Release v0.23.4 Beta

Summary

A massive thanks to @LuanRT for providing the fix regarding to the extraction of the deciphering functions.

Important

Please note that you may occasionally encounter Legacy Formats (available video quality, 360p) while playing a video. This is expected behavior, SO DO NOT SUBMIT BUG REPORTS FOR THIS. In these cases, FreeTube's video playback wouldn't work at all, and an error message (No valid URLs to decipher error) would be shown. This workaround allows users to still watch videos in those cases.

Fixes

• Update YouTube.js to 13.4.0 to fix the issue with the deciphering functions in #7252
• Fix user-agent and referer for Innertube requests by @absidue in #7213

Full Changelog: v0.23.3-beta...v0.23.4-beta

Release v0.23.3 Beta

Summary

A massive thanks to @LuanRT for providing the fix regarding to the extraction of the deciphering functions. Also, big thanks to @PikachuEXE for coming up with a potential alternative solution!

Important

Please note that you may occasionally encounter Legacy Formats (available video quality, 360p) while playing a video. This is expected behavior, SO DO NOT SUBMIT BUG REPORTS FOR THIS. In these cases, FreeTube's video playback wouldn't work at all, and an error message (No valid URLs to decipher error) would be shown. This workaround allows users to still watch videos in those cases.

Fixes

• Update YouTube.js to 13.3.0 to fix the issue with the deciphering functions in #7077
• Fix the Legacy Formats not working when the DASH and Audio Formats are unavailable by @absidue in #6977
• Fix the proxy settings not being used during the PO token generation by @absidue in #6922

Changes

• Implement YouTube's newer PO token system by @absidue in #6931

Full Changelog: v0.23.2-beta...v0.23.3-beta

Release Discussion

Release v0.23.2 Beta

Summary

Today we're pushing out a fix for the recent playback issues that's been going on for the past couple of days. Thank you very much for your patience and thanks to @LuanRT for solving this problem so quickly!

Changes

• Updated youtubei.js from 13.0.0 to 13.1.0 in #6867
  • This fixes the recent playback issues when using the Local API
  • This also fixes an issue in videos where the English audio track would be automatically selected even when English wasn't the original audio track

Full Changelog: v0.23.1-beta...v0.23.2-beta

Release v0.23.1 Beta

Summary

This hotfix fixes some of the video playback issues that occurred from last nights release. No other major changes are included.

Fixes

• Fixed a playback issue where large portion of videos were unable to be fetched by @PikachuEXE #6682
• Fixed an issue where sorting comments would sometimes not work properly by @absidue #6702

Full Changelog: v0.23.0-beta...v0.23.1-beta

Release v0.23.0 Beta

Summary

This release comes with dozens of bug fixes, new player enhancements, user experience improvements, performance improvements, and features that we were able to implement thanks to the help of our users and new contributors. We hope that the scale of this update and its changes properly reflects our dedication to making FreeTube the best free and open source app it can be.

We would also like to thank all the translators that make FreeTube more accessible to all of our users!

Note

The setting Export Playlists For Older FreeTube Versions will be deprecated in v0.24.0. This setting was introduced in v0.20.0 when we launched our full-fledged User Playlists. This allowed users to export their playlists into one big playlist and import the file into FreeTube versions older than v0.20.0. This setting is being deprecated because we don't recommend sticking with older versions of FreeTube. It is highly recommended that you upgrade to the latest version of FreeTube if you are still using an outdated version of FreeTube.

Note

MacOS 10.15 is no longer supported, as Electron v33.0.0 does not support this OS version. MacOS 11 (Big Sur) or later is required to run FreeTube going forward.

