# PipePipe: a hard fork of NewPipe for Android, and what the fork costs you

> PipePipe is an Android client for YouTube and other services built as a hard fork of NewPipe in early 2022. It ships on F-Droid and IzzyOnDroid, adds SponsorBlock, ReturnYouTubeDislike, danmaku live chat and AV1/VP9 playback, and trades NewPipe's shared update path for faster local fixes.

**InfinityLoop1308/PipePipe** — An open-source Android app to let you browse YouTube and other services freely. 

- Repository: https://github.com/InfinityLoop1308/PipePipe
- Website: https://pipepipe.dev
- Stars: 6,836 · Forks: 235
- Language: Shell
- License: GPL-3.0
- Published: 2026-09-22 · Updated: 2026-09-22 · Language: en
- Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/infinityloop1308-pipepipe

## What PipePipe solves, and who it is actually for

The README opens by calling PipePipe "NewPipe, reimagined: faster, more stable, and packed with more features." That is marketing copy, so treat it as a claim rather than a measurement. The concrete part is the feature list. PipePipe integrates SponsorBlock for skipping sponsored segments on YouTube and BiliBili, restores YouTube dislikes through ReturnYouTubeDislike, shows original non-localized titles, and lets you log in to reach restricted or premium content. On the media side it displays live chats as danmaku-style overlays, supports AV1 and VP9 codecs, and has a music player mode with background playback. Filtering covers advanced search filters, keyword and channel blocking, and blocking shorts and paid videos.

The audience is Android users who already understood what NewPipe was and want more of it in one app. If you watch a lot of YouTube on a phone, want sponsor segments gone without a separate extension, and care about codec quality, the feature list maps directly onto that. The repository is written in Shell, which reflects the build and release tooling rather than the app itself: PipePipeClient and PipePipeExtractor are the two top-level directories that hold the actual code, mirroring NewPipe's split between the app and the extractor library.

## How the hard fork shapes the codebase

The README is unusually direct about the architecture decision. PipePipe was forked from NewPipe in early 2022 "due to differences in development philosophy," and the README states that PipePipe neither receives updates from NewPipe nor pushes updates to NewPipe. The stated benefit is that a hard fork lets the maintainer address issues with quick fixes and maintain frequent feature updates. The stated cost is divergence: issues that occur in NewPipe do not necessarily happen in PipePipe, and changes made in NewPipe may not be adopted by PipePipe.

The README contrasts this with Tubular, which it describes as tracking the latest version of NewPipe and developing on top of it. That is the real fork taxonomy here, and it matters more than any feature comparison. A tracking fork inherits upstream fixes for free and pays in merge conflicts. A hard fork pays in duplicated work and in drift between two codebases that once shared a lineage. PipePipe chose the second model deliberately.

The extractor is where this shows up first. PipePipeExtractor sits beside PipePipeClient as a separate top-level entry, so service extraction logic is versioned inside the same repository rather than pulled from upstream. The README credits Priveetee with researching SABR and implementing support for it, and credits AioiLight with providing some code for the NicoNico service. Both are contributions that arrived through the fork's own path rather than through NewPipe.

## Installing PipePipe on Android and a first real use

The README does not document a build-from-source flow for end users. It points at two distribution channels: F-Droid and IzzyOnDroid, via the badges at the top of the page. The F-Droid package name is InfinityLoop1309.NewPipeEnhanced, which is the identifier you should see in the store listing and in the installed app's details. IzzyOnDroid hosts the same package at apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid/index/apk/InfinityLoop1309.NewPipeEnhanced.

If you are building from the repository instead, the top-level layout gives you the shape of the work: PipePipeClient is the Android app module and PipePipeExtractor is the extraction library it depends on, with .gitmodules present, so the extractor is wired in as a submodule. The repository does not spell out a Gradle invocation in the README, so do not guess one from this article.

A first real use, once installed, is the SponsorBlock path. Open the app, go to Settings, and look for the SponsorBlock section to enable segment skipping. The README lists SponsorBlock as covering both YouTube and BiliBili, so the same toggle governs both services. After enabling it, the behaviour you should see is sponsored segments being skipped during playback rather than played through.

The second first-use item is the login cookie, because the README is explicit about where it goes. It says PipePipe will ONLY use the login cookie for the specified scenarios you set, configurable under Cookie Functions, and that for YouTube the cookie is only used when retrieving playback streams. That is a narrower scope than "the app is logged in," and it is worth reading the Cookie Functions screen before you paste anything in.

A third is the filter list. Keyword and channel filters, plus the shorts and paid-video blocks, are configured from settings rather than from the feed itself, so the feed stays clean only after you populate those lists. There is no default blocklist described in the README.

## Where PipePipe is the wrong tool

The README states plainly that the maintainer will NOT accept service requests, and suggests that anyone interested in creating their own service fork the repository. If your reason for looking at PipePipe is that a service you use is missing, this project is not going to add it for you. That is a policy, not an oversight, and it is the single clearest boundary in the documentation.

The fork model is the second limitation. Because PipePipe does not track NewPipe, an upstream fix for a broken extractor does not arrive here automatically. The README says the trade is deliberate and buys quick fixes, but the reader should understand what that means operationally: when a service changes its API, the fix has to be written in PipePipeExtractor and shipped in a PipePipe release, not inherited. The release list shows a steady cadence through 2026, with v5.3.1 on 2026-09-10 and v5.4.0-beta on 2026-09-20, but cadence is not the same as coverage, and the README does not document a rollback path if a release regresses.

