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I'd recommend people switch to PipePipe #345
Description
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For anyone who does consider switching, then you can export data from Tubular like so:
- For everything: Settings > Backup and Restore > Export database
- For channel subscriptions only (no history or playlists): tap the three-dots on the "Subscriptions" screen > Export to > File
Then before importing, in PipePipe do the following first:
- Menu (top-left three-lines) > Settings > Feed > Set "Fetch from dedicated feed when available" to ON
This should make your subscriptions all import successfully
Then, based on which type of export you did earlier, restore them the relevant way in PipePipe:
- If you exported everything: Menu > Settings > Backup > Import database
- If you exported only subscriptions: Menu > Subscriptions > Previous export
SponsorBlock is already enabled in PipePipe and works the same way
Dislikes though you have to turn on: Settings > Advanced > Set "Show dislike count" to ONReacted by Manu Shergill, foldfree, gqqjhffr, ARtecnico, nhantrn, Raphistolage1997, longnight, asxhun, Daniel Alejandro García Hernández, Loïc Teyssier and 12 morejust saw your post today... it's working 👍🏻
If anything, we shouldn't blame @polymorphicshade behind tubular for keeping it free for us. We should blame Google for everything, especially given how much has become restricted over the past few months let alone in the upcoming September. Long live open-source platforms, fuck tech companies 🖕🏻
Reacted by gqqjhffr, Hexterty46, hiutrun-dangdang, Jellyboi420, Raphistolage1997, Utkarsh Verma, Jakob Hostnik, t0b0z, asxhun, Daniel Alejandro García Hernández and 10 moreReacted by November, Georg912, Jellyboi420, Raphistolage1997, Jakob Hostnik, asxhun, Daniel Alejandro García Hernández, Sneezycat, Jotis, sam-161 and 4 moreThanks for the recommendation. Nobody is entitled to the FOSS developers to keep maintaining their projects and therefore nobody can blame them from discontinuing. Sadly, it happens that one-man-projects go stale and nobody takes over or not even other developers' pull requests get merged anymore.
Kudos to @polymorphicshade for the great work on Tubular!
PipePipe seems great but it's a small project too that could suffer the same fate as Tubular. The most reliable solution would be to stay with NewPipe and its lack of SponsorBlock...
Reacted by Mikołaj, asxhun, Georg912, swedneck, sam-161, gh0st911k, Lucas, tuxayo, Omair and Sergio VarelaWhile I was waiting for the fix, I tried PipePipe and it was great! I'd be happy to switch. The reason I can't do it is a missing feature, which to me is much more important than SponsorBlock.
To my knowledge, Tubular is the only NewPipe fork that supports Seek instead of skipping on external media button events. I only listen to podcasts and never to music. Without this feature, it's unusable. Before it was introduced, I had to download an audio track and play it with an audiobook player.
It works great with both my BT earphones and my car's sound system via the buttons on the steering wheel. I use it constantly to step back and forth when needed.
It might not be very difficult to replicate in the PipePipe project. If the maintainers are willing to accept it, of course.
Reacted by Lucas and tuxayo@archangel-12 , @Shallrath : of course, Tubular has been great and I'm certainly not trying to throw-shade at @polymorphicshade , but they are a human like the rest of us, and are probably now busy in life: maybe they've had a child, or are having to move-around to find work, or are busy studying for exams? But it doesn't change the fact that for us end-users of Tubular, it isn't getting updated often now, leading to things breaking. And if a working alternative exists, which is also free, why not suggest moving to it?
@Shallrath : of course PipePipe could suffer the same-fate, but in the meantime it works. If it ever stops being developed, backup your subs or entire database, and move to a different app. But as I said in my first post here, NewPipe is actually still having issues in their latest version: I get more errors, cannot download video or audio offline, and videos are all limited to 360p. PipePipe is not having any of those issues, so is actually a better-choice than NewPipe currently.
@vitalca : go to the PipePipe Issue tracker and suggest the feature: adding screenshots of the settings that currently exist in Tubular for reference would help. I'm going to open some myself for features that Tubular offers that PipePipe doesn't...
