Google Manages to Shut Down YouTube Vanced

Vanced, a popular modified version of the original YouTube client, which came with a slew of helpful features, is officially shutting down. The app that allowed you to watch high-definition videos free of annoying ads and with added neat functions like background playing and video editing was cherished by users worldwide since it provided a free alternative to the paid YouTube Premium subscription.

While there is no clear understanding of why the mod is getting discontinued, it might have something to do with the fact that Google is taking legal action against the service. The global tech company has long been trying to curb the activity of unauthorized clients. Thus, it has recently managed to take down two well-known music bots – Groovy and Rhythm – that offered a way for playing music from streaming platforms within any Discord channel. A similar cease and desist letter might have been sent to Vanced developers, which forced them to kill off the product.

Vanced has always been considered ethically questionable, as it could efficiently block even native ads embedded in videos by content creators themselves. The client also had a picture-in-picture mode, a true-black theme, a dislike counter button unavailable in the official video host, and a wide range of other beneficial UI options. Other Premium-grade features that the app helped unlock included brightness and volume adjustments and a user-configurable approval list for channels.

According to the developers, there will no longer be any updates for Vanced, but users still have time to get the last app version before the download links are gone for good.

Will you miss Vanced? What other functional YouTube official app alternatives can you recommend? Feel free to leave a comment below and share this post with your friends!