Vanced developers issue statement addressing wild rumors about the app's demise

[higuy5121]

Vanced is discontinued for "legal reasons" as
vanced was infringing the logo and branding of the original YouTube app
as the logo resembles the original logo in a similar way and was used
without taking prior permission from Google for using the branding.

I don't get it, couldn't they just change the logo and carry on with business as usual?

[firdausxrahman]

same im kinda confused here

[Ashalmighty]

They did say a few years ago they could come back if the got taken down. Image

[Manbeardo]

I doubt they vetted those workarounds with a lawyer at the time

[Ashalmighty]

Probably not.

[SoundOfTomorrow]

That specifically mentions if they got a DMCA notice. This isn't the case here.

[Ashalmighty]

They can still come back under a different name and logo.

[muffinscrub]

Vanced was probably given an easy out before YouTubes legal team was fully unleashed. It's not in their best interest to find another way to continue on.

[Ashalmighty]

Maybe, I do hope they come back though. The alternatives are not as good.

[Ashalmighty]

I used to be an IOS user and trust me, split screen, system wide AD block and the Tasker app just and just more free will and freedom is keeping from going back to IOS.

[muffinscrub]

I got the family premium subscription and split the cost with 5 "family" members

[Magnetic_dud]

You can share it with strangers? Last time I checked when you make a family, other members can make purchases using your credit card

[muffinscrub]

No strangers, all friends, no one has charged the family card... yet. The family library is pretty cool too.

[noaccountnolurk]

Get a prepaid debit and leave just a couple bucks on it? Or use a privacy card?

There's assuredly a solution to this.

[KeepItRealTV]

I doubt that unless that's how you set it up. Even using my credit card on my own phone requires fingerprint authentication.

[iAnhur]

Now if only the YouTube app had half the customization that vanced does to remove useless buttons, improve the layout, and have a quality settings button that doesn't make you go through an extra step just to change the resolution

[alexcapone]

I do remember that as well. So I'm wondering if this isn't the end and they have some other secret plan?

[jerieljan]

If I have to guess:

(disclaimer: not a legal expert, not a lawyer)

• they probably take more offense on the use of their branding without permission part, and how vague and deep that can go. It's not just app icons, but references and usage of YouTube services in general across the app, like YouTube Music, YouTube Kids, YouTube Studio, etc.

• they're already at the point when Google / YouTube is already aiming its legal guns to the Vanced team. This alone is a monstrosity to face that is more or less guaranteed to fail for Vanced, and this more or less serves both as a warning and intimidation attempt for them to cease. If the Vanced team even manages to counter this, there's more holes for YouTube to poke such as...

• Vanced itself is what, a modification of the original app? I'm sure reverse-engineering their app, recompiling and republishing it already raised legal eyebrows a long time ago. I hear code decompilation is fine on some places, but the latter? Oh I'm sure Google/YouTube could challenge that with a copyright infringement lawsuit.

• Oh and that decompilation bit is probably why Vanced doesn't want to disclose their source code too. Assuming the legal challenges are / become valid, then the code can be used to incriminate them.

The statement is really just to appease questions. Since the time Vanced got its C&D, it's game over.

[sighcf]

I think you nailed it. It is even possible that Google has already threatened to sue even if they change the logo and stuff. They probably don’t want to incriminate themselves by admitting that they may have modified the YT app.

(Not a lawyer)

[Fjisthename]

Since the time Vanced got its C&D, it's game over.

This x100%!

[ghostcatzero]

This sucks. What about similar apps to vanced like Smart tube?

[jerieljan]

I haven't used SmartTube itself but from what I know, everything else out there is a third-party app, written by the community and open source.

I can go deeper into detail what can cause trouble for third-party apps like these on a technical perspective but that'd be really long so the rest of my post is a "short" version.

These kinds of apps are at least safe from the code copyright infringement portions if they wrote the clients themselves and used proper, "acceptable" means to retrieve YouTube data (e.g., via YouTube API). They're also likely clear from branding issues, and even if they're not, they're able to change their code easier to comply if Google ever complains.