Reacted by xyz_archie and LucasDownload the APK for manual install here:
I would like to add that Obtanium simplifies this process: "Obtainium allows you to install and update apps directly from their releases pages, and receive notifications when new releases are made available."
It serves as a "centralizer" for FOSS APKs, including update managing.
Disclaimer: I have NO affiliation with Obtanium, I just think they are neat.
Reacted by Kai Biebel, Omair and Labrador6793I switched from PipePipe to Tubular because PeerTube videos don't load on "What's New" tab, despite InfinityLoop1308/PipePipe#1202 closed.
@matteobtt : if you have an issue with a PeerTube server where videos from it don't appear in the PipePipe feed, but do in Tubular and NewPipe, and it's on the same device, using the same network and DNS settings, then log a new ticket over at PipePipe. If it is possible to provide a URL of the server (i.e. it's public, not secret or members-only), then that would obviously help.
Also, in PipePipe go to Menu > Settings > Feed > "Fetch from dedicated feed when available" and try changing that to the opposite of whatever it currently is, swipe the app of screen, go back in and refresh the feed. That might help.
Also check under Menu > Settings > Content Filter that you haven't accidentally blocked the channel in the "Filter by keywords" or "Filter by channels" options. And in Menu > Settings > Advanced make sure "Use experimental new UI" is turned-off.
Or feel-free to stick with Tubular if that meets your need; but remember it's not updated often, so if NewPipe also works fine for your needs, I'd suggest always keeping the latest version of that on your device.
tubular better
Reacted by Lucas and KronetHjortReacted by Hub-O-Gits@Cookster-bitch : stick with Tubular then, if it's working for you... no-one is forcing you to switch 👍🏻
Just bear in-mind the last code-update was nearly three-months ago now, so YouTube may stop working if NewPipe has to issue any updates for their app that Tubular may not get updated to include.
For now, in Tubular, go into Menu > Settings > Content and ensure "Fetch from dedicated feed when available" is turned ON, then you should get your Subs feed fully-update with no errors. For now, I can still watch videos in Tubular, but they are all limited to 360p quality, and I get the
Could not parse websiteerror on every video. If neither of those bother you, stick with Tubular 👍🏻Problem with PipePipe is that it's an hard fork of NewPipe, so you add another 3rd party you need to trust and hope that it'll maintain it, especially the export compatibility with the major project if you'll need to reswitch in the future (like in cases as this one with Tubular) and don't want to lose your long history in these clients.
But as usual this is a general risk in open source and its lack of maintainers.Reacted by tuxayo and Lucas@hertz0022 : sure, but Tubular is also a fork of NewPipe:
- when the app crashes, the error-report directs you to NewPipe's GitHub to make the report
- the recent-warning about Google locking-down Android had NewPipe branding all-over it
- if you go to Menu > About & FAQ, most of the links there take you to NewPipe sites
- when you export subscriptions or all of your settings, the filename has "newpipe" in it
- the default offline-download folder Tubular defaults to is "NewPipe" within the internal-storage Downloads folder
So it's fairly-obvious that Tubular is also forked from NewPipe, as it doesn't hide the fact very-well!
So, sure, there's always a danger if you move to another app they could change the export format. If that bothers you, then stick with Tubular. Once again: no-one is forcing anyone to move. You could have Grayjay, NewPipe, PipePipe and Tubular all on your phones and/or tablets if you wish...! You don't have to commit to any one single app, either!
Reacted by Lucas@dftf-stu It's obvious that it's a fork, but a soft one, still dependent on the upstream project for fixes and updates.
My point was that PipePipe is a hard one (as explicitly stated in its readme too), and therefore more free to diverge and make decisions as the maintainers see fit.Anyway my comment was not meant to criticize your suggestion, just a point that concerns me for the future. Actually it's a great open issue for Tubular's users, usually these kind of projects just die even with their communities in the issues, making it hard to find the next client that better fills the gap.
You even specified that export is fully supported (with an option to change) for now, so I'll give it a try and see whether this changes in the future.
