A phone and tablet YouTube client for Android.
SmarterTube is not a patched YouTube app and not a wrapper — it is a native Android phone/tablet UI built on SmartTube's existing YouTube client engine.
It is a fork of SmartTube by yuliskov. It adds a native portrait UI — drawer navigation, search, channel pages, settings, sign-in — on top of SmartTube's YouTube client engine, which is merged from upstream unchanged on every release. Upstream SmartTube is TV-only by design; this fork exists for phones and tablets.
Stable. A complete native phone & tablet UI — Home, Search (with voice), Channel, Channel Uploads, Settings, sign-in, and playback — built on SmartTube's YouTube engine. Unlike app-modifiers, these are real native Android screens, not a repackaged YouTube APK.
SmarterTube is an unofficial fork of yuliskov/SmartTube. The playback/client engine, ad blocking, SponsorBlock, Return YouTube Dislike and DeArrow integration — all the under-the-hood behaviour — come from upstream SmartTube, unchanged. This fork's job is to provide a native phone/tablet interface while keeping the upstream structure intact, so non-UI updates can be merged in regularly.
Upstream SmartTube is built for Android TV — a leanback, 10-foot, D-pad interface. Phones and tablets need touch-native navigation instead. SmarterTube adds that UI while preserving upstream compatibility, so engine and feature updates keep flowing in from SmartTube.
| Project | Approach |
|---|---|
| SmartTube (upstream) | Android TV / leanback (10-foot) UI |
| SmarterTube (this fork) | Native phone/tablet touch UI on SmartTube's engine |
| App-patching tools | Patch or modify the official YouTube app itself |
Pick the APK for your device:
| ABI | Who needs it |
|---|---|
arm64-v8a |
Most Android phones made after 2016 |
armeabi-v7a |
Older 32-bit devices |
x86 |
Emulators |
universal |
Everything — larger file |
SmarterTube installs as app.smarttube.mobile and is co-installable with the upstream SmartTube TV build (app.smarttube). They do not conflict.
SmarterTube is not on any app store. Obtainium installs and auto-updates apps straight from their GitHub Releases — no store and no central repository involved:
- Install Obtainium (itself sideloaded from its own GitHub Releases).
- Add App → paste
https://github.com/CodeSculptor/SmarterTube. - Obtainium tracks each new release automatically; choose the
arm64-v8aasset (oruniversal) when prompted.
This is the easiest way to stay current.
Official builds are published only on this GitHub Releases page unless another source is explicitly linked here.
Every APK on the Releases page carries a SHA-256 digest, shown by GitHub next to the asset. After downloading, compare it against the file on your device:
# Linux/macOS
sha256sum SmarterTube_*.apk
# Windows (PowerShell)
Get-FileHash SmarterTube_*.apk -Algorithm SHA256If the hash matches the one GitHub shows for that asset, the file is intact.
- Portrait home screen with drawer navigation (Home, Shorts, Kids, Sports, LIVE, Gaming, News, Music, Channels, Subscriptions, History, Playlists, My videos)
- Search with suggestions and results grid, plus voice search
- Channel pages and channel uploads
- Portrait settings screen
- Sign in / sign out — OAuth device-code flow via in-app browser tab. Switch between multiple accounts with one tap on the toolbar avatar (long-press for account management), or from Settings
- About screen (drawer footer)
- Playback: landscape for regular videos, portrait for Shorts
- SponsorBlock integration
- Return YouTube Dislike
- DeArrow
- Adjustable playback speed
- Up to 8K / 60fps / HDR
- No Google Play Services required
- No ads
SmarterTube is a stable release, but a few realities are worth knowing before you install:
- Not all upstream features are surfaced yet — the phone UI covers the core journey (Home, Search, Channel, Settings, sign-in, playback); some upstream options remain reachable only through the settings screens, and a few aren't wired into the phone UI at all.
- Upstream / YouTube breakage — YouTube changes its private APIs without warning, which can break playback at any time. Fixes depend on upstream SmartTube's cadence, then a re-merge here.
- Sideload only — not on any app store. Install the APK yourself from Releases, or use Obtainium to install and auto-update directly from GitHub.
- No guarantees — this is an independent fork with no affiliation to Google/YouTube or to upstream SmartTube's author.
Specific gaps:
- TV / leanback interface — install upstream SmartTube for Android TV boxes and sticks.
- F-Droid / IzzyOnDroid listing — not available; use GitHub Releases or Obtainium.
- Casting / Chromecast — not currently exposed in the phone UI.
Requires JDK 17 and Android SDK.
# Debug
./gradlew :smarttubetv:assembleStmobileDebug
# Release (needs keystore.properties + smartertube-release.jks at repo root)
./gradlew :smarttubetv:assembleStmobileReleaseOutput APKs land in smarttubetv/build/outputs/apk/stmobile/.
All phone-specific code lives under smarttubetv/src/stmobile/ — no changes to src/main (TV code) except bug fixes that benefit both targets, which are submitted upstream.
The YouTube client engine (MediaServiceCore, ExoPlayer, InnerTube API code) is upstream's work and is merged from yuliskov/SmartTube on every release. Bug fixes that apply to both the TV and phone targets are submitted upstream rather than kept here — see open PRs for current patches. (Code layout is described under Building.)
Licensed under MIT, same as upstream.
See PRIVACY.md.