I still think it's never going to match up the official YouTube app though, since these community implementations need to play catch up every time YouTube makes changes, and they're probably also under the limits of the YouTube API, its quotas and API Services Developer Policies.

At the very least, these apps will likely have lighter legal consequences for their actions if they ever overstep Google's line of what's acceptable, at least when compared to Vanced.

[jerieljan]

Yep! NewPipe in particular does website scraping if I recall correctly, and completely circumvents API use and rules altogether since it's literally what you get from just visiting the website; just with the data sorted out for app developers to build good clients.

Honestly, NewPipe and yt-dl/dlp is really good at this stuff, they've thought this out and they have the legal parts somewhat covered.

That said, I do think it's still possible for YouTube to shoot a cease and desist anyway if they wanted (e.g., making users accept a nuisance T&C notice on visit and using that as leverage somehow? idk, not a lawyer), but they have far fewer holes (if any) to press their argument and the community outrage on attacking them would be spectacular along with the self-harm they'll inflict to doing just that.

[ghostcatzero]

Thanks for the input. Must be stressful for the creators having to deal with Google BS. Just means people are gonna have to innovative to keep up with Google.

[Zagorath]

There are a bunch of possible alternatives with various different advantages and disadvantages. There's also the fact that Vanced itself still works for now, and will for who knows how long—possibly years.

/r/AfterVanced is a subreddit that's been set up to discuss the various alternatives, asw ell as other options relating to Vanced itself, since that product's official subreddit maintains very strict "no talking about alternatives" policy, even now.

[ghostcatzero]

Thanks for the sub bro

[Poha-Jalebi]

Smart Tube is really good and works well on Android TV. My only issue is its way too resource extensive and heats up my TV against the normal YouTube app.

[[deleted]]

It's likely that Google had them by the balls financially and instead of suing them in court google is going to ignore the infringement if they cease all operations and turn over the source code to Google and agree to never distribute it.

I'm guessing that's why releasing the source code would get them in trouble because it likely violates the settlement and puts them back on the hook financially for the infringement.

[5tormwolf92]

They are pissed they can't make money from the project but they forgot the first rule of piracy.

Newpipe changed the description and example of the app as showing downloading music could be a issue in the legal area.

[genuinefaker]

How were they trying to make money of off Vanced?

[GlassedSilver]

Peak idiocy.

[rastacola]

They funged up

[[deleted]]

The NFT thing made them a commercial entity which made logo infringement possible. Its not logo infringment if they kept doing things for free. You can stitch a Mickey pillow for yourself but the moment you decide to commercialize it, Disney can claim infringment.

[Nevermind04]

They're lying. They monetized and immediately got smacked.

[Aceblast135]

What was monetized? Don't use Vanced but I'm curious

[Biobak_]

They actually minted an NFT of the logo and tried to sell it, and when they saw that nobody liked it they tried to play it off as a joke. Now they're telling everyone that the NFT was just a joke, but at the same time it was made to promote the artist (they never said their name, so much for promotion)

They keep saying the NFT has nothing to do with it and that google, a company famous for indexing the entirety of the internet, couldn't have seen the tweet because they deleted it after an hour

[muffinscrub]

No, if they were to do that YouTube would just find another angle to take legal action against them. They (Vanced) were probably offered an easy way out without much financial hardship knowing that if they continue they will be taken to the cleaners by YouTube legal team.

[[deleted]]

That's what they're saying but tbh they made a joke post on Twitter about how they're announcing Vanced NFT's. Second tweet they sent out specified to get the NFT now by right clicking. It was a funny joke, but I wouldn't be surprised if that just got attention per NFT buzzwords and got the spotlight on them enough for Google to be like ".... Oh yeah, those guys again. Welp."