Thank you!Reacted by tuxayo and LucasI switched to BravePipe via Obtainum. For me sometimes works better than PipePipe (I have both installed)
Honestly I would rather wait for someone willing to continue Tubular as a seperate fork project. PipePipe is great option but downside is that the incompatibility with NewPipe format since they intend to be an hard fork, so if you do migrate to PipePipe there will be many hassles.
Additionally when PipePipe ever gets discontinued you cannot go back into NewPipe or Tubular as the exported configuration files are not compatible each other and will cause 100% breakages (Unless PipePipe supports latest NewPipe format that allows to migrate each other)
Reacted by Colin J. Brislawn, hertz0022, tuxayo and Sergio VarelaJust tested this!
PipePipe history exports cannot be imported back into NewPipe. I just tried and it forces me to reset the app.
I assumed it would be compatible like the NewPipe forks. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.
If I had known about PipePipe was an incompatible hard fork, I would not have used it!
Edit: there's a history converter tool,
https://convert.pipepipe.dev/I know file formats are hard and changes can be needed. I'll try to be patient
Reacted by Roon, hertz0022, [a] and LucasReacted by tuxayo and Lucas@RoonMoonlight : when you say "the exported configuration files are not compatible with each other", I'm assuming you mean a full backup file from PipePipe (Menu > Settings > Backup > Export database) cannot be imported into NewPipe or Tubular?
If so, fair-point: not something I use myself. I only export my subs list, and all three apps create .JSON format files when doing that, and opening each of them in a text-editing app suggests they all follow the same format. So I would suspect keeping subs up-to-date between the apps should be possible, so that may suffice for some. Clearly for those who also want history, channel groups and bookmark lists synced too, PipePipe may prove less-useful.
But unless anyone knows of any-other forks of NewPipe that also offer the SponsorBlock and Restore Dislikes add-ins (Grayjay does both, but that is an entirely separate codebase totally unrelated to NewPipe, so that's clearly out), then I would suggest the best option may be to log tickets on the NewPipe project and ask them to consider adding SponsorBlock and Restore Dislikes?
Does Tubular offer any-other features that differ otherwise from NewPipe? 🤔
Reacted by hertz0022@RoonMoonlight @colinbrislawn Yep that was my point, glad that we have confirmed that by direct experience.
I also discovered the converter tool after answering here, but, again, this is the evidence of need for active maintenance for compatibility between exports. Still, everyone is free to choose the tool to use obv. PipePipe remains a valid alternative with nice choices despite this problem.
For now I found out that BravePipe seems a nice middle ground solution in this, thanks to @racuna !Reacted by Colin J. BrislawnThere is also LibreTube...
A quick web-search suggests that it supports exporting subscriptions to, and importing from, "NewPipe format" (the JSON format files it) and CSV (a text-only version of a spreadsheet that all modern spreadsheet apps can import from).
Whether it uses a compatible entire-app-database format though, I couldn't say. So unless anyone is familiar with that app who can confirm it is, then it could be another one-way-street for some where you can move to it, but then not from it in future...🤔
Reacted by LucasWhile I was waiting for the fix, I tried PipePipe and it was great! I'd be happy to switch. The reason I can't do it is a missing feature, which to me is much more important than SponsorBlock.
To my knowledge, Tubular is the only NewPipe fork that supports Seek instead of skipping on external media button events. I only listen to podcasts and never to music. Without this feature, it's unusable. Before it was introduced, I had to download an audio track and play it with an audiobook player.
It works great with both my BT earphones and my car's sound system via the buttons on the steering wheel. I use it constantly to step back and forth when needed.
It might not be very difficult to replicate in the PipePipe project. If the maintainers are willing to accept it, of course.