Features

• Add autoplay toggle to the video player by @kommunarr in #5866
• Add Shift+? shortcut to view all keyboard shortcuts in-app by @kommunarr in #6306
• Right-click or hold-click on page ←/→ arrows to access navigation history by @kommunarr in #5227
• [MacOS] Make ⌘←/⌘→ go back/forward by @PikachuEXE in #6466
• Sort user playlist videos by published date by @GLEBR1K in #6280
• Add volume and playback rate change notifications to videos by @ikizey in #6473
• Added Button to Show Original Title and Thumbnail for DeArrow by @JL0000 in #6164
• Add setting for opening URLs passed to FreeTube in a new window by @OothecaPickle in #6242
• Update 'Only Show Latest Video for Each Channel' setting to handle a custom number of videos per channel by @c-ciobanu in #5901
• Add setting blocking autoplay after long periods of inactivity by @kommunarr in #5871
• Add Gruvbox color schemes & accent colors by @DontBlameMe99 in #5887
• Add Catppuccin Frappe color theme by @DontBlameMe99 in #6445
• Add Unlisted badge on watch page for unlisted videos by @OothecaPickle in #5856
• Add --help and --new-window flags and fix --version flag by @Zander671 in #6455
• Added buttons to hide hidden channels/text by @JL0000 in #6156
• Undo feature for Remove From Playlist by @Soham456 in #5885
• Add support for hms timestamp in query string by @ChunkyProgrammer in #6012
• Show corresponding keyboard shortcuts in button labels by @kommunarr in #5857
• Local API: Display more video tags in search results by @absidue in #5926
• Invidious API: Add support for auto-dubbed audio tracks by @absidue in #5943
• Invidious API: Extract streaming data expiry date from URL by @absidue in #5997
• Show previous search queries as search suggestions by @kommunarr in #6414
• Only refresh current trending tab by @ChunkyProgrammer in #6667
• Add Creative Commons License to Description of Videos by @SudharakaP in #6614

Fixes

• Fix video player turning into a white screen by @absidue in #6489 and #6534
• Fix Freetube from crashing for non-English captions in certain cases by @angus6b23 in #5970
• Fix app crashing from search bar use on certain devices by @absidue in #6085
• Fix: Video description collapsible and no longer hijacks page scroll by @sabs21 in #5665
• Fix live streams buffering endlessly by @absidue in #6019
• Fix full window for videos with a 4:3 aspect ratio by @absidue in #5976
• Fix settings password handling by @absidue in #5988
• Fix some undesired attributes being saved to playlists.db by @TheodorSmall in #5900
• Fix shortcut for macOS setting shortcut in video page by @PikachuEXE in #6054
• Fix use of deprecated Invidious route on the videos subscription tab by @absidue in #6057
• Fix context menu adding video scroll bar by @a0kami in #6075
• Fix nightly builds by updating package list before installing build dependencies by @absidue in #6084
• Fix error reading storyboards.board by @PikachuEXE in #6097
• Fix 'shaka-video-container' class being removed from video container by @OothecaPickle in #6090
• Fix cursor hiding when first opening video by @OothecaPickle in #6135
• local API: Fix playlists and podcasts not appearing in search results by @absidue in #6196
• Fix export playlist button visible in edit mode by @PikachuEXE in #6273
• Fix tap to seek not using skip interval setting by @absidue in #6288
• Fix stats button text color on some themes by @OothecaPickle in #6406
• Fix bug when parsing home page by @ChunkyProgrammer in #6403
• Fix channel home page list view by @ChunkyProgrammer in #6316
• Fix auto-generated RTL captions position by @absidue in #6314
• Fix 'Object has been destroyed' when FreeTube is passed a URL with no windows open on macOS by @OothecaPickle in #6278
• Detect and properly error on DRM protected videos by @absidue in #6479
• Fix live chat error message overflowing by @ChunkyProgrammer in #6327
• Fix Share button not working when the window width is below 900 pixels by @MarmadileManteater in #6492
• Fix second to last tooltip overflowing due to our wide player controls by @absidue in #6528
• Fix Hide Unsubscribe Button not hiding the button in search results by @absidue in #6298
• Fix tooltips overlapping with top/bottom bar by @sullivanlng in #6656
• Handle unplayable content better with the local API by @absidue in #5922
• Avoid logging an error when a player cache entry does not exist by @absidue in #6640
• Show precise view counts for videos on search results page (Local API) by @OothecaPickle in #6284

Changes

• Bump electron from 33.2.1 to 34.0.1
• Make Big Play Button smaller by @ChunkyProgrammer in #6002
• Change default value of display big video play button to false by @ChunkyProgrammer in #6005
• Make seekbar and player controls appear at bottom of video and take full width by @ChunkyProgrammer in #6007
• Stay in fullscreen/fullwindow/PiP + default viewing mode setting by @kommunarr in #5903
• Update autoplay next recommended/playlist video setting to be "by default" by @PikachuEXE in #6400
• Remember playback rate in watch session by @ikizey in #6449
• Change default locale to system by @ChunkyProgrammer in #6031
• Apply active FreeTube theme to shaka-player menus by @absidue in #5986
• Added functionality to export a single playlist by @Zeabyte in #5779
• Make playlist import match existing playlist by ID first by @PikachuEXE in #6094
• Add support for Key Moments with the local API by @absidue in #6171
• Better player error handling by @absidue in #6180
• Add warning message to proxy settings by @ChunkyProgrammer in #6099
• Add icons to trending tab by @ChunkyProgrammer in #6239...