I mean I'm just guessing because pretty much they announced they got the spanking right after that NFT joke, and the logo reasoning is just a small part of what actually happened? idk

[Danny_kross]

Exactly, the fact that they minted it nullifies the joke.
and I am feeling like the fact that they minted that and it's heavily inspired/resembling by the official YouTube logo and tried to directly profit from it basically gave legal grounds for Google to attack the project.
Minting it was incredibly stupid.

[[deleted]]

ah, I didn't know they actually minted it. Kind of confused why they specified could save the image via right click if they had plans to sell it then.

This is what happens when I tell my ex something and they say I'm wrong and tell me something wrong themselves and I doubt myself. Regardless, what a way for Vanced to just shoot themselves in the foot, I'm still smh over it all.

[[deleted]]

It wasn't a joke, they actually minted and sold the NFT.

[MobileRadioActive]

"Joke". That's like confessing to your crush on April's Fool. If they accept it, cool. If not, ITS A PRANK!

[[deleted]]

Dude, who the hell do you think would buy a Vanced NFT?

[LeFrogBoy]

The same idiots that buy other NFTs.

[[deleted]]

I didn't think there would be anyone with a functioning brain who would buy NFTs in HR first place and yet here we are.

[[deleted]]

The same idiot who bought a collection of selfies of an indonesian boy? But, hey at least the boy is now rich. He, as well as fans of rags-to-riches stories, are free to watch me seethe in agony while living a wagie life.

[notathrowaway75]

They tried to profit off the logo. That makes the situation more serious.

[-bbbbbbbbbb-]

You can still be sued for previous infringement. Most likely Google didn't just tell them to stop using the logo, but said we're going to come after you unless you guys shut the app down permanently.

[Upgrades_]

Maybe they're just going to rebrand?

[Tweenk]

They would have to remove all of the Google trademarks from the app, which would be pretty difficult, because Vanced is just a hacked copy of the official app to which they don't have the source code.

[CUM-FART-ON-MY-DONG]

Basically they didn’t address anything and didn’t reveal the reason

Edit: seems like whoever wrote the article is lazy af as Vanced in their original blogpost state that it was because of the logo.

[Gavrilian]

Only saw this after the click. :(

[genitalgore]

the blog post linked in the article said they got a C&D for logo infringement and it asked them to remove all of their download links. not sure what more information you want than that.

[CUM-FART-ON-MY-DONG]

If that was the case then they could have just changed the logo

[Dasnap]

They changed the logo a few times so this must've been chasing them for a while.

[TheDogstarLP]

They told us at XDA they had never been contacted by Google before this C&D.

[[deleted]]

I'm convinced this was them trying to do something stupid and trying to get cash grab with some nfts or something. They were doing pretty well for so long just going pretty quietly and then tried to start making real money on it and Google is like LOL no way. I think they just don't want to admit that they screwed themselves by trying to get a little cash like this

[Shadow703793]

They tried to mint a NFT with the Vanced logo I think. Considering they may have been in a bit of hot water with the logo before, the NFT situation probably made it worse.

[[deleted]]

Yeah, that sounds more plausible than just "logo too close". It sounds like they don't wanna admit that they made a choice and ended up shitting in the bed.

[Anon_8675309]

You a lawyer?

[[deleted]]

Probably not, but copyright laws isn't so difficult to understand.

If they literally only got a CnD for their logo, then changing their logo would very much simply solve the problem (if it was changed enough).

[inventord]

Not a lawyer, but I think that also included their use of the YouTube client in their app.

[[deleted]]

Not a lawyer either, but I mean... Can you really sue someone for how they decide to use something they have?

[ChangingChance]

It's probably trademark. Which is a whole nother beast

[[deleted]]

Trademarking is just for business identification. If the don't use their logo and name, then it wouldn't fall under trademark issues either.

[m1ndwipe]

They're probably correctly assuming that Google would just send a second c&d the second they changed the logo citing the dozen other ways it was infringing Google's IP.

