I watch YouTube for the long-form podcasts, live concert videos, and deep-dive explainers. Despite following best practices, such as tuning on dark mode, the app is a top battery consumer in my daily stats. I have one of the best Android phones for battery life, so I shouldn’t have battery concerns. So, I decided to look for alternatives and found NewPipe.
I experienced a dramatic difference while using NewPipe for my YouTube binging. NewPipe is an open source YouTube client that strips away everything unnecessary from the app, including Google’s tracking systems. Despite a focus on minimalism, it is a more functional app than the official YouTube app. Plus, my phone’s battery now lasts through the day, even with regular video streaming. Here’s why switching made a noticeable difference.
What makes NewPipe lightweight and efficient?
The biggest difference between the official YouTube app and NewPipe is in how it parses YouTube. NewPipe doesn’t use YouTube’s official APIs or tie into Google services. Instead, it parses YouTube’s website to retrieve video content. As a browser, it isn’t bound by the same rules or loaded down by the extra tracking and telemetry that is baked into the official app.
This results in a lightweight player that launches faster, uses fewer system resources, and plays videos faster. There are no ads to load, no cookies, and no autoplay algorithms constantly running in the background. That impacts processor use and battery life.
The NewPipe app is tiny, coming in at around 11MB. The official YouTube app is 146MB, not accounting for the almost 3GB of cache it occupies on my phone. NewPipe supports video and audio playback, including background listening, which I use almost daily while streaming concert videos. Picture-in-picture works reliably, without needing a premium subscription. With all of this, NewPipe still feels smoother than the YouTube app.
Real-world battery benefits and usage experience
It’s easy to notice the difference in battery consumption when using NewPipe. I usually lose between 15% and 20% of the charge while watching an hour-long video on the official app. NewPipe uses around 7% to 8%. That’s almost half the battery consumption. The difference adds up more on days when I run something in the background for hours. For example, a long podcast, a music mix, or a livestream.
I no longer scramble for the charger by early evening, and as an added benefit, my phone doesn’t heat up as much. That’s a win in my books.
The benefits extend to other aspects of the app. For example, background wake-ups have reduced since I’ve switched to NewPipe. I’d often see YouTube listed in my battery stats even when I wasn’t using it. That’s not the case with NewPipe.
The benefits extend beyond improved battery life. There’s a noticeable drop in background data use. With no autoplay, pinging to Google’s servers, video preloading, or caching, I’ve reduced my monthly data consumption by a couple of gigabytes by switching apps.
A better YouTube experience, minus the baggage
Switching from the official YouTube app to NewPipe solves a practical problem that plagues most of us: battery life. You can never have enough of it. You also don’t lose major features. Instead, you might gain more control over how you watch content.
Similarly, you can download videos for offline playback, listen to audio while multitasking, and maintain playlists without needing a Google account. That’s most of the commonly used features of the YouTube app without any of the downsides.
On the flip side, you might experience some minor tradeoffs. For example, you can only sync your watch history across devices if you use a Google account. If you like to peruse the comments section, I’ve found loading to be a bit flaky. Those are small sacrifices for better battery life, improved performance, more privacy, and no ads.
Give your phone’s battery a chance at a longer life
If you’re tired of the bloated and battery-guzzling experience the YouTube app offers, I highly recommend NewPipe. While it can be a bit daunting to install from F-Droid or GitHub, the small amount of effort it takes pays back in dividends. You likely won’t want to go back to the default app.
