PipePipe
Hacker ApprovedRanked 4 of 9 YouTube clients by recommenders
Recommended as a fast, lightweight YouTube app with ad blocking, SponsorBlock built in, and frequent fixes.
Recommended as a fast, lightweight YouTube app with ad blocking, SponsorBlock built in, and frequent fixes.
42 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 37
- criticize it
- 5
- approval share
- 88%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 10 months
Median of the 5 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it carries the badge
- 37 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 7.4 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Blocks ads and Google nonsense
“They do a pretty good job of blocking Google's nonsense and just showing you the videos.”
Comment from 21 Oct 2026 in “Making Solar Panels with a Microwave [video]” “Using NewPipe and sponsor block on PipePipe increases privacy and makes YouTube ad free”
Comment from 12 Oct 2026 in “Fingerprints are the new cookies” “PipePipe up to 10x! And both block ads, while PipePipe also integrates Sponsorblock.”
Comment from 12 Jun 2026 in “Why removing 'um' from a recording is harder than it sounds” - Comment from 27 Sep 2026 in “PipePipe: NewPipe hard fork implementing SponsorBlock”
- Comment from 15 Mar 2026 in “The 49MB Web Page”
SponsorBlock built in
“Using NewPipe and sponsor block on PipePipe increases privacy and makes YouTube ad free”
Comment from 12 Oct 2026 in “Fingerprints are the new cookies” “was missing SponsorBlock and had read that the NewPipe developer didn't want to add it”
Comment from 27 Sep 2026 in “PipePipe: NewPipe hard fork implementing SponsorBlock” “PipePipe up to 10x! And both block ads, while PipePipe also integrates Sponsorblock.”
Comment from 12 Jun 2026 in “Why removing 'um' from a recording is harder than it sounds” - Comment from 25 Jan 2026 in “Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android”
Frequent updates and fixes
“The developer seems to care about the project and introduces a lot of quality of life improvments.”
Comment from 26 Sep 2026 in “PipePipe: NewPipe hard fork implementing SponsorBlock” “The developer seems to spend the time and attention needed to make it work again”
Comment from 26 Sep 2026 in “PipePipe: NewPipe hard fork implementing SponsorBlock” “PipePipe is so nice with the fast auto-updates.”
Comment from 26 Sep 2026 in “PipePipe: NewPipe hard fork implementing SponsorBlock” - Comment from 26 Sep 2026 in “PipePipe: NewPipe hard fork implementing SponsorBlock”
Stable, fewer bugs
“It's also less buggy, and they've fixed long-standing navigation gripes I had with NewPipe.”
Comment from 26 Sep 2026 in “PipePipe: NewPipe hard fork implementing SponsorBlock” “I found pipepipe to be more stable, break less and have more features.”
Comment from 15 Feb 2026 in “NewPipe: YouTube client without vertical videos and algorithmic feed”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Rate limited or blocked by YouTube
“It always says that your IP is blocked by YouTube”
Comment from 27 Sep 2026 in “PipePipe: NewPipe hard fork implementing SponsorBlock” “Google rate limits me when I refresh.”
Comment from 26 Sep 2026 in “PipePipe: NewPipe hard fork implementing SponsorBlock” Playback or downloads stop working
“Pipepipe stopped downloading audio or video when I was using it a couple of years back.”
Comment from 25 Jan 2026 in “Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android” “PipePipe (which always has the pause at the start since the last few months)”
Comment from 10 Dec 2025 in “PeerTube is recognized as a digital public good by Digital Public Goods Alliance”
Other YouTube clients people recommend
The four most recommended other YouTube clients, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
See all 9 YouTube clients, rankedWhat people said
39 of the 44 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Instead I use the app to find videos and copy them to pipepipe.”
“They do a pretty good job of blocking Google's nonsense and just showing you the videos.”
“NewPipe/PipePipe are free”
“Using NewPipe and sponsor block on PipePipe increases privacy and makes YouTube ad free”
“Luckily there's many newpipe forks with it. There's pipepipe”
“pipepipe runs on my phone and it's open source”
“It always says that your IP is blocked by YouTube”
“I use Pipepipe, but auto skipping content is the one thing I turned off pretty fast.”
“This makes my ad-free mobile experience complete.”
“was missing SponsorBlock and had read that the NewPipe developer didn't want to add it”
“These wrapper apps download only the videos, thumbnails and texts”
“This fork solves it elegantly”
“tells a third party service what videos you click on and has no measures to ensure anonymity”
“PipePipe is so nice with the fast auto-updates.”
“This is the reason I switched probably mor than a year or two ago.”
“NewPipe/PipePipe is fast, lightweight and I couldn't care less about any "features" other than watching a video.”
“This app and previously NewPipe is the main thing I miss after moving to iOS.”
“Google rate limits me when I refresh.”
“The developer seems to care about the project and introduces a lot of quality of life improvments.”
“It's also less buggy, and they've fixed long-standing navigation gripes I had with NewPipe.”
“PipePipe is patched very often.”
“I actually think this is 100% the correct move practically”
“The developer seems to spend the time and attention needed to make it work again”
“For alternatives, see: PipePipe”
“PipePipe up to 10x! And both block ads, while PipePipe also integrates Sponsorblock.”
“You don't even have the problem if you use NewPipe or PipePipe as the app for YouTube.”
“just use NewPipe or PipePipe to bypass ads”
“Both are better than the browser app.”
“As recommended by https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47021252 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47020412”
“It has more feature than Tubular!”
“Of course NewPipe and PipePipe are better.”
“I found pipepipe to be more stable, break less and have more features.”
“They're are so many good front ends that block ALL that toxic garbage.”
“those are just wrappers for YouTube, not a real competitor”
“PipePipe and Revanced both do both perfectly.”
“Pipepipe stopped downloading audio or video when I was using it a couple of years back.”
“The great alternative Youtube clients Android has.”
“has more features, namely skipping sponsor block, and intros”
“PipePipe (which always has the pause at the start since the last few months)”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.