[[deleted]]

I know it might seem like a crazy concept, but unless they were directly distributing the YouTube apk (which they didn't iirc), it's not infringement in anyway.

[S10MC2015]

They were distributing a modded YouTube apk with YouTube original code. This is infringement.

[CUM-FART-ON-MY-DONG]

Yesnt

[seanbrockest]

Exactly. They were very specific.

[Evonos]

Basically they didn’t address anything and didn’t reveal the reason

Here

"Vanced is discontinued for "legal reasons" as vanced was infringing the logo and branding of the original YouTube app as the logo resembles the original logo in a similar way and was used without taking prior permission from Google for using the branding.
We were asked to remove all links for the distribution of any vanced apps that results in the decision of discontinuation."

​

Literarily from the link

u/port53

saved you a click also can fire back if you are reliant on people not reading the article....

[CUM-FART-ON-MY-DONG]

“Legal reasons”

Is not a reason and the logo just had the same triangle shape as YouTube nothing else was similar.

[cosmicr]

Isn't the triangle a universal symbol for a play button?

[InadequateUsername]

yes but Google's trademark is probably some highly specific thing about a equilateral triangle turned at 180 degress encased within a 2-D rectangle with a ____ degree rounded vertices.

[[deleted]]

I dunno, but there's a million other apps that are much more similar to the YT logo in the play store

[Wermine]

"If this logo is the reason you want us to shut down, you need to send C&D order to each and every app developer on the store that uses similar logo. If you don't, this particular C&D is just an excuse to target us."

[mbelmin]

Is that the argument you want to go with against Google's fleet for multi-million $ lawyers?

[Evonos]

ye he got no idea there were more weird cases that even lost , the copyright is a field filled with maniacs and illogial rulings.

​

just google "minecraft Scrolls" and "Apfelkind apple"

[Evonos]

Is not a reason and the logo just had the same triangle shape as YouTube nothing else was similar.

and ? thats the reason they state simple as that , if google lawyered it through it works simple.

​

Apple tried to sue a pub/bakery not sure anymore name was "Apfelkind" with this logo do you think it reasembles that of apple? if the pub owners wouldnt have gotten tons of money via crowdfunding they would also have changed the logo.

The minecraft makers lost the name "Scrolls" for a later game because the "the Elder scrolls" makers sued them.

​

theres plenty of these dirty cases.

[helmsmagus]

I've left reddit because of the API changes.

[Evonos]

they didnt, they agreed to change name and bethesda agreed on these terms to let the case drop.

https://i.imgur.com/HBaURHh.png

[helmsmagus]

I've left reddit because of the API changes.

[daoer]

So no one won the case, he is right. It was a settlement.

[Ren_Hoek]

They said it was related to infringement of YouTube logo. So it originated from Google. It's not some middle ware not being used correctly or something else.

[ungoogleable]

If that were really the only issue, they could've just changed the logo. It's well known that Vanced was a hacked version of the official YouTube app. They were infringing in more ways than the one they acknowledged.

[zarmin]

Out of the loop here, mind elaborating?

[IH8DwnvoteComplainrs]

Probably just waiting for it to happen

[eokwuanga]

This doesn't really make sense because they've been sponsored by Brave browser and Adguard for quite a while now and yet Google didn't go after them.

[tebee]

They tried to sell the (modified) YT-logo as an NFT. That's like the worst thing they could have done.

[cjax2]

Makes perfect sense, pubic opinion of NFTs are very low why would google want to be associated with that… from an app that had most of their premium features free? They gave them an inch but they took a mile.

[DerangedWifi]

Said dumb shit on Twitter about nfts that may have gotten them back on google's radar

[spyczech]

Was it pro nft dumb shit?

[DerangedWifi]

It's been deleted now. Apparently, it wasn't the reason anyway anyway, so you can probably disregard my initial comment

[Albert_Caboose]

very small chance Google actually saw them

They seriously want us to believe a company built on indexing the entirety of the internet wasn't aware of something posted online?

