as direct download from GitHub releases. It is not on the Google Play Store. The project is written in Kotlin and accepts contributions including translations, which are managed through the Weblate platform. The license is GNU GPL version 3.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
How do I install LibreTube on Android from F-Droid and connect it to a Piped account to sync my subscriptions?
Prompt 2
Enable SponsorBlock in LibreTube to automatically skip sponsored segments and how do I set the skip sensitivity?
Prompt 3
What is the practical privacy difference between LibreTube and NewPipe and which gives stronger protection?
Prompt 4
How do I download a YouTube video for offline viewing using LibreTube?
Prompt 5
Set up the ReturnYouTubeDislike and DeArrow integrations in LibreTube and explain what each one changes
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