I use it for 3 months and it's great: Pros:

1. Lightweight: not 10 MB, not 20 MB, just 4 MB.
2. Performance: quick start
3. Support of other players: you can play youtube videos in VLC or something else.
4. You can download videos
5. Picture in Picture support
6. No ads
7. FOSS, for me it matter

Cons:

1. You can't login to yout account: no history, no recommendations
2. No trends

My usecase: at first I open youtube video page in browser (from articles, from recommendations, etc), at second, I just open link in application

I am using this fork https://github.com/javulticat/NewPipe and think my experience is inferior compared to a web browser with Google login and other add-ons.

Lightweight, supports background playback, video downloads. Miniplayer is just a nuisance unless you're using it on a tablet. Seemed to be easily broken by changes made by google relative to other youtube players.

I can't even explain how goofy I feel when someone catches me getting excited over this app. I still get excited every time I open it a few weeks after discovering it, and I'm not someone who is easily impressed, let alone excited. The fact that I now have almost (if not all) of the YouTube Premium BS for free..... playing music in the background with my screen off!!! That was really what I wanted, the ability to download is an extra bonus I'm incredibly happy with. I love it and I would recommend this app to any and everyone, especially anyone who hates playing for subscriptions... though, I'm not sure what it is about free stuff that makes me want to donate to the cause whatever I'm able so much more.

Best YouTube app on Android.

Pros : ✅ FOSS and private ✅ Free YouTube Premium version : ad-free, picture-in-picture mode, background playing, audio, video and subtitles download. Also supports ad-free versions of SoundCloud, Bandcamp and PeerTub. ✅ No account required, yet ability to create "channel groups" with different subscriptions ✅ Playlist creation ✅ It's possible to import and export your subscriptions, history, playlists and settings ✅ Ability to play blocked videos ✅ A customizable interface ✅ Numerous languages available and customizable content geolocation ✅ Great possibilities with settings

Meh : ✅❌ "Trending videos" tab (can't be disabled) ✅❌ No recommendation algorithm

Cons: ❌ A little slow sometimes ❌ Available only on Android ❌ The tabs are a bit messy, and the interface is too different from YouTube's in my opinion. ❌ No integration of extensions like SponsorBlock or ReturnYouTubeDislike. Tubular, a fork of NewPipe, does this very well. ❌ No automatic update of subscription feed

🙏 Thanks to the developers and the open-source and libre community.

It's super lightweight. I've added it to my mom's old laptop so she can watch her recipe videos, it's so much lighter than youtube and opens fast!