GPL-3.0
What NewPipe actually does
NewPipe is a front-end for YouTube that talks to the site directly rather than going through Google’s official APIs. That single design decision explains nearly everything else about it: there are no adverts, no tracking, no dependency on Google Play Services, and nothing to sign in to. At 10.4 MB it is roughly a tenth the size of the official client, and it still supports Android 5.0 — a release from 2014 that most apps abandoned years ago.
In practice you get background playback and a pop-up player, downloads for watching offline, and a subscription list stored in a local file you can export and carry elsewhere. There is no recommendation feed engineered to keep you scrolling. It also reads PeerTube, SoundCloud, Bandcamp and media.ccc.de.
What you should know before installing
This is the part most sites leave out. Because NewPipe scrapes the site instead of using a sanctioned API, it breaks whenever YouTube changes something significant. When that happens, playback simply stops working until the maintainers ship a fix — usually a few days, occasionally longer. It is not on the Play Store, so updates are manual: you come back and download the new build yourself.
If you need a video app that always works without you thinking about it, this is honestly not the right choice. If you want a YouTube client that does not monetise your attention and runs on a phone with 1 GB of RAM, there is not a better one.
Why this app is on Apkoras
NewPipe is licensed under the GPL-3.0, which explicitly permits redistribution. That licence is the written permission that lets us host the file at all — we are not relying on anyone looking the other way.
The file we serve is the original binary from the project’s own GitHub release, with the developers’ signature untouched. We do not repackage, re-sign or modify it. The SHA-256 in the panel is the hash of that exact file, and the source code is one click away if you would rather read it than trust us.
Version history
Older builds stay available. If a new release breaks something for you, roll back.
| Version | Released | Size | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.28.8 | 9 Jun 2026 | 10.4 MB | Release |
| 0.28.7 | 9 Jun 2026 | 10.4 MB | Release |
| 0.28.6 | 23 May 2026 | 10.4 MB | Release |
| 0.28.5 | 1 May 2026 | 10.4 MB | Release |
| 0.28.4 | 12 Apr 2026 | 10.3 MB | Release |
| 0.28.3 | 8 Mar 2026 | 11.9 MB | Release |
Common questions
Is NewPipe safe to install?
You do not have to take our word for it, which is the point. The source code is public, the licence is GPL-3.0, and we publish the SHA-256 of the exact file we serve. Download it, hash it, compare. If the hash matches, the file has not been altered between the developers and your phone.
Why is NewPipe not on the Google Play Store?
Play Store policy does not permit apps that access YouTube the way NewPipe does. That is why the project distributes through its own GitHub releases and F-Droid instead. Its absence from Play is a policy matter, not a sign that something is wrong with the app.
Does NewPipe need Google Play Services?
No. It works on phones with no Google services at all — de-Googled ROMs, Huawei devices, or anything where Play Services has been removed.
NewPipe stopped working. What happened?
Almost certainly YouTube changed something and broke the scraper. This is a normal, recurring part of using NewPipe. Check for a newer release — the maintainers usually ship a fix within a few days. Nothing is wrong with your phone or your download.
Will it run on my old phone?
The minimum is Android 5.0 (Lollipop, 2014) and the download is 10.4 MB. If your phone is from the last decade and has 1 GB of RAM, yes.
How do I check my download is genuine?
On Windows, open Command Prompt and run certutil -hashfile NewPipe_v0.28.8.apk SHA256. On Linux or macOS, run sha256sum or shasum -a 256 on the file. Compare the result to the hash in the download panel. They must match exactly.