I'm glad, I implemented it not only for myself. :)
ℹ There's been an update to NewPipe earlier today: version 0.28.8
The following is now working again for YouTube:
- ✔The "All" feed updates without errors in slow-mode (dedicated feed = off), meaning thumbnails show video durations and you don't get Shorts in the feed (unlike in fast-mode, which was the workaround to avoid feed errors and missed channels)
- ✔Videos can be played-back in any quality (not stuck at 360p)
- ✔Videos can be downloaded for offline playback in any-quality (not only 360p)
- ✔The "audio-only" download option is back, and working
So... if the developer of this app were to return soon and import the updated code, Tubular will be fixed too. 🤞🏻
However, until then, it's still necessary to look into an alternative to Tubular (such as BravePipe, LibreTube or PipePipe) for anyone who wants the 👎🏻Dislikes on videos to be visible, and 🛡SponsorBlock skips, as NewPipe doesn't offer those features itself.
⚠ Bear in-mind the warning for PipePipe above: you cannot export everything (subs, history, channel groups, playlists, watch times) from that app and import back into NewPipe or Tubular later, as PipePipe use a different file-format for their export. But if you only care about subscriptions, this can be imported and exported between each app. So if you think you're likely to move-back to Tubular once it's next updated, BravePipe or LibreTube may be a better option.
⛔ If like @Cookster-bitch you want to stick with Tubular, then be warned most things are still broken:
- ❌Slow-mode (dedicated feed = off) seems broken; the last video I see is from 6 days ago, nothing newer
- ✔Fast mode (dedicated feed = on) works (but you'll see Shorts in the feed, and no durations on the thumbnails)
- ❌When you go to a channel, the "Videos" and "Live" tabs don't load (just the spinner ⭕ is shown)
- ❌Videos are still stuck at only 360p
- ❌Downloads are still stuck at only 360p
- ❌The "audio only" download option is still missing
Reacted by ARtecnicoReacted by hertz0022I have found the active fork of Tubular!
It is https://github.com/feuerswut/android-Tubular-Fork
Since it is not from official author, use at own risk.
Reacted by sam-161, tastetoast, ChefExperte, arks-1 and LucasWhat bothers me the most is that developer isn't using his app himself... 🫤
For what it is worth, I switched over to PipePipe and it is quite a bit better than Tubular.
Reacted by LucasI have found the active fork of Tubular!
It is https://github.com/feuerswut/android-Tubular-Fork
Since it is not from official author, use at own risk.
I looked through the commits the author did and it looks safe to me. I'll be using that fork.
For what it is worth, I switched over to PipePipe and it is quite a bit better than Tubular.
Agreed, I switched a week or so after Tubular started having issues. Exported all my data and bookmarks, imported into PipePipe, never looked back.
EDIT: Yes I wrote Tubular instead of PipePipe at the end my b
I've done a comparison of the NewPipe and the three main forks (BravePipe, PipePipe and Tubular), plus LibreTube (which is only an alternative to YouTube, and tries to mimic the YouTube UI, so it won't look like NewPipe in many-areas), to compare what they each offer.
Note that (1) the features here are for YouTube (I rarely use any of the other services) and (2) I don't use Android Auto, so can't compare that feature, but some apps might not offer that.
So, as of the latest version of each app as of today, here's how things stand:
In short:
- Tubular is now very-broken, given in less-than two-weeks time it'll not have had an update for 4 months. If you're happy to put-up with watching all videos in 360p quality, and use the "dedicated feed" (aka "fast-mode") to refresh your feed then it can still work
- NewPipe has the fewest features, and is the only one not to offer 🛡 SponsorBlock and 👎🏻RestoreYouTubeDislikes features
- BravePipe is essentially closest to Tubular functionality-wise, as it does offer 🛡 and 👎🏻, but also offers a much-better search (you can choose how to sort results, and narrow them by date, etc.), you can filter-out all paid (channel-membership required) videos, and for those who want to follow their favourite US conservative channels, it offers Bitchute and Rumble for those who may care about that
- LibreTube tries to look more like the YouTube app, and is the only app to offer 🖼DeArrow integration (where thumbnails and video titles are replaced with community-driven, less-clickbait ones). It also lets you hold-down to fast-forward, swipe-up to make a video full-screen, lets you choose specific video formats for an offline download, and you can read comments without the video hiding as you scroll up.