Release v0.22.1 Beta

Note

The setting Export Playlists For Older FreeTube Versions will be deprecated in v0.24.0. This setting was introduced in v0.20.0 when we launched our full-fledged User Playlists. This allowed users to export their playlists into one big playlist and import the file into FreeTube versions older than v0.20.0. This setting is being deprecated because we don't recommend sticking with older versions of FreeTube. It is highly recommended that you upgrade to the latest version of FreeTube ff you are still using an outdated version of FreeTube.

Note

This will be the last release to support macOS 10.15, as Electron v33.0.0 does not support this OS version. MacOS 11 (Big Sur) or later will be required to run future versions of FreeTube.

Summary

This release fixes the playback issues that were occurring on music videos.

Fixes

Bump YouTube.js to 12.2.0 to fix the unexpected token error with music videos on the local API by @absidue in #6343

Known Issues

When using the Local API or the Invidious API it is possible that you will run into issues due to YouTube IP blocks. Please try to use a different Invidious Instance, VPN or proxy when you encounter those issues.

Full Changelog: v0.22.0-beta...v0.22.1-beta

Release v0.22.0 Beta

Summary

Our Video Player has undergone a massive overhaul. We have switched from video.js to shaka-player. This allows us to add allot of new features and fix many issues. Notably, it's now possible to watch higher quality video streams. A massive thank you to @absidue for their help and support on this!

This is a very large change to how we handle things. If you happen to see anything that seems broken compared to the last release, please consider commenting about it in the thread below so that we can look at it.

For users hoping to import their subscriptions from YouTube, the process should be much quicker and a lot smoother since we no longer fetch thumbnail information when importing from YouTube. The channel thumbnails in the sidebar will be populated as you navigate around the app.

We would also like to thank all the translators that make FreeTube more accessible to all of our users!

Note

The setting Export Playlists For Older FreeTube Versions will be deprecated in v0.24.0. This setting was introduced in v0.20.0 when we launched our full-fledged User Playlists. This allowed users to export their playlists into one big playlist and import the file into FreeTube versions older than v0.20.0. This setting is being deprecated because we don't recommend sticking with older versions of FreeTube. It is highly recommended that you upgrade to the latest version of FreeTube ff you are still using an outdated version of FreeTube.

Note

This will be the last release to support macOS 10.15, as Electron v33.0.0 does not support this OS version. MacOS 11 (Big Sur) or later will be required to run future versions of FreeTube.

Features

• Migrate video player from video.js to shaka-player by @absidue in #4978
• Local API: Use IOS HLS manifest for livestreams by @absidue in #5705
• Add a videos tab to artist topic channels by using YouTube's auto-generated playlists on the local API by @absidue in #5661
• Implement persistent subscription cache by @PikachuEXE in #5185
• Add ability to see comment replies of community posts through Invidious by @ChunkyProgrammer in #5589
• Display video tags in search results with the Invidious API by @ChunkyProgrammer in #5590
• Add support for Invidious instances that require the Basic authentication scheme to access them by @absidue in #5569
• Implement case sensitive search in history by @PikachuEXE in #5446
• Proxy live streams when "Proxy Videos Through Invidious" is enabled by @absidue in #5649
• Add support for copying hashtag and post links from the context menu by @absidue in #5538 and #5760
• Add a GPU Internals entry to the View menu by @absidue in #5550
• Add support for Belarusian locale by @aliaksandr-trush in #5841
• Add Playlist Sort By Video Duration by @Hoverth in #5627

Fixes

• Don't make requests when importing subscriptions by @ChunkyProgrammer in #5617
• Update playlist import to only add duplicate playlist items if the playlist already contained duplicates by @PikachuEXE in #5783
• Fix the shorts tab being empty on the Local API by @absidue in #5679
• Fix persistent cache incorrectly having higher priority then auto fetch feed option by @PikachuEXE in #5743
• Fix video start time handling by @absidue in #5719
• Fix long comments overflowing and breaking the layout by @absidue in #5774
• Local API: Fix error when a community post has no likes by @absidue in #5759
• Fix loading from search cache failing when no features are selected by @absidue in #5775
• Fix subscriptions CSV import shortening channel names by @absidue in #5793
• Fix hashtag page not using Invidious API when it should by @ChunkyProgrammer in #5794
• fix cmd+m shortcut to minimize the window on macos and not mute the video by @jacopo-degattis in #5829
• Fix saving Invidious thumbnail URLs for subscriptions by @absidue in #5662
• Fix about page not reacting to locale changes by @absidue in #5393
• Do not overwrite cache entries when hitting RSS ratelimits by @absidue in #5756
• Fix playback of VOD/non-live videos with Invidious by @absidue in #5654
• Fix audio track selection by @absidue in #5697
• Properly handle Arabic hashtags by @absidue in #5545
• Fix a few memory leaks while tearing down the player by @absidue in #5698
• Lowercase hls manifest type to match the parser name shaka player registers by @MarmadileManteater in #5648
• Fix wrong live stream playlist used for subscriptions by @ChunkyProgrammer in #5876
• Fix no comment detection by @PikachuEXE in #5879
• Fix subscriptions double loading on launch by @absidue in #5930
• Fix seek bar thumbnail overflowing when exiting full screen by @absidue in #5929
• Fix subscription tab hiding not working on launch by @absidue in #5925
• Set download links on Watch even if there are no caption links by @MarmadileManteater in #5916