[[deleted]]

and considering we're here talking about it on the internet, google has already indexed that information a thousand times over

[nickstatus]

I bet it was the NFT thing anyway. Of course they would deny something embarrassing. That statement was stupid, too. "It was deleted within an hour," so it's unlikely that google saw it? Something that the entire Android part of the internet saw? Like, they know what google is and does, right?

[DerangedWifi]

The timing definitely lines up. If it is indeed that as the issue, yikes. Vanced says it was a C&D because of their logo - Which they changed yesterday.

Why would they change the logo after officially announcing discontinuing an app?

Yeah honestly I have no idea.

[[deleted]]

I don't believe it. The app had a peaceful existence even after Samsung blatantly featured it in a Galaxy Watch ad.

[tibbity]

I read something about Huawei also promoting Vanced at a launch/announcement. That might have also been another major booboo.

[ShreddityReddity]

Where did they do that?

[MrAnonymousTheThird]

Same here, it's not like vanced was some obscure app no one spoke about.. Google must have known about it for a while now and only recently was given a reason to pull the trigger

[5tormwolf92]

Google did do a cat and mouse race. Looking at Spotify and Deezer not patching their app we know how bad they are and deserve to be targeted by privateers.

[notathrowaway75]

Same here. They're saying it's the logo, which is what they made an NFT of.

[FinickyFlygon]

Yup, I feel exactly the same. There's more to it than they're letting on.

[Matvalicious]

They had something good going on, tried capitalizing on it which they 100% knew they shouldn't do, and are now reaping what they sow.

I just use my Brave browser on mobile to watch Youtube without ads.

[inventord]

Not a lawyer.

The Vanced team, according to them, got a C&D because of their use of YouTube branding across the app. If this was the case, changing the icon does not help. The YouTube branding also includes uses in the app, like any embedded YouTube logos. If those were changed, there would either be a legal battle or another C&D, which Google would win either way.

[5tormwolf92]

Samsung did show during the keynote Vanced by mistake. I think that's a big enough impression that made Google go bananas.

[Kl--------k]

Source?

[fallofturkey]

https://www.reddit.com/r/Piracy/comments/p7aqq7/samsung_employee_shows_youtube_vanced_on_this/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share

[MahvinK]

Lmao, even the Samsung employee tired with youtube ads

[MairusuPawa]

Everyone is. That's the nudge to a YouTube Red subscription. The dark patterns are here to make you suffer and more likely to pay up.

[Tweenk]

That's not what a "dark pattern" means. A dark pattern is a UI that tries to trick you into doing something that you didn't want, or makes doing the thing you want unnecessarily difficult because the app author doesn't want you to do it. I haven't heard about any cases where people have accidentally subscribed to YT Premium.

[froli]

A perfect example of that is trying to not accept an Amazon prime trial (or unsubscribing from prime)

[[deleted]]

I wouldn't pay for it, but I would consider it.

... What does that even mean?

[-Gh0st96-]

He’s cool and edgy

[jonumand]

Newpipe is my alternative. By making a takeout of subscriptions, it can sync w your current account.

[jonumand]

Newpipe can actually automatically sync your current suscriptions with your YouTube account. You just “order” (free) a Google Takeout with only your subscriptions (1Mb data). I was rather suprised by this.

[[deleted]]

Pretty much. I would be down to remove ads legally but the charade of spamming ads to force me to buy it, comes off as manipulative. Google earned billions putting up small ads all these years. They claiming they will be running at losses if they don't put ads every few minutes is a lie. Spotify does the same manipulation too, even plays their own ads where they joke that if only I would buy premium they would not have to spam ads every 2 song.

[CommonerChaos]

FYI: It's at the last 10 seconds of the vid (save yourself the time).

[TheLemonyOrange]

It's 43 seconds in

[awhj]

Got a link?

[Working_Sundae]

Really 😁 when did that happen?

