YTLitePlus: the iOS YouTube tweak bundle Google pushed off GitHub

A deprecated bundle that still receives commits

The repository carries 3629 stars, 6456 forks, 174 open issues, a GPL-3.0 licence and a project homepage at ytliteplus.github.io, on the default branch `main`. The first thing the README does is tell you not to use it. It opens with a warning block stating that YTLitePlus is deprecated, should not be used, and that the author may never update it again because the upstream tweak went paid.

That sits oddly next to the repository metadata. GitHub reports the last push on 2026-09-04, weeks ago, and the project is not archived, so the tree is not frozen. Both statements are left standing here rather than reconciled, because nothing published settles which one describes the project's intent. The workable reading comes from the release history: the newest tag is from September 2024, so recent pushes are most likely maintenance, dependency or documentation work rather than the feature stream users once came for. Treat the README as the statement of intent and the push timestamp as the statement of activity.

The scope was always a bundle rather than a single tweak. The repository topics are ios, ios-app, tweaks, video, youtube and ytlite, and the file tree confirms the shape: a `Tweaks/` directory, a `Source/` directory, a `Bundles/` directory, an `Extensions` entry, a `lang/` directory for localisation, plus `YTLitePlus.h`, `YTLitePlus.xm`, a `Makefile` and a `build.sh` at the root. That is the standard layout for a Theos package with many sub-tweaks behind a single installer.

One naming detail is worth flagging because it will confuse anyone reading the notice at the top of the README. The repository description blames YTPlus becoming paid, while the README body credits YTLite, linked to the dayanch96 repository, as the project that became paid. Both names appear in the same file. If you go looking for the paid ancestor, follow the link to YTLite rather than searching on the description text.

Since the DMCA notice, building is the install path

Every release body in this project opens with the same warning: the `.ipa` file is no longer shared on GitHub because of a Google DMCA notice, and you need to build it yourself. The releases link a wiki page called Building and say nothing further about the procedure. That is the single most important operational fact about the project, and it explains the fork count later on.

Release naming follows a two-part scheme that encodes the compatibility target. The tags read like v19.34.2-5.0.1, where the first number is the YouTube IPA version and the second is the YTLite version. The release body spells this out for the newest one: current YouTube IPA 19.34.2, current YTLite version 5.0.1, and app compatibility of iOS or iPadOS 15.0 or later. If you are matching a build to a device, the iOS 15 floor and the specific YouTube IPA are the two constraints that matter, not the tweak version.

The newest release, v19.34.2-5.0.1, was published on 2024-09-03 and does two things: it moves YouTube from 19.32.6 to 19.34.2, and it moves YTLite from 4.0.1 to 5.0.1. The version bump is not a coincidence with the upstream rewrite, which is exactly the maintenance pattern you would expect from an injector that depends on the host app's internal method names. A tweak written against YouTube 19.32.6 has a good chance of breaking outright when the IPA is replaced.

Two known issues are listed in that same release and they are worth reading as a warning about the whole category. Touches do not work while bypassing the startup popup, and LowContrastMode does not work, because it is compatible only with YouTube versions v17.33.2 through v17.38.10. That second one is not a bug in the current build so much as a feature frozen on an old app version, which tells you how these tweaks age.

What the Makefile reveals about the architecture

The Makefile is the most instructive file in the repository, because it states plainly what gets injected where. The toolchain target pins the SDK and architecture:

export TARGET = iphone:clang:18.6:14.0
export SDK_PATH = $(THEOS)/sdks/iPhoneOS18.6.sdk/
export ARCHS = arm64

That is a single-architecture build for arm64 against the iPhoneOS 18.6 SDK, which is the normal shape for a jailbreak tweak today. `libcolorpicker` and `libFLEX` each get their own `ARCHS` line for the same reason. There is a condition on the `JAILBROKEN` variable that switches on a debug flag and sets `MODULES = jailed` when the build is not running against a jailbroken device, which is the roothide or equivalent path rather than the traditional Substrate one.

The injection block is where the bundle idea becomes concrete. Several dylibs get loaded into the host process at once:

INSTALL_TARGET_PROCESSES = YouTube
TWEAK_NAME = YTLitePlus
DISPLAY_NAME = YouTube
BUNDLE_ID = com.google.ios.youtube

YTLitePlus_INJECT_DYLIBS = Tweaks/YTLite/var/jb/Library/MobileSubstrate/DynamicLibraries/YTLite.dylib .theos/obj/libFLEX.dylib .theos/obj/YTUHD.dylib .theos/obj/YouPiP.dylib .theos/obj/YouTubeDislikesReturn.dylib .theos/obj/YTABConfig.dylib .theos/obj/DontEatMyContent.dylib .theos/obj/YTVideoOverlay.dylib .theos/obj/YouTimeStamp.dylib .theos/obj/YouGroupSettings.dylib

One line of that list names roughly ten separate dylibs, and the names alone sketch the feature set: FLEX for the settings UI, YTUHD for headers and theming, YouPiP for picture in picture, YouTubeDislikesReturn for dislike counts, DontEatMyContent for element hiding, YouGroupSettings for account preferences. The base tweak comes from a submodule path under `Tweaks/YTLite`, which is consistent with `.gitmodules` being in the tree. Two things are embedded rather than injected: `libcolorpicker.dylib` as a library and the Alderis framework as a framework, the latter being what a package manager injects to add a tweak to a jailbroken device.

