It had to happen and it's amazing that it took as long as it did, but YouTube Vanced has finally been discontinued “due to legal reasons.” according to the app's developers. The Vanced app allowed Android users to view ad-free videos on YouTube without needing to pay for a Premium subscription, so it comes as no surprise that Google has clamped down although it took an absolute age for the search giant to do so.
According to the Vanced developer's official Twitter account, the download links for the app will be removed from its website ‘in the coming days', although it says that currently installed versions will work just fine “until they become outdated in 2 years or so.” There's some chatter that the reason behind Google's sudden issuing of a Cease & Desist (The Verge) letter to the Vanced developers is due to the Vanced NFT that was recently announced, although there's no official word on the validity of that.
The developers are required to remove all references to YouTube, change their app logo, and “remove all links related to YouTube products.” It won't surprise you to learn that Vanced now needs to toe the party line by advocating that its users take up a YouTube Premium subscription in order to further enjoy an ad-free experience.
At the time of writing, the YouTube Vanced app is still available to download at APK Mirror via the link below:
Is there anything that NFTs don’t make worse? seriously? I just got a new tablet, and even though I can get vanced to run, it’s not the newest version and i can’t log in. Thanks a lot NFT……ugh