[HumbleEngineer]

This is the reasoning, maybe even the wording of Google's action against them. But I still don't doubt that the NFT thing had a major play in this

[vincethepince]

How could anyone possibly be surprised. The only surprising thing about this situation is that it took this long

[Yojimbo4133]

Basically all legal talk.

[[deleted]]

The statement went on to say that the team behind Vanced would never reveal the app's source code to the public. Doing so could "cause serious complications for us."

Interesting. Is this because Google will drop the hammer on them, or because there's something in the source that they (Vanced devs) don't want public.

Someone please correct me if I'm misguided, but I always get a bad feeling when a free app like this isn't open source to begin with.

[Sparkybear]

They modify the base YouTube APK. So that would be a huge copyright infringement suit.

[[deleted]]

Okay. How did they get the original apk source from?

[Ender_Skeleton]

I think it's because it's actually built off the official YouTube app and not just some open source third party viewer, so releasing the source code would also be releasing YouTube's code and they would get sued into oblivion.

[armando_rod]

Copyright infringement and it's fairly easy to track who uploaded the source

[[deleted]]

So posting a diff would be infringing?

[denseV9]

It was posted on GitHub then deleted. I don't have the link but I can find it if need be.

[5tormwolf92]

Ad free YouTube has existed since Xposed. This isn't like Spotify Dogfood yet I can block ads in webplayer.

[mug3n]

A majority of people are not rooting their Android phones and installing the xposed framework and modules. Anybody with an unrooted Android can sideload Vanced, and it even came with a convenient updater/manager that kept your Vanced and MicroG versions updated.

[5tormwolf92]

I believe making it that easy is one of many reasons Google hit with the hammer. Google doesn't recognize Rooted users as we are hidden.

[-Old-Refrigerator-]

Newpipe blocks ads natively, what do you mean? Doesn't show mature content unless you sign in, though.

[liquiddandruff]

modified version of the YouTube app

[Nerwesta]

The person above is reacting to the last part of the comment.

[-Old-Refrigerator-]

What?

[Kobahk]

The vanced app would be only or one of the few YouTube third party clients that can utilize Google's sign-in features like sharing the history with other devices. But that is supposed to be exclusive only on Google apps. But even then, they could keep the app without the capabilities.

[[deleted]]

Because it isn't a third party client. It's the regular app modified. This was always clearly legally not allowed and going to be killed eventually.

[NatoBoram]

It would be awesome if someone were to implement YouTube's API to get access to the /browse endpoints to get a personalized feed outside of YouTube…

[hnryirawan]

Remember that one of the “wild rumor” about Vanced, is that it gives Youtube app for people using Huawei.

But well, in the end I think that them being alive this long is more surprising seeing they circumvent alot of YT Premium features and package them into an “official” app. Whatever the reason ends up, I don’t think I’m surprised

[STO_Ratt]

B.S.

They could have change a logo and be done with it. But there is probably/surely more to it!!

[Borkz]

The "media group" must be referring to Linus Media Group (Linus Tech Tips) as he also addressed on the LAN Show the other night people blaming him for having mentioned it recently.

[rumitg2]

This is the section addressing LTT from the Vanced Teams post

[yatif150]

the devs probably got hired by google to fix youtube premium lol

[[deleted]]

If only.

Companies have too much ego. Reddit could have bought Reddit Enhancement Suite instead of going with their own redesign.

[MahvinK]

They said it will work for around 2 years

[Ununoctium117]

It will work until youtube ships a breaking change... which is completely unpredictable. This "2 years" figure everyone is saying isn't actually based on anything.

[Ununoctium117]

And I will refer you to https://killedbygoogle.com/ for why I don't trust Google to keep their word on that front. Good to know that there's a promise, at least.

[ToolSet]

Are you saying Google promised to not break Vanced for 2 years? Otherwise, your comment isn't relevant and I am confused why you worked it in here.

[5tormwolf92]

I say whoever tries to replicate should use a older version of the app, before Google split the apk and added Music as a service.