Third, this is an Android app. Nothing in the README describes a desktop, iOS, web or self-hosted deployment. The search terms people use include "PipePipe web," but the repository gives no web client. If you need a browser-based or server-side setup, PipePipe is the wrong shape entirely.

## PipePipe vs NewPipe vs Tubular vs Grayjay vs LibreTube

The honest comparison starts with lineage, because that is what the README itself uses to distinguish the projects. NewPipe is the upstream that PipePipe forked from in early 2022. Tubular, per the README, tracks the latest version of NewPipe and develops on top of it. That single sentence is the whole difference in maintenance model: Tubular inherits upstream changes, PipePipe does not.

The feature difference is where PipePipe argues its case. SponsorBlock for YouTube and BiliBili, ReturnYouTubeDislike, original non-localized titles, danmaku-style live chat overlays, AV1 and VP9 support, music player mode with background playback, swipe-to-seek, long-press speed-up, a sleep timer, full-playlist downloads, and search and sort inside local playlists and history. The README presents this as the payoff for forking. Whether that payoff is worth the divergence is a judgement about how much you value the extra features against how much you value upstream fixes arriving without anyone having to port them.

The repository does not contain a feature-by-feature comparison against Grayjay or LibreTube, and this article will not invent one. What can be said is narrower: PipePipe is a hard fork of NewPipe maintained by InfinityLoop1308, licensed GPL-3.0, distributed through F-Droid and IzzyOnDroid, and it does not accept service requests. Any comparison against Grayjay or LibreTube would have to be run against those projects' own documentation, not this one's.

## Licence, releases and the upgrade cost you are signing up for

PipePipe is GPL-3.0. That is a copyleft licence, and it is the same family NewPipe uses. The practical consequence for a user is that the app is free to install and redistribute under those terms. The practical consequence for anyone modifying and shipping it is that the source has to follow. This article is not legal advice, and the LICENSE file at the top level is the authoritative text.

The upgrade cost has two parts. First, releases arrive as APKs from F-Droid or IzzyOnDroid, and the release list shows beta builds interleaved with stable ones (v5.4.0-beta on 2026-09-20, v5.3.1 on 2026-09-10, v5.3.1-beta2 on 2026-09-06). If you install a beta channel build, you are opting into that cadence. Second, because the extractor lives in this repository, a service-side change has to be fixed and released here. There is no upstream to lean on. The README does not document a downgrade procedure, and the README does not document a migration path between major versions, so plan around clean installs rather than assuming an in-place rollback.

Maintenance activity is visible in the repository history: the most recent push recorded is 2026-09-20, and the repository is not archived. That is the extent of what the available documentation supports saying about how actively it is worked on.

There is also a community wiki, PipePipe Wiki, maintained by Priveetee, and a PipePipe.wiki entry in the repository root. The README points there for documentation beyond the page itself, which is where you should look for anything the README leaves out, including the SABR research Priveetee is credited with.

## Conclusion

Adopt PipePipe if you want an Android media client with SponsorBlock, ReturnYouTubeDislike, danmaku overlays and AV1/VP9 playback, and you accept that it is a hard fork with no upstream sync. Skip it if you need a project that tracks the latest NewPipe release, or if you want to request a new service, since the README states service requests will not be accepted. Before installing, verify the package name InfinityLoop1309.NewPipeEnhanced on F-Droid matches the one you intend to trust, and check whether your device decodes AV1 in hardware, because the README lists codec support but the repository does not document a fallback path for devices that lack it.

## FAQ

### What is the PipePipe app?

PipePipe is an open-source Android app for browsing YouTube and other services, forked from NewPipe in early 2022. The README describes it as "NewPipe, reimagined," with SponsorBlock, ReturnYouTubeDislike, danmaku live chat overlays and AV1/VP9 playback added on top.

### How do I install PipePipe?

The README points to two channels: F-Droid, under the package name InfinityLoop1309.NewPipeEnhanced, and IzzyOnDroid. There are no build-from-source instructions for end users in the README.

### Is PipePipe safe?

The README states that PipePipe will ONLY use the login cookie for the specified scenarios you set, configurable under Cookie Functions, and that for YouTube the cookie is only used when retrieving playback streams. The app is GPL-3.0 and distributed through F-Droid and IzzyOnDroid, so the source is available for inspection.

### Why is PipePipe not working?

The README does not document a troubleshooting procedure for playback failures. It does note that because PipePipe is a hard fork, issues that occur in NewPipe do not necessarily happen in PipePipe, and changes made in NewPipe may not be adopted here.

### PipePipe vs NewPipe vs Tubular: what is the difference?

PipePipe is a hard fork of NewPipe and, per the README, neither receives updates from NewPipe nor pushes updates to NewPipe. The README describes Tubular as tracking the latest version of NewPipe and developing on top of it, which is the opposite model.

## Sources

- [InfinityLoop1308/PipePipe on GitHub](https://github.com/InfinityLoop1308/PipePipe)
- [License: GPL-3.0](https://github.com/InfinityLoop1308/PipePipe/blob/main/LICENSE)
- [Project website](https://pipepipe.dev)
- [README](https://github.com/InfinityLoop1308/PipePipe/blob/main/README.md)
- [Releases](https://github.com/InfinityLoop1308/PipePipe/releases)

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Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/infinityloop1308-pipepipe