this post was submitted on 08 Mar 2024
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Only the downloads were taken down
Some repos added instructions to compile through GitHub Actions

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[–] deezbutts@lemm.ee 135 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Good.

In my experience the people crafting these are getting out of hand. When I see these wall to wall in a storefront it makes me wonder what happened to a good old lager.

[–] Eggyhead@kbin.run -1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I think this has less to do with people getting out of hand and more to do with the way Google is running YouTube.

[–] lovesickoyster@lemmy.world 38 points 8 months ago (2 children)
[–] Eggyhead@kbin.run 28 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Ah… IPAs. Good one. Missed the forest for the trees there.

[–] lovesickoyster@lemmy.world 8 points 8 months ago

happens to the best of us :)

[–] nandeEbisu@lemmy.world 13 points 8 months ago

Careful, sounds like that one might foam up out of the bottle.

[–] someguy3@lemmy.ca 26 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Can someone please translate what that means?

[–] Spotlight7573@lemmy.world 36 points 8 months ago (1 children)

As for what these were, they are modified versions of the official YouTube app. What has been taken down is the full modified app files (.ipa) ready to install on an iPhone, not the source code to the tweaks that are in the repos.

These modifications do things like replicate the paid YouTube Premium features, from the uYou features list for example:

  • Ad-Free Browsing: Bid farewell to interruptions and enjoy seamless video playback without annoying advertisements.
  • Background Playback: Keep your favorite videos running in the background while you multitask or lock your device.
  • Video and Audio Downloads: Download videos, shorts, and audio tracks in various formats, including MP4 and WebM, for offline viewing and listening pleasure.
  • [...]

You can see why Google would want to have them taken down. They aren't even a re-implementation with their own code/UI like NewPipe.

[–] webghost0101@sopuli.xyz 11 points 8 months ago (3 children)

So why are people in this thread glad google is doing this?

I thought Lemmy was all pirates and anti monopolies, dont we all have adblock? And background playback used to be default. It was explicitly removed to exploit.

I am not trying to argue but can someone explain why there rooting for the power addicted mega company?

[–] Evilcoleslaw@lemmy.world 28 points 8 months ago (1 children)

The only comment I see being glad about it is a joke about the style of beer also called an IPA.

[–] webghost0101@sopuli.xyz 10 points 8 months ago

I saw the woooosh and it still woooshed right over me. Have never encountered it.

[–] Spotlight7573@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I think there's a difference between a third-party app/frontend and a modded app like these. One is at least trying to provide their own value, and stuff like NewPipe for example can support multiple services in the same UI, a feature I wish was better supported in streaming as I dislike trying to navigate all the individual apps. Modifying a service's app to remove the ads while still consuming their bandwidth and not putting in the effort to make your own app feels worse for me for some reason. At least pirates generally tend to use their own bandwidth and servers to distribute things instead of leeching directly off the original.

Hope that helps explain it for at least one person.

[–] Aatube@kbin.melroy.org 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

It's not just removing the ads, though. NewPipe also, of course, consumes YouTube's bandwidth.

[–] Spotlight7573@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago

I'm not saying NewPipe doesn't use their bandwidth, just that taking YouTube's app/UI code too just feels worse to me for some reason. It's less about the logic of it and more about the feeling.

[–] pory@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

The equivalents for Android, precompiled ReVanced APKs, are commonly used to spread malware. Following the instructions to patch the app yourself isn't hard. Google taking down precompiled modded versions of YouTube but leaving patches and the the tools anybody can use to apply them is a neutral thing at worst.

Also I don't see anyone in this thread glad that Google did this, aside from the first half of the joke / fakeout / pun post about IPA beer.

[–] Aatube@kbin.melroy.org 15 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

IPAs are the iOS equivalent of APKs. As long as you don't sideload over 3 apps (which is actually 2 if you want to avoid having to connect your device to your computer every week, and even less if you have apps that do things other than being apps), you can sideload IPAs.

Google made GitHub take down all the downloads but not the repositories themselves.

[–] warmaster@lemmy.world 12 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Wait a sec. Apple allows sideloading but only 3 apps, otherwise you need to connect to a PC on a weekly basis? What for?

[–] abhibeckert@lemmy.world 17 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

Apple has always allowed side loading just not as a method of mainstream distribution.

App developers use it all the time and not just on their own devices, it's also used to beta test apps.

There area few different ways it can be done with varying limitations. But in general it is absolutely possible to install apps outside of the App Store. In fact side-loading has been around since before the App Store even existed.

