YouTube Vanced to Shut Down after a Legal Threat from Google

YouTube Vanced, a popular community fix for YouTube Android apps, will be shut down after app developers received a legal threat from Google. The project will be discontinued within a few days and the download link will soon be removed, the app developer said.

Also known as Vanced, this app is a third-party app developed by the community to circumvent some restrictions and changes on YouTube. As an additional benefit, it blocks all ads, including native advertising, without having a YouTube Premium subscription. The cease letter sent to YouTube Vanced requires its developers to change the logo and remove all references and links to YouTube.

YouTube Vanced has several features like a true black theme, removing shorts, ads for movies on YouTube, several video player-related options, bringing back the dislike button and more. It allows users to customise their YouTube experiences according to their likes and dislikes.

Vanced is not the first unofficial YouTube app that was killed. In fact, YouTube's legal team recently sent a similar cease and desist letter to two popular Discord bots, Groovy and Rhythm, who allowed listening to music. Some apps, like the open-source app NewPipe, may continue to work and, due to the nature of open-source, are more likely to survive than Vanced.