How to Kill Off YouTube
For anybody looking to replace YouTube with a frontend (or switch from one frontend to another), here's a quick pretty long tutorial (with visuals)! ⬇️
If you're switching frontends or don't care about exporting your subscriptions, then you can skip to the Picking A Frontend section.
Leaving YouTube
Leaving YouTube behind sucks because you lose all your subscriptions. But it doesn't have to suck because there's a way to export those, actually!
Google Takeout is a service Google offers that allows you to export your data from their sites.
When you open the site, most things will be pre-checked. Hit the "Deselect all" button, as we only need stuff from YouTube. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the page, check YouTube, and then click the "All YouTube data included" button.
This will bring up a menu where you can select what exactly you want to download. You can hit the "Deselect all" button at the top of the menu, and then select only subscriptions.
Next, hit the "OK" button at the bottom of the menu, and then click "Next step".
This will bring you to the page where you choose how to receive the file, when/how often to export, the file format, and file size. The default options should work just fine, but you can pick another destination if it's more convenient (Email, Google Drive, DropBox, OneDrive, etc.).
When you're done, click "Create export". Since the amount of data you're exporting is relatively small, it shouldn't take very long to receive the file. Once it arrives, download it to your device, and make note of where you saved it.
You will need to unzip the file once you've downloaded it to access the files inside. Use your file manager to unzip the folder and save it somewhere you'll be able to find it once we get to the Importing Your Data section.
Picking A Frontend
All YouTube frontends have their own pros and cons, so I'll list some of them here and you can decide what's best for your needs.
Desktop App Frontends
FreeTube
FreeTube is basically the best way to watch YouTube on any computer. It's available on Linux, Mac, and Windows. It's quite heavily customizable, and it's the only option I've listed (I believe) that has the option for parental controls and an optional password lock for the settings. It includes SponsorBlock. The feed reload times are pretty short, but the videos take a little longer to load than on some other frontends.
Browser Frontends
Invidious
Invidious currently has three public instances, but it can also be self-hosted (self-hosting is fairly resource intensive and complicated to set up). Each of the public instances are slightly different, so I'll give them their own sections. Instances and backends that are geographically closer to you tend to run better.
inv.nadeko.net — Nadeko is hosted in Chile. Accounts are supported.
yewtu.be — Yewtube is hosted in Germany. It does not allow users to make an account.
invidious.nerdvpn.de — NerdVPN is hosted in Ukraine. Accounts are supported.
The accounts you make on Nadeko and NerdVPN are different accounts and do not sync with each other. Invidious does NOT have SponsorBlock or Return YouTube Dislike. It has basically-instant feed reload times, but videos tend to take longer to load, and they might be at a lower quality and/or buffer frequently. You may also have to switch backends or instances while watching a video if you encounter an error.
Piped
I have not personally used Piped, but it seems fairly similar to Invidious. The main site is piped.video, but this instance is bugged and doesn't allow users to log in or register as of writing this. The only other instance currently up and running seems to be Private Coffee. I was able to register, however I'm getting a "sign in to confirm you're not a bot" error, so I don't know how well videos play. I also can't find an option for importing data. Piped includes SponsorBlock.
iOS Frontends
Unwatched
To be honest, I didn't know there were frontends available for iOS, but I heard this one being recommended, so I checked it out. Unwatched follows the same design structure that most iOS apps do, so it should be pretty intuitive to use if you're already familiar with iOS apps. The UI isn't very customizable, but the experience in general is. Unwatched is JUST a video player, though; you can't create playlists or read comments. The feed and videos load very quickly. Unwatched includes SponsorBlock.
Android Frontends
YouTube Revanced
YouTube Revanced is not actually a frontend, but I'm ignoring that for the sake of simplicity.
Revanced is the closest you'll get to the official YouTube app because it is the official YouTube app, just with fake Premium, SponsorBlock, and Return YouTube Dislike, as well as a lot of other QOL features that can be found in the settings. You can leave comments, post videos, scroll the Recommended/For You page, edit your channel, and everything syncs with the official YouTube app and site. You can probably get the age verification pop-up while using this app. This is NOT a good option if you're worried about privacy, as everything you do is still shared with Google.
