SmarterTube

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.

Relationship to SmartTube

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.

Why this exists

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: SmartTube (upstream)

Approach: Android TV / leanback (10-foot) UI

- Project: SmarterTube (this fork)

Approach: Native phone/tablet touch UI on SmartTube's engine

- Project: App-patching tools

Approach: Patch or modify the official YouTube app itself

License

MIT