teamnewpipe/newpipe

NewPipe is a free and open-source Android app that lets you watch and listen to content from YouTube, SoundCloud, Bandcamp, PeerTube, and other streaming platforms without needing an account, without ads, and without any Google services installed on your device. The problem it solves is that the official YouTube app requires a Google account for many features, injects ads, and cannot play audio in the background without a YouTube Premium subscription. NewPipe strips those restrictions away entirely. How it works: rather than using the official YouTube app or requiring you to log in, NewPipe directly parses YouTube's website or its internal API, essentially acting as an alternative front-end that presents the same content through a privacy-respecting interface. For services like PeerTube that have a public API, it uses that directly. No account is needed because NewPipe never contacts Google's account systems. The app includes a built-in subscription system that stores your channel subscriptions locally on your device, keeping your viewing habits entirely private. Key features include background audio playback (so you can listen to a video with the screen off, like a podcast), a floating picture-in-picture player, video downloads in various resolutions, import and export of subscriptions as a file, and support for up to 4K video quality. You would use NewPipe if you want to consume YouTube or SoundCloud content on an Android device without ads or tracking, if you use a de-Googled Android ROM like LineageOS that has no Google Play Services, or if you simply want an open-source alternative to the official apps. It is distributed via F-Droid (an open-source Android app store) and cannot be put on Google Play. The tech stack is Java for Android.