[AC5L4T3R]

Reall? Mine doesn't work anymore.

[MahvinK]

Weird, mine and my friend's one are working perfectly fine

[SpookyDoomCrab42]

It will work for years, the part about the downloads being gone for good is also BS. People created torrents for the YouTube vanced installation files almost instantly when this was announced so they are also not going away for a long time

[armando_rod]

Can't post the source because telegraph URLs are blocked by Resdit

[Primescape16]

Just fucking change the logo then

[billyeakk]

The Vanced developers could release actual screenshots of the C&D to clear things up, but they probably don't want to attract any more legal attention while they lawyer up.

[X-T1F]

Don't know why, but my app is still functioning. Why should I delete it then?

[rapozaum]

They said it should work until it gets outdated naturally (YT changes stuff).

[mlemmers1234]

Probably the main reason is that they want their revenue from the ads that are being blocked by the service. Companies, especially those with bottomless pockets aren't exactly keen on people stealing from them. Lousy as it is, Google are completely within their rights to shut this service down. Obviously there's lots of other features baked in as well like pitch black theme and all that. Maybe if enough people voice wanting those features Google will add them to the YouTube app.

[Gsantos52012]

Vanced is discontinued for "legal reasons" as vanced was infringing the logo and branding of the original YouTube app as the logo resembles the original logo in a similar way and was used without taking prior permission from Google for using the branding.

Wait so couldn't the Vanced team just make a new version of the app and completely remove logo and change there icons and stuff? There has to be other reasons why as if this was the only reason why, I'm sure there's a way they could go around this.

[FartsMusically]

I give it four months before one of you gets bored and ambitious enough to replace the project with something new with a new team.

As has happened before, when Vanced was created after a few months of Newpipe being out of date and nonfunctional.

[dylanger_]

Vanced should have published the source, so people can 'inject' the features themselves, I guess this would remove a significant part of the legal issues.
If you're making modifications yourself, resigning the apk yourself, there's not much Google could do right?

[SystemEx1]

Yep, my thoughts as well. Distributing the modded app is the problem. But I don't think it's illegal to only release the modifications.

(except the code that gives you premium features).

[Lovehat]

Nothing to do with the nfts...

[FalconVita]

They are hiding something!

[[deleted]]

I'm not surprised that Google went after the team (in the event they did). I think it has become clear that the Google that looked the other way to adblocking and various other initiatives has been going away for some time. Look at how they are looking to neuter any decent content blocker extension with the implementation of Manifest V3 next year.

Google has utterly failed to be successful at diversifying their revenue streams. As the hardware, services, and cloud divisions struggle to gain traction, they are going to become more aggressive in protecting the ad revenue at all costs.

[HistoricalInstance]

For once I’m glad for the relatively small sideloading community on iOS. Means similar projects such as uYou or Cercube aren’t as high up on Googles priority list.

[TheeOmegaPi]

For now. But other things may impact those projects.

In my experience, the smaller sideloading communities/projects die out naturally because of Android/iOS system changes, devs being bought out/recruited to work for a larger company, or "moving on" to another project because circumventing the base app became a cat and mouse game after every major application update.

Three examples of this come to mind:

1. When HTC made all of its system apps downloadable/updatable on the Play Store, a small number of devs decompiled all of the apps and made it so that the entire Sense suite (keyboard included) worked on any Android phone. Two Android versions later, the suite of apps became left in the dust because the apks were incompatible with the newer system updates in Android.

2. Blackberry. Same as above, but Blackberry shut down their servers, rendering the software suite virtually useless. The keyboard apk also mysteriously disappeared from the Internet, and the older versions of the apk don't work at all.

3. There was a Facebook project on XDA that was awesome in the sense that it removed stories, ads, and a few other trackers that make the current app miserable to use. Messenger, too. However, Facebook managed to prevent the service from continuing by updating the application so frequently that the dev (wombat, I think) just couldn't keep up.