- PipePipe has the most features overall. In addition to those in LibreTube, you can block channels, block videos by keyword (e.g. "minecraft"), block video formats (VP9, AV1, H.265, Dolby Digital Plus) if you know your device can't handle them; it also lets you filter your search (though not quite as extensively as BravePipe), and supports the 🇨🇳 BiliBili and 🇯🇵 Niconico services.
Reacted by serdarth, tired-creating-those-usernames, citizenserious and Sup! 0_0Reacted by Labrador6793, woiwoiwoiwoi, hertz0022 and Sup! 0_0Reacted by Adam Beer, whistlingwoods, tuxayo and Sup! 0_0The middle gesture to adjust speed is the only thing keeping me on Tubular, shame it's not in NewPipe (TeamNewPipe/NewPipe#1823) or other forks.
Reacted by Sup! 0_0The middle gesture to adjust speed is the only thing keeping me on Tubular,
shame it's not in NewPipe (TeamNewPipe/NewPipe#1823) or other forks.Yes, none of the other apps offer that as of now.
PipePipe does have an open ticket to request this be added:
[Feature request] Middle Gesture to change Playback Tempo/speed - 825BravePipe doesn't have one, so you could consider adding one here:
https://github.com/bravepipeproject/BravePipe/issuesLibreTube doesn't either, so again, log a request here if you wish:
https://github.com/libre-tube/LibreTube/issuesThe middle gesture to adjust speed is the only thing keeping me on Tubular, shame it's not in NewPipe (TeamNewPipe/NewPipe#1823) or other forks.
I'm glad, you like it.
When I implemented it, I didn't even try to submit it to NewPipe because of their statement that for the time being until the code redesign is finished no new features will be added.For me it would have to be both my additions to Tubular that would have to be backported to NewPipe: "tempo gesture" AND "seek instead of skip via media button controls".
Unfortunately I don't think they will merge any feature PRs.
Maybe it's worth a shot anyway!?
During these recent YouTube issues, and with how-rarely Tubular is updated now, I moved-back to NewPipe, given it's had three updates (0.28.5, 0.28.6, 0.28.7) that haven't yet been merged into the Tubular code. However, NewPipe is also still having the same-issues as Tubular.
So I looked-into what other apps I could switch to, decided Grayjay may be too-different and wanted another app with a similar UI and feature-set to at-least NewPipe but more-ideally Tubular (especially the SponsorBlock) and came-across PipePipe... and virtually everything I'd normally use is working fine there!
Comparison:
FEATURE TUBULAR 0.28.4 PIPEPIPE 5.1.1----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------YouTube feed update in "Slow Mode" "Items not loaded: 8" error "Not loaded: 1""Something went wrong" error ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------YouTube feed update in "Fast Mode" Works, no errors Works, no errors----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------YouTube video playback quality 360p only on all videos Working (144p-2160p)----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------YouTube video offline download 360p or captions only Yes (144p-2160p)Audio-only option missing Audio-only working----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------SponsorBlock functionality? Yes (built-in) Yes (built-in)----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Can see Likes/Dislikes on videos? Yes (on by-default) Yes (Settings > Advanced >"Show dislike count")----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Switch between caption languages? Yes² Yes²----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Switch between video auto-dubs? Not working¹ Not working¹----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------¹ Tested via this Mr. Beast video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaMdXZMvT3w
In NewPipe, changed Settings > Content > "Default content language" to "French"
In PipePipe, changed Settings > Content > "Preferred audio language" to "French"
Apps were closed and re-opened before testing
² Tested using the same Mr. Beast video as-above.
I wouldn't normally promote a rival app, given it's a bit-cheeky to do so, but... given it could be months before Tubular next gets a code-update, if anyone wants a working app in the meantime, PipePipe seems to be working just fine for me now.
(Even the latest NewPipe (0.28.7) still has all the same-issues I noted above: odd how PipePipe doesn't, when that app is also a fork of NewPipe, and uses the same extractor-service, but there you go.)
Download the APK for manual install here:
https://github.com/InfinityLoop1308/PipePipe/releases
Or currently one-version behind on the F-Droid store:
https://f-droid.org/en/packages/InfinityLoop1309.NewPipeEnhanced/