YouTube Vanced, a popular YouTube alternative that provided users with an ad-free experience for years, is being shut down. Google has forced the app’s creators to abandon the project for legal reasons.
Vanced’s creators have announced that the project will be shut down in the coming days, with download links being removed. While the app will continue to function for anyone who currently has it installed on Android, without any future updates, it will most likely cease to function at some point in the near future. According to the Vanced owners, the project has been halted “for legal reasons.”
Google recently sent the Vanced owners a cease-and-desist letter, forcing the developers to stop distributing and developing the app. “We were asked to remove all references to ‘YouTube,’ change the logo, and remove all links related to YouTube products,” a Vanced team admin tells The Verge via Discord.
Vanced is a popular third-party YouTube app for Android, particularly because it allows users to block all video ads on YouTube without purchasing a Premium subscription. Vanced also comes with a true black theme and customizations not available in the official YouTube for Android app. Vanced is the latest victim of Google’s crackdown on third-party apps that access YouTube.
Last year, Google-owned YouTube took down two popular Discord music bots before testing ad-supported YouTube integration into Discord just weeks later. The popular Discord music bots Rythm and Groovy also avoided ads on the service, allowing Discord users to listen to music together.
