ViewTube, unofficial: a YouTube client for Android phones and tablets.
Sign in with a code, keep it playing in the background, save videos for offline,
and cast to ViewTube on your TV.
Download · Features · How sign-in works · FAQ
Note
ViewTube adds a touch interface with liquid glass aesthetics, its own player and offline saving. It is an independent project.
|
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. |
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. |
|
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. |
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. |
|
SponsorBlock skips sponsor segments, DeArrow swaps clickbait titles and thumbnails, and Return YouTube Dislike shows estimated dislike counts. There are no Shorts. |
Pair with ViewTube 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. |
Everything else
- 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
| Your device | File |
|---|---|
| Almost every phone from the last ~8 years | ViewTube_<version>_arm64-v8a.apk |
| Older 32-bit phones | ViewTube_<version>_armeabi-v7a.apk |
| Not sure (any ARM phone) | ViewTube_<version>_universal.apk (bigger) |
| Older x86 devices and emulators | ViewTube_<version>_x86.apk |
- Requires Android 7.0 or newer. ViewTube has its own package name, so it installs next to SmartTube or the YouTube app.
- Updates: with Obtainium, choose Add app and paste
https://github.com/Astrionix/ViewTube, or install a newer APK over the old one. ViewTube 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 withapksigner verify --print-certs <file>.apk. Each release also lists a SHA-256 for every file. ViewTube's key is not SmartTube's, so neither app can update the other. - Distributed on GitHub, not on Google Play.
- Open the You tab, tap the account row, then Sign in. ViewTube 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 ViewTube 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 ViewTube. 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.
Medians measured on a Pixel 9 on 25 and 26 September 2026, with release builds of the code that became 1.10.1, 2 to 8 runs per cell: small samples, one phone, one carrier, and the mobile-data runs were on different days. Later versions haven't been re-timed this way, and 1.12.0 changed how the app opens (Home shows loading placeholders first). The method and the full table are in STATUS.md.
| Wi-Fi | Mobile data | |
|---|---|---|
| Open the app → first screen | 0.24 s | 0.24 s |
| Open the app → Home fully painted | 1.35 s | 1.56 s |
| Tap a related video → first frame | 0.50 s | 0.53 s |
| Tap a related video → picture visible | 0.66 s | 0.73 s |
| Reopen a half-watched video → picture | 0.37 s | – |
| Tap a shared link → first frame | 0.66 s | 0.84 s |
| SmartTube | ViewTube | |
|---|---|---|
| Made for | Android TV and TV boxes | Phones and tablets |
| Controls | TV remote (D-pad) | Touch and gestures |
| Interface | Leanback | Material Design |
| Engine | MediaServiceCore + SharedModules | Forks of the same modules |
| Player | ExoPlayer | androidx Media3 |
| Offline saving | No | Yes |
| License | MIT | MIT |
Have an Android TV? Get SmartTube. It's excellent, and ViewTube can cast to it.
Can SmartTube be installed on phones?
SmartTube is made for Android TV and TV boxes, and its README says "There will not be a phone version." ViewTube is an unofficial phone client built on SmartTube's engine, with a touch interface, its own player and offline saving. It is an independent project, not endorsed by SmartTube's developer.
Do I need microG, GmsCore, root or ReVanced?
No. ViewTube isn't a patched YouTube app. It signs in with a code the way a TV does, so it doesn't need Google Play Services or a stand-in for them.
How is it different from NewPipe, LibreTube or ReVanced?
They're all good apps, and which one fits depends on what you want. NewPipe and LibreTube don't sign in to a Google account; they keep subscriptions on your phone or on a Piped server. ReVanced patches the official app and needs GmsCore unless you're rooted. ViewTube is built on SmartTube, so it uses your real account without any of that.
Is there another SmartTube-based phone app?
Yes. SmarterTube is another independent phone fork of SmartTube, worth comparing. The two are separate projects. One difference today (September 2026): ViewTube can save videos for offline.
Is it safe? How do I know the APK is really ViewTube?
The APKs are built by GitHub Actions from the tagged source. Check the signing certificate against the fingerprint under Download, and each file against the SHA-256 in its release notes. Every release is tagged, so you can read the exact source. The app has no analytics, no crash reporting and no ad SDKs, and the developer receives nothing. It talks to YouTube (which sees what you watch, as it would anywhere), to the community services you can switch off (SponsorBlock, DeArrow, Return YouTube Dislike), and to GitHub. Details are in PRIVACY.md.
Was this made with AI?
Yes, in large part. ViewTube is an independent project, and its mobile features (touch interface, liquid glass styling, player and network improvements) were developed with AI coding assistants. The maintainer directs and reviews that work and uses the app daily. The engine underneath is SmartTube's, written by @yuliskov and its contributors over several years.
Why no donations?
ViewTube doesn't take donations. SmartTube did the heavy lifting, so if you want to give something back, support SmartTube.
A video won't play. What now?
YouTube sometimes refuses a video or an account. ViewTube retries through other routes, but not every video comes back. If one keeps failing, open an issue with the video link and your ViewTube version.
| Project | By | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| SmartTube | @yuliskov and contributors | The engine, accounts and integrations: everything under the hood |
| SponsorBlock · DeArrow | Ajay Ramachandran and contributors | Segment and title data (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) |
| Return YouTube Dislike | RYD contributors | Dislike counts |
| androidx Media3 | Google (Apache-2.0) | Playback |
Full notices are in THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md. SmartTube's original README is kept at docs/UPSTREAM_README_SmartTube.md.
ViewTube's phone screens are in English and Spanish so far. The settings and messages inherited from SmartTube already exist in about 45 languages and just need their gaps filled. How it works and what to translate first: TRANSLATING.md.
Help, issues and pull requests are welcome. Build instructions are in docs/BUILDING.md. The changelog covers every release, with a Spanish edition for the testers.
MIT, the same as SmartTube. © yuliskov (SmartTube) and ViewTube contributors.
ViewTube is an independent, unofficial project. It is not affiliated with, funded, authorized or endorsed by Google LLC, YouTube, or SmartTube's developer, and it hosts no content. Save only what the law and the platform's terms allow you to. YouTube, Android and Google are trademarks of Google LLC.