`PACKAGE_VERSION = X.X.X-X.X` is a placeholder rather than a real version, which is why the Makefile alone cannot tell you what you have. `YTLitePlus_FILES` pulls in `YTLitePlus.xm` plus everything under `Source` matching `*.xm`, `*.x` or `*.m`, so the entry point in the root is only part of the compiled surface.

Two months of changelog that show what users asked for

The releases from July and August 2024 form a compact record of what jailbreak YouTube users actually wanted, which is more useful than the README for understanding the project's appeal. The v19.29.1-4.0.1 release from 2024-07-31 adds a Hide Home Tab option, Fullscreen to the Right, Disable Engagement Overlay and a Classic Seek Anywhere gesture, and it adds a YTHeaders submodule. The v19.32.6-4.0.1 release from 2024-08-14 adds YouTimeStamp, Copy Settings and Paste Settings, a reporting option, an OLED dark mode for live chat, and Hide Speed Toast.

The bug fix lists are as revealing as the features. The August release fixes building on iOS 14, a dylib injection issue, a YouTube Extensions bug, delete workflows, a localisation and copy/paste switch, and an OLED live chat problem. Fixing the injection issue specifically is the kind of entry that tells you the packaging fights the platform rather than the app.

That pace, several features and several fixes a month against a moving host app, is also the reason for the deprecation. Every YouTube release invalidates work. The v19.34.2 release is where it stopped, and it ships with two known issues rather than a fix.

There is no documentation directory in the tree. `README.md` is the only prose, and it is now a deprecation notice plus a pointer elsewhere, so the build instructions, the settings list and the compatibility table all live in the wiki or in release bodies rather than in the repository.

The README points at YouMod, and the comparison is honest

Rather than a plea for contributors, the README recommends a specific alternative by name. YouMod, at the Tonwalter888 repository, is described as a lightweight open-source project that aims to recreate the most popular YTLite features after YTLite became paid, for readers who would rather have a single tweak than an all-in-one bundle.

The README then lists both sides. On the pro side: fully open source under GPLv3, a lightweight single-tweak architecture with fewer dependencies and less chance of tweak conflicts, UI customisation including an OLED theme, OLED keyboard, tab bar reordering and hiding of the navigation bar and player elements, built-in downloading of video and audio with quality selection, and element hiding for Shorts, posts, premium upsells and fullscreen action buttons. The feature list ends with a claim that recreating many YTLite-era features comes with more stability than an alternative named uYouEnhanced.

The con side is stated just as plainly. YouMod has no lite version spoofing, so it cannot spoof the YouTube app version to bypass update prompts or to work around features that break on a new build. It has no exclusive features, which the README itemises as LowContrastMode, NotificationsTab and YTAppVersionSpoofer. And it has reported bugs, citing issues with fullscreen action hiding, Shorts feed visibility and time slider positioning on certain YouTube versions.

The summary line closes by splitting the audience: YouMod for UI customisation and basic downloading, and uYouEnhanced if you need advanced download reliability, SponsorBlock, picture in picture, dislike counts or broad YouTube bug fixes. Three projects, three different answers to the same request. Judge YouMod on its own repository rather than on this description of it.

Metadata details worth knowing before you clone

Forks outnumber stars here, 6456 against 3629, which is unusual for a project of this size and matches the DMCA story. People forking an injector usually want to build their own patched ipa rather than track upstream releases. With the binary gone from the releases, forking is the only route to a working package, so treat the fork count as a usage signal rather than as contributor churn.

Two metadata fields do not describe the code. The language field reports `Logos`, which is not a programming language and does not appear anywhere in the tree; the actual sources are Objective-C and Objective-C++, given the `.xm`, `.x` and `.m` extensions the Makefile globs for. And the repository description names a different paid project than the README does. Neither field should change how you build anything, but both will cost you time if you trust them.

What the tree does tell you is that this was a busy repository. Beyond the directories already mentioned, there is a `LICENSE` file, a `.github/` directory, `.gitattributes`, `.gitignore` and `.gitmodules`, so the build depends on submodules that have to be initialised before it will succeed.

Open issues stand at 174. On a deprecated project with a frozen release, that number is better read as an archive of unfixed problems than as an active queue.

Editorial conclusion

YTLitePlus is worth reading as source rather than as software you will install today. The Makefile is a compact map of how a multi-tweak Theos package injects into a host app, the changelog is a readable record of what jailbreak YouTube users actually asked for between July and September 2024, and the README does the unusual thing of naming a maintained successor instead of begging for contributions. What it is not is a current release: the newest tag is v19.34.2-5.0.1 from 2024-09-03, the prebuilt ipa is gone, and the author states plainly in the README that the project is deprecated. If you want the features, start from the YouMod repository the README points at; if you want to see how this class of tweak is assembled, the `Tweaks/`, `Source/` and `Bundles/` directories are the interesting part.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

1. License: GPL-3.0
2. Project website
3. README
4. Releases
5. YTLitePlus/YTLitePlus on GitHub