Flow
Flow is a relatively new contender in the YouTube alternatives ring, and I'm checking it out specifically for this post. Its main perk is that it has its own algorithm that's kept local to your device, and you can see exactly why a video was recommended to you. You can alter what the algorithm shows you through Interests and Blocked Topics in the settings. The UI is very similar to the official YouTube app, but it's not as customizable as other options on this list. There are dedicated Shorts and Music tabs, and the UI for each stays very true to its official counterpart. Flow includes SponsorBlock and Return YouTube Dislike. Both feed and video load times are very quick.
LibreTube
LibreTube is another frontend I'm looking into just for this post. The UI is more similar to the official Youtube app than NewPipe and PipePipe, but it's not as close as Flow is. You can choose whether to fetch data directly from YouTube, or to use Piped to fetch data instead. LibreTube has an option to log into a Piped account, and this will allow you to sync your subscriptions and playlists to Piped. Includes SponsorBlock and Return YouTube Dislike. I did have to uninstall and reinstall it because it wouldn't show the newest videos from my subscriptions the first time.
NewPipe
NewPipe is probably the most basic frontend on this list. It does NOT have SponsorBlock or Return YouTube Dislike. It can theoretically act as a frontend for FramaTube/PeerTube, media.ccc.de, SoundCloud, and Bandcamp as well, but I haven't tested that out. Its a very solid frontend, though it is a bit slow to refresh.
PipePipe
PipePipe is a fork of NewPipe, and it has the features other fronends have that NewPipe lacks. It has SponsorBlock and Return YouTube Dislike. It can also be used as a frontend for BiliBili and NicoNico in addition to FramaTube/PeerTube, media.ccc.de, SoundCloud, and Bandcamp. It's faster to refresh than NewPipe is, as well. This is the frontend I personally use on my phone.
Importing Your Data
Importing subscriptions and playlists from YouTube to a frontend or from one frontend to another can be a... frankly shitty process. I'm here to make that shitty process as easy as possible.
Importing to FreeTube
Open Settings, click or scroll down to Data, hit Import Subscriptions and find the "subscriptions.csv" file from the Google Takeout.
Importing to Invidious
Nadeko:
NerdVPN:
You must be signed in to import your data! Click the gear icon in the top right, scroll to the bottom of the settings page, click "Import/export data", click the "Browse..." button next to the "Import YouTube CSV or OPML subscriptions" option, and find the "subscriptions.csv" file from the Google Takeout.
Importing to Piped
Piped doesn't seem to have a way to import data at this time.
Importing to Unwatched
On the Queue page, tap the meatballs menu, then "Import YouTube Subscriptions", then hit "Select File" on the pop-up that appears and find the "subscriptions.csv" file from the Google Takeout. You will also be able to select exactly which subscriptions you want to import.
Importing to YouTube Revanced
There's no need to import data to Revanced as you will be able to connect your Google account and retain all your data as-is.
Importing to Flow
Tap the gear icon in the top right to open Settings, scroll down to the bottom of the page and hit "Import Data", then hit "Import from YouTube" and find the "subscriptions.csv" file from the Google Takeout.
Importing to LibreTube
Open the kebab menu in the top right, open "Settings", hit "Backup and restore", then "Import subscriptions" and "YouTube (CSV)", and find the "subscriptions.csv" file from the Google Takeout.
Importing to NewPipe
On the Subscriptions page, open the kebab menu in the top right, hit "Import from", then "YouTube", then tap the "IMPORT FILE" button at the bottom of the page and find the "subscriptions.csv" file from the Google Takeout.
Importing to PipePipe
On the Subscriptions page, open the dropdown menu in the top right, hit "YouTube" from the "Import from" list, tap the "IMPORT FILE" button at the bottom of the page and find the "subscriptions.csv" file from the Google Takeout.
Closing Thoughts
After your data is imported to your frontend of choice, you're done! Feel free to comment on this post or DM me if you run into any issues, or if I've made a mistake in this post. Thanks for reading!
