Scott Each app has to be configured individually. The effort is far too great for me.
The vast majority of the 50+ apps I've added to Obtainium were the simple process of Add github URL > click Add button. Even the few apps that needed more work weren't that difficult or time consuming.
Dumdum the issues are
Scott you do it once. The majority is easy, for the rest this website exists. I will add the apps I use, and actually removed Cromite from them following a previous thread.
missing-root getting a list of recommended apps
Many lists of recommended apps can be found online (especially in open source spaces), such as DivestOS's.
getting apps from external f-droid repos (needs repo URL and app ID)
AKA, the apps I was referring to when I said:
Dumdum Even the few apps that needed more work weren't that difficult or time consuming.
At the end of the day, as you said, Obtainium has their list that people can use.
Update: After a day of using LibreTube, it's my new go-to. It offers a lot of the quality of life features I appreciate from the official YouTube app, such as automatic PiP when leaving the app and quick refreshing of new subscription uploads, while still giving me the privacy of Tubular/NewPipe. My only gripe is that the implementation of Return YouTube Dislikes does not offer the option to show dislikes as a percentage, but that's just minor. Lol.
For anyone whose videos are slow or not loading, you can increase the speed by toggling off the proxy function so that the app pulls directly from YouTube rather than from an instance. It recommends you to only do that if you're using a VPN for privacy reasons (which I am), but if you were already using Tubular/NewPipe without a VPN, doing so with LibreTube wouldn't be any different.
Tl;dr, LibreTube is great and is a nice hybrid of the YouTube app's functionality and Tubular/NewPipe's privacy. I would definitely recommend it. 👍
Jojojo such as automatic PiP when leaving the app and quick refreshing of new subscription uploads
Tubular has both of these.
Automatic PiP = Settings > Video and audio > Minimize on app switch (under Behaviour) > Minimize to popup player
Quick refreshing of new subscription uploads = Settings > Notifications > Enable "New streams notifications" > Change "Checking frequency" to desired time
Dumdum Yes, you're right; you've actually reminded me that I had previously disabled the PiP function due to the clunkiness of it. Yes, it does minimize into a popup window, but when reopening the app, the video stays on the popup and requires a tap and short pause/break before reopening on the main app. It's a small inconvenience, but it's not one I face with LibreTube and YouTube Revanced (which was what I used before switching to Tubular).
And regarding the subscriptions refresh rate, I'm a weirdo who constantly manually refreshes their subscriptions list, and as someone with over 250 subscriptions, Tubular takes a noticeable amount of time to parse through them all. With LibreTube it's almost instant since it caches previously loaded listings.
These are all minor quality of life things, but for my very specific use cases, they're enough for me to make the switch. Not to mention that LibreTube actually works at the moment as opposed to Tubular/Newpipe.
Newpipe has been updated and works now. Tubular should hopefully follow soon, seeing as the developer has made an appearance with a meme post.
Jojojo someone with over 250 subscriptions, Tubular takes a noticeable amount of time to parse through them all.
Have you enabled Fast Mode? Click on the ? icon on the top right of the What's New tab. As it states in the description, information such as duration isn't included but it updates reasonably faster.
When I encounter an issue with an app and the developer has a listing at github, a good resource is the "issues" tab near the top of the screen to see if anyone has reported the issue.
Some additional background information:
"About YouTube playback errors - YouTube changed some things to get working streams #11260"
https://github.com/TeamNewPipe/NewPipe/discussions/11260
LibreTube is NOT optimized for tablets.
NewPipe works now and is also optimized for tablets
Bad news from the video monopolist. Unfortunately, I can't stand advertising at all, I don't want to see it at all. Hopefully I won't soon be seeing ads in NewPipe that annoy me.
YouTube plays a trump card against ad blockers
YouTube has unveiled a new tactic to combat ad blockers: "server-side ad insertion," which embeds ads directly into video content. This approach makes it much harder for ad blockers to distinguish ads from the actual video, as both are delivered as a single stream. While ad blockers are currently hamstrung by this method, it is not an obstacle that is completely unsurmoutable.
The new ad delivery method should be seen as part of a bigger picture. Over the past year, YouTube has escalated its anti-ad blocker efforts, starting with pop-up messages and a three-strikes policy threatening to halt video playback. Despite YouTube’s attempts to tighten all the loose screws, ad blockers have adapted but YouTube is likely to throw more wrenches into their works.
This new tactic, though more sophisticated, isn’t entirely new for YouTube, which has used similar methods in its mobile apps. The potential implications are nonetheless significant, particularly for ad-blocking extensions, which struggle more against this technique than standalone apps. The ad-blocking community is not sitting idly by though. We’ve already implemented short-term fixes, and are working on robust strategies to combat YouTube's latest onslaught.
https://adguard.com/en/blog/youtube-server-side-ad-insertion.html
