NewTube
Built on SmartTube. Made for your phone.
SmartTube for phones, unofficial: a YouTube client for Android phones and tablets, built on
SmartTube by @yuliskov.
Sign in with a code, keep it playing in the background, save videos for offline,
and cast to SmartTube on your TV.
Website · Download · Features · How sign-in works · FAQ · Translate · Credits
[!NOTE]
NewTube is SmartTube's work underneath. The engine that talks to YouTube, the account
sign-in and the SponsorBlock, DeArrow and Return YouTube Dislike integrations all come from
SmartTube. NewTube adds a touch interface, its own
player and offline saving. It is an independent project, not endorsed by SmartTube's developer.
NewTube takes no donations: if you find it useful, support SmartTube.
Features
Your account, in seconds
Sign in once with a code and your subscriptions, history, playlists, Watch later and
recommendations load from your account. It doesn't need microG, GmsCore, root or a patched app.
Signing in is optional; signed out, YouTube still personalises Home from what you watch.
Keeps playing
Background playback with the screen off, picture-in-picture, and a mini-player you can
drag down while you keep browsing. Lock-screen and headset controls work too.
Save for offline
Pick a quality up to 1080p, or keep only the audio. Saved videos play in the same player
with no connection, and they show up in your gallery.
Measured speed
The first screen appears in about 0.24 s, and a related video shows its first frame about half
a second after you tap it (Pixel 9 medians). The interface is plain Material Design,
in light or dark.
Less noise
SponsorBlock skips sponsor segments, DeArrow swaps clickbait titles and thumbnails,
and Return YouTube Dislike shows estimated dislike counts. There are no Shorts.
Works with SmartTube on your TV
Pair with SmartTube on the TV using its Remote control code. You can also play straight to a
Chromecast from the phone (no live streams or subtitles in that mode), or use the TV's own
YouTube app.
- Up to 4K where the video and the phone allow (1080p by default), with codec choice
- Subtitles, including auto-translated tracks, and caption style and size
- Playback speed from 0.25x to 2x, plus finer steps
- Playlists: Play all, Shuffle, Save to playlist, New playlist, a queue with "Playing from…"
- Several accounts, with a switcher, or none at all
- Picture-in-picture on Android 8 and later
- Swipe gestures: up into fullscreen, down out of it, brightness and volume on the sides, sideways to seek
- Settings in short pages, with a search
- Read and write comments, live chat; chapters and dubbed audio tracks
- Playback that waits out tunnels and dead zones and resumes where it stopped
- English and Spanish
Download
| Your device | File |
|---|
| Almost every phone from the last ~8 years | NewTube_<version>_arm64-v8a.apk |
| Older 32-bit phones | NewTube_<version>_armeabi-v7a.apk |
| Not sure (any ARM phone) | NewTube_<version>_universal.apk (bigger) |
| Older x86 devices and emulators | NewTube_<version>_x86.apk |
- Requires Android 7.0 or newer. NewTube has its own package name
(
io.github.aleixrodriala.arc), so it installs next to SmartTube or the YouTube app.
- Updates: with Obtainium, choose Add app and paste
https://github.com/aleixrodriala/newtube, or install a newer APK over the old one. NewTube
also checks for new versions itself and offers them in the app.
- Verify what you install. Every APK is signed with the same key. Its certificate SHA-256 is
2e:f9:9d:76:ed:fa:d9:88:ad:17:cd:ee:8b:a1:8c:63:4e:23:0f:e1:e3:cb:1f:dc:6c:db:02:49:37:0a:36:c9.
Check it with apksigner verify --print-certs <file>.apk. Each release also lists a SHA-256 for every file.
From 1.10.3 the APKs are built by GitHub Actions from the tagged source; check that with
gh attestation verify <file>.apk -R aleixrodriala/newtube.
NewTube's key is not SmartTube's, so neither app can update the other.
- Distributed on GitHub, not on Google Play.
How sign-in works
- Open the You tab, tap the account row, then Sign in. NewTube shows a short code.
- Tap Continue with Google. Google's own page opens: pick your account and allow access.
It may mention a TV, because NewTube signs in the same way a TV does.
- Come back. Sign-in finishes by itself.
Your password is only ever typed into Google's page, never into NewTube. The login token is
stored on your phone and never sent to the developer. You can revoke it at any time at
myaccount.google.com/security, under
Your connections to third-party apps & services.
This is the beginning of the README. Read the rest at the original. Read the full README ↗