Changes

• Bump electron from 31.1.0 to 32.2.2
• Change the Proxy Videos Through Invidious setting to only apply when using the Invidious API by @absidue in #5758
• Remove "Force Local Backend for Legacy Formats" setting by @absidue in #5650
• Revert "Larger search/URL bar" by @efb4f5ff-1298-471a-8973-3d47447115dc in #5773
• Settings menu & UX improvements by @kommunarr in #5029
• Allow users to pass their own hardware acceleration flags on the command line on Linux by @xsmile in #5438
• Update icon for channels button on side nav by @PikachuEXE in #5273
• Display a better error message on the watch page when YouTube has blocked the IP address by @absidue in #5757
• Change Sponsorblock Default Category Colors by @Neuheit in #5686
• Update RSS tooltip by @efb4f5ff-1298-471a-8973-3d47447115dc in #5753
• Clarify how to add subscriptions by @efb4f5ff-1298-471a-8973-3d47447115dc in #5778
• Update subscription cache when subscribing from the channel page by @absidue in #5717
• Update top nav to move query text to new window instead of remaining in old window by @PikachuEXE in #5541
• Fix incorrect/translated placeholders in locale files by @absidue in #5628
• Update subscription details from search results by @absidue in #5795
• Various performance improvements by @absidue in #5522, #5666, #5891, #5927 and #5722
• Various code cleanups by @absidue in #5520, #5776, #5663 and #5625
• Remove mentioning of bypassing age restricted content by @efb4f5ff-1298-471a-8973-3d47447115dc in #5902
• Set minimum width and height for window by @kommunarr in #5931

Known Issues

When using the Local API or the Invidious API it is possible that you will run into issues due to YouTube IP blocks. Please try to use a different Invidious Instance, VPN or proxy when you encounter those issues.

New Contributors

• @xsmile made their first contribution in #5438
• @Neuheit made their first contribution in #5686
• @jacopo-degattis made their first contribution in #5829
• @aliaksandr-trush made their first contribution in #5841
• @Hoverth made their first contribution in https://github.com/FreeTub...

Release v0.21.3 Beta

Summary

Playback is once again having some issues so we are once again releasing an update to fix the issue.

Fixes

• Updated YouTube.js to 10.3.0 to fix the Local API Error: Failed to extract n-token decipher algorithm error by @PikachuEXE in #5507
• Use streams from the iOS client to avoid the random No valid URL to decipher errors and the DASH and legacy formats randomly not playing by @absidue in #5472

Full Changelog: v0.21.2-beta...v0.21.3-beta

Release v0.21.2 Beta

Summary

This is a hotfix to fix the issues with the Local API unable to play videos. Small update today but we'll have more to come later down the line.

Fixes

• Update YouTube.js to 10.2.0 to fix latest Local API issues by @absidue in #5466

Release v0.21.1 Beta

Summary

This release fixes the recent major issue of videos unable to play when using the Local API.

Fixes

• Update YouTube.js which fixes the recent video playback issue with the local API by @PikachuEXE in #5384
• Fixed an issue where the scroll down arrow in the live chat window would persist even if you scrolled to the bottom by @kommunarr in #5302
• Fixed an issue where navigating away from an age-restricted video would cause the app to lock out by @absidue in #5343
• Fixed an issue where toast messages during Invidious API errors would not show a proper error message by @absidue in #5380
• Fixed an issue where generating DASH manifest files were not being done properly when using the Invidious API by @absidue in #5387

New Contributors

• @Jaishree2310 made their first contribution in #5342
• @4yman-0 made their first contribution in #5348

Full Changelog: v0.21.0-beta...v0.21.1-beta