Live data from Hacker News

NewPipe: A lightweight YouTube experience for Android

newpipe.net

91–100 of 227 posts

Re: NewPipe: A lightweight YouTube experience for Android

#91
Some time ago Google made some changes to age verification, and now you can't watch age restricted videos without logging in, which means you can't watch them using NewPipe. It also means you can't watch them without handing over your phone number to Google, because it seems it's no longer possible to create a YT account without a phone number.

This whole thing makes NewPipe a lot less useful than it used to be.

Re: NewPipe: A lightweight YouTube experience for Android

#92
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I explained why I skipped it in some circumstances, I think I probably watch 90% of them. Or does this sponsor block thing let you choose when to skip? It didn't look like it but that would be great if so.

The creator does not get money from you watching these ads, they get money from you buying the products or services advertized - if you're not going to buy any of these things anyhow then why subject yourself to it ? Skipping an ad for a VPN provider if your are not going to buy VPN services literally has zero effect. This even holds for ads where views are counted - if I'm not going to buy the wares you are screamin…

They're reasonable points, and I'm not trying to start a war. Specifically for youtube I guess I find it weird because the people I watch on there at least are regular folks, not big faceless marketing machines, I want to support them. Or at least shaft them by hand rather than automatically :P. As to why I think you're supporting them by watching the sponsored bits:

1. As I mentioned in another comment, if nobody's watching then the sponsors won't sponsor. You can argue that this isn't tracked, or whatever, but that's a bit like the free rider problem - "ok" if a few people do it but if everyone did it the system doesn't work.

2. Like it or not, ads aren't just about you buying things. They're about making consumers aware. Six months later you won't even know how you knew it when you mention it to someone. I hate this so I don't watch ads; I give one of my most-hated companies money so I don't see ads. I don't watch free to air tv, either.

3. Maybe you will buy the thing! Can't always tell, if you have a modicum of trust for the creator you might pay attention to how they describe the features and use their links. Bit optimistic but eh.

Just my opinion obviously :)

Re: NewPipe: A lightweight YouTube experience for Android

#93

NewPipe is great but it breaks quite frequently due to the use of unofficial YouTube APIs. I tried to get my girlfriend on it because she was annoyed by all the ads but it kept breaking every month. Vanced is nice but a weakness for both is that they can't support casting on a non-jailbroken device (and I suspect the issue won't be solved by jailbreaking).

It is FOSS, so you can contribute to the project in principle... After all, it is free, so I cannot complain.

Re: NewPipe: A lightweight YouTube experience for Android

#94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does getting YouTube Premium add to that plan? Wouldn't it work just as well without that step?

You need YouTube Premium to be able to download videos to watch offline (plus see no ads)

No part of what you just said is true.

Re: NewPipe: A lightweight YouTube experience for Android

#95
post #39

Does this or Vanced help with the problem I have: my kids are being brainwashed via Google's algorithms? More specifically, I hate that when they watch YouTube it is pushing really shitty content on them. Is there a way with either of these apps to filter out things I don't want them to watch, or perhaps even have a list of things I only want them to watch? I don't think my kids would notice if they couldn't get Ninj…

I have a 5 month old daughter, so I obviously haven't tried it yet, but I'm pretty keen on and have been setting up a Jellyfin on a Raspberry Pi, so that when it's time for her to watch some videos, I want it to be a closed environment. No ads, no pushing of shit but specially, no endless stream of videos. I think what makes it worse is having the world in their hands and just be able to watch 2 minutes and skip. I s…

That is precisely the same idea I ended up on, that feels like the best option. Basically, as a caretaker, nowadays it is most important to curate 100% the kind of media your kids have access to, as otherwise it is impossible for them not to be consumed by the algorithm and end up with a lot of psichological damage. Kudos for taking on such a hard job, hope you find a way to share your projects and results in the end, hope they work out well.

Re: NewPipe: A lightweight YouTube experience for Android

#96
post #50

NewPipe is great but it breaks quite frequently due to the use of unofficial YouTube APIs. I tried to get my girlfriend on it because she was annoyed by all the ads but it kept breaking every month. Vanced is nice but a weakness for both is that they can't support casting on a non-jailbroken device (and I suspect the issue won't be solved by jailbreaking).

Even when using NewPipe's F-Droid repository? https://newpipe.net/FAQ/tutorials/install-add-fdroid-repo/

I use the version from the github page. They are updated much faster. So when I realized something broke there is usually already a fixed version up on github.

Re: NewPipe: A lightweight YouTube experience for Android

#97

YouTube is an incredible service to the world, economy and creators. Just spend a minute off lazy ass time to customize it and you should be fine. If you don't want ads buy a premium, "you will feel much better". All pirated content just drain economic value, that's what causes inflation and shit and unemployment. Without capital there won't be innovation and new discoveries and the privileges you take for granted wo…

Way to miss the mark. This is about privacy, not ads.

Re: NewPipe: A lightweight YouTube experience for Android

#98
post #91

Some time ago Google made some changes to age verification, and now you can't watch age restricted videos without logging in, which means you can't watch them using NewPipe. It also means you can't watch them without handing over your phone number to Google, because it seems it's no longer possible to create a YT account without a phone number. This whole thing makes NewPipe a lot less useful than it used to be.

On top of all this, being logged in is not enough. I just checked right now. You have to verify yourself using either a credit card, or submitting an image of a valid ID, such as your driver's license or passport (I have neither, FWIW).

NO THANKS.

I cannot tell you just how much I hate this kind of bullshit. This is becoming increasingly common. Call me old and grumpy, but I would much prefer to go back 10-20 years. The web was a symbol of freedom, decentralization, and so forth. Now we have major websites that you can count on one hand that makes up the Internet. Along with their fucking shitty, severely restricting or limiting systems.

On the other hand, they might be successful in reducing my Internet consumption. :)

Re: NewPipe: A lightweight YouTube experience for Android

#100
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NewPipe is specifically designed to be privacy first. This means no account, no client-side tracking, as few web requests as possible, and everything (e.g. watch history and subscriptions) is saved offline. Thus it is impossible to show non-generically recommended videos or to enable chat.

"... as few web requests as possible..." That depends on what we agree should be the minimum functionality. On computers with physical keyboards I have always searched YouTube and downloaded from the command line. No youtube-dl, no scripting languages, just a couple of tiny Bourne shell scripts. YouTbe has always made this very easy. The functionality I need is (a) search (b) retrieve textual video information and (c…

s/youtubeei/youtubei/
Post reply on HN