Almost anyone (except Tim Sweeney) can register for a developer account. And in fact you don't even need to, since most people who side-load are testers not developers. Developers can deploy a pre-release build of their app to up to ten thousand regular iPhone owners bypassing the app store entirely.

I have no idea what they're talking about with "only 3 apps". As an iOS developer I've got countless side loaded apps on my iPhone. Some of them are test builds of my own apps, some of them are test builds of other people's apps, some of them are hobby projects where I've slapped together an app in a weekend — not good enough for public distribution but it works for me and I've been using them for years.

[–] evident5051@lemm.ee 8 points 8 months ago

The current method for sideloading apps without a developer account seems to be limited to three separate apps at a time.

[–] Aatube@kbin.melroy.org 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

You need to pay a lot for a dev account

[–] mriguy@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago

$99/year is a lot of you’re just doing it to side load. If you’re using all the tools available, it’s not that much.

[–] Aatube@kbin.melroy.org 6 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Hobbyist development.

Not sure if this has changed for free due to EU regulation.

[–] ShadowCat@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 8 months ago

they probably just want to make it as inconvenient as possible

[–] Random_internet_user@lemmy.today 20 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Will newpipe and its fork be affected ? If not i don't give a fuck .

[–] skymtf@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Newpipe’s fork?

I don't think so cause unlike the tweaked youtube apps, new pipe just happens to just scrape the video off youtube which is publicly accessible

[–] Mubelotix@jlai.lu 1 points 8 months ago

Same for grayjay

[–] tourist@lemmy.world 4 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Newpipe's fork?

The one w/ sponsorblock?

[–] Tick_Dracy@lemm.ee 8 points 8 months ago

That's called Tubular, now.

[–] Random_internet_user@lemmy.today 3 points 8 months ago

There are several i use pipe pipe i also use libretube it is a piped youtube client

[–] aluminium@lemmy.world 17 points 8 months ago

Never was a aware these existed, good to know

[–] QuarterSwede@lemmy.world 15 points 8 months ago (2 children)

My favorite is still up. uYou+. 🤷🏼‍♂️

[–] SSUPII@sopuli.xyz 7 points 8 months ago

Various uYou+ reuploads were taken down

[–] Aatube@kbin.melroy.org 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

The IPA releases were taken down, not anything else.

Also, look at uYouEnhanced.

[–] QuarterSwede@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Who cares when Google still points to the site(s) where you can get them?

[–] Aatube@kbin.melroy.org 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)
[–] QuarterSwede@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I guess I’m missing what you’re saying Google is doing. I can reach my + app without issue by searching in Google and get the IPA. Not seeing the problem.

[–] Aatube@kbin.melroy.org 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

You can still use your installed app, of course, but download links on GitHub, including https://github.com/qnblackcat/uYouPlus/releases and uyouplus.com, have been taken down

[–] QuarterSwede@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

What does that have to do with Google though. GitHub is owned by Microsoft.

[–] Aatube@kbin.melroy.org 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

...Google sent GitHub the DMCA.

[–] QuarterSwede@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Ahh. That’s the piece I missed. It’s a Friday. lol. Thanks.

[–] Zagorath@aussie.zone 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

It’s a Friday

Man, my logical brain knows how this works, but it still weirds me out when I can see a comment "8 hours ago" at 8 pm on Saturday that reads "it's a Friday". My intuition is like..."10 hours behind? No problem. 15+ hours behind? Huh????"

[–] QuarterSwede@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago

I think I posted it at 7:30p on Friday evening. Says it was 12 hours ago. It’s currently Sat morning here at 7:25a if that helps.

[–] PopShark@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Holy crap I just happened to keep the copy of the uYouPlus ipa file I was going to delete it since I use a resigned version that I used my old expired apple developer account to sign as totally my personal app and install via xcode to my iPhone and that way it doesn’t expire or have to be renewed like I guess most third party apps do… I only did it this way because the two other methods of installation didn’t work for me. But I kept the og ipa if I need to downgrade back to it which I did a week ago because the newest version of the app broke sponsorblock and a couple other minute things.

Anyway I have a copy of I think v19.02.1-3.0.1 ipa

[–] Aatube@kbin.melroy.org 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

uYouEnhanced has a SideStore source that still downloads. It gives v19.09.4-3.0.3

[–] PopShark@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago

Oh OK cool that’s good to know so they creators probably just took off the GitHub releases to comply with Google’s bullshit but anything on any other websites or any other repos is fair game

[–] yoshisaur@lemm.ee 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

damn. the one i use (uYouEnhanced) got taken down. wonder how long i can keep using it

[–] Aatube@kbin.melroy.org 8 points 8 months ago

The IPA releases were taken down, not anything else. Also, "some repos" 😉