Newpipe Is Turning 10

Posted2 months agoActive2 months ago

birdculture

108 points

28 comments

newpipe.netTechstory

supportivepositive

Debate

10/100

NewpipeYoutube AlternativesOpen-Source SoftwareAndroid Apps

Key topics

Newpipe

Youtube Alternatives

Open-Source Software

Android Apps

NewPipe, a popular open-source YouTube client for Android, is celebrating its 10th anniversary, with users praising its features and expressing gratitude to the developers.

Snapshot generated from the HN discussion

Discussion Activity

Moderate engagement

First comment

Peak period

6-12h

Avg / period

3.1

Comment distribution28 data points

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Based on 28 loaded comments

Key moments

01Story posted
Oct 25, 2025 at 6:46 PM EDT
2 months ago
Step 01
02First comment
Oct 25, 2025 at 6:54 PM EDT
8m after posting
Step 02
03Peak activity
7 comments in 6-12h
Hottest window of the conversation
Step 03
04Latest activity
Oct 29, 2025 at 4:44 PM EDT
2 months ago
Step 04

Generating AI Summary...

Analyzing up to 500 comments to identify key contributors and discussion patterns

Discussion (28 comments)

Showing 28 comments

bbkane

2 months ago

3 replies

I love NewPipe! Especially for downloading kids videos for plane rides. Thanks for writing it!

bfkwlfkjf

2 months ago

3 replies

Why not yt-dlp for downloading?

sigmar

2 months ago

1 reply

I'm not the person you asked, but I like it because: Easier to initiate downloads from mobile, got a nice ui for quality selection, can import subscriptions, keeps a download log that makes it easy to play recent download

Fade_Dance

2 months ago

It's subscription lists that do it for me. Such an improvement.

netsharc

2 months ago

1 reply

Not grandfather commenter... but why yt-dlp? NewPipe is a one-stop-shop for your mobile device, yt-dlp means searching for the video on the browser and copying the URL, running yt-dlp on the computer and then transferring the downloaded video onto your phone...

With NewPipe you can be at the airport waiting for your flight, do it all on the device, and then hand it over to your kid (I'll leave out the commentary on using video to babysit them...)

bfkwlfkjf

2 months ago

1 reply

Right. I guess where we differ is that I actively try to avoid spending time on my mobile. I have never watched a YouTube video on my phone in my entire life, and won't.

mvdwoord

2 months ago

2 replies

Any other character traits you are proud of and would like to tell us about?

dontlaugh

2 months ago

1 reply

This is the contemporary equivalent of people that bragged they don’t watch TV in the 2000s.

tripzilch

2 months ago

1 reply

the only time it ever got brought up was when people (like you?) were incessantly quoting TV advertisements

and the only people complaining about it were the ones who desperately felt that sliver of cultural relevance slipping away

dontlaugh

2 months ago

I didn’t really watch TV, but I also didn’t constantly point it out. It stood out when others did.

bfkwlfkjf

2 months ago

Oof is this something that you're unhappy about yourself?

Jotalea

2 months ago

(on mobile) NewPipe is way easier to use, since it's designed for mobile touchscreens, instead of having to write a command.

dlcarrier

2 months ago

2 replies

It's great at playing videos and downloading videos. But don't expect it to play your downloaded videos, because who would ever want to do that?

DANmode

2 months ago

1 reply

Gallery for one-offs,

VLC or similar if you’re serious.

Scope is important to quality.

dlcarrier

2 months ago

1 reply

VLC desktop application is great, but the mobile one has pretty bad performance issues. I can play at a much faster speed inside NewPipe than I can in VLC.

I haven't heard of Scope; is it the one from YuppTV that you recommend?

DANmode

2 months ago

Scope of purpose of a codebase.

selfhoster11

2 months ago

1 reply

Huh? Don't you have a file manager on your phone?

dlcarrier

2 months ago

1 reply

I'm more confused than you are; what does a file manager have to do with playing videos?

selfhoster11

2 months ago

You can navigate to the files you downloaded with NewPipe and tap on them. They will open in the default video player.

neumann

2 months ago

This is exactly what we use it for

tetris11

2 months ago

1 reply

Sponsorblock is such a great inbuilt feature to make youtube useable, and kudos to the dev who empowered millions by writing it

Edit: sorry I'm writing about PipePipe

mnmalst

2 months ago

1 reply

NewPipe does not have Sponsorblock built in tho. I am sure you are aware but other people might not. Tubular https://github.com/polymorphicshade/Tubular is a newpipe fork which integrates Sponsorblock and youtube dislike.

Itoldmyselfso

2 months ago

PipePipe (https://github.com/InfinityLoop1308/PipePipe) is better than Tubular, it has much more frequent updates and more features.

m000

2 months ago

My dog loves NewPipe! It makes YT podcasts and talk shows great again, keeping its best friend happy during long walks.

noman-land

2 months ago

NewPipe is amazing and used it for years and donated money but recently I switched to Tubular which has SponsorBlock and that is incredible.

moogly

2 months ago

Breaks way less often than FreeTube. I think there might be some lessons to learn there for the latter. One feature I wished it had: periodic background downloading of subscriptions. I use NewPipe fairly rarely, and when I do, I have to wait perhaps 90-120 seconds to download the list of latest videos. I'm pretty sure that contributes to me not using it super often, exacerbating the problem.

Jotalea

2 months ago

I really like NewPipe. it's lightweight, no ads, allows downloading, allows 4K playback (on videos that support it), even allows watching streams!

nalinidash

2 months ago

coincidentally, I uninstalled newpipe today (after exporting its data to local storage).Not for any bad reasons, but due to it consuming most of my screen time.

Anyway, really cool app and congratulations to the countless developers, maintainers and bug-reporters that made it possible.

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ID: 45707575Type: storyLast synced: 11/20/2025, 5:51:32 PM

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