YouTube ReVanced

ReVanced: Everything You Wish YouTube Did, for Free

ReVanced YouTube

YouTube is a great app with two annoying habits: ads everywhere, and useful features locked behind a monthly fee. Want to play a video with your screen off? That's Premium. Want to skip the sponsored segment baked into the middle of a video? Not happening, at least not in the official app.

ReVanced changes that. It's a free, open-source tool for Android that modifies apps like YouTube and unlocks the things people actually want: ad-free viewing, background playback, and a long list of tweaks the official app will never give you.

This page explains what ReVanced is, where it came from, what it can do, and how to install it step by step, in plain English, with no guesswork.

What Is ReVanced?

ReVanced is a patching tool. In simple terms: it takes an app like YouTube, applies a set of changes (called patches), and gives you back a new, modified app. You install that app and use it instead of, or right next to, the original.

The result is usually called YouTube ReVanced. It looks and works like the normal YouTube app, just with the annoying parts removed and the good parts unlocked. Same videos, same search, same account, better behaviour.

ReVanced is free, open source, and built by volunteers. And here's the part that makes it different from everything that came before: it never hands you a modified app. You make the modified app yourself, on your own phone, with a couple of taps.

ReVanced at a Glance

Not sure if this is for you? Here's the short version:

The Story: From Vanced to ReVanced

If the name sounds familiar, that's because this is a sequel.

Vanced was a modified YouTube app that became hugely popular. The name was a play on "advanced," with the "ad" quietly dropped, which tells you everything about what it did. It blocked all ads, played videos in the background, and had slick dark themes. Millions of people used it.

In March 2022, it died. Google sent the Vanced team a legal notice, and the project shut down. Existing installs kept working for a while, then slowly broke as YouTube changed things behind the scenes.

The community refused to let the idea die. A group of volunteer developers, led by a developer known as oSumAtrIX, rebuilt the concept as ReVanced. Same goal, new approach. Instead of handing out a modified app (which is what got Vanced into trouble), ReVanced only ships the tool that modifies the app. You run it yourself, on your device.

How ReVanced Works

Here's the whole idea in one line: ReVanced never gives you a modified app. It gives you the machine that makes one.

Three pieces work together:

Patches – a list of changes: "remove ads," "allow background play," "hide the Shorts button," and dozens more.

The patcher – the engine that applies those changes to an app.

ReVanced Manager – the friendly app that puts the two together with a simple interface.

You open ReVanced Manager, pick YouTube, pick your patches, and tap Patch. A few minutes later you have a new app, YouTube ReVanced, built from the official YouTube right there on your phone. The original app stays untouched.

Why does this roundabout approach matter?

There are two reasons.

Safety. The modified app never passes through a stranger's server. You build it, you install it, you know exactly what's in it.

It keeps the project on much safer ground. The ReVanced team never touches or shares Google's copyrighted app; the modifying happens on your device, by you. (This doesn't make everything automatically legal; there's an honest section about that below. But it's a far better starting point than the old way.)

ReVanced Manager: The App That Does Everything

If you're going to use ReVanced, ReVanced Manager is the app you'll actually interact with. Everything else happens under the hood.

Think of it as a small patching station. You choose the app you want to change, review the patches, and press start. It does the work, shows its progress, and offers to install the finished app when it's done.

A few things it does well:

It recommends the right version. Patches work best on specific versions of YouTube. The Manager tells you which one to use and helps you get it.

Sensible defaults. The default patch selection suits almost everyone. If you love tweaking, the full list is one tap away; every patch can be switched on or off.

It keeps you current. When patches get updates, the Manager notifies you so you can re-patch and stay on the newest version.

No account, no sign-up. Open it, patch, done.

ReVanced Manager is needed to create the app on your device. Avoid sites selling bundled downloads.

YouTube ReVanced: What You Get

This is the main event. The ReVanced YouTube patches are the most polished in the whole project, and this is what most people mean when they talk about ReVanced.

The big three:

No ads. Video ads, home feed ads, search ads, all blocked. This alone is what brings most people here, since blocking ads is one of the main things a Premium subscription (around $14 a month in the US) is selling.

Background play. Turn the screen off or switch to another app, and the audio keeps going. Your phone becomes a normal music player.

SponsorBlock. The crowd favourite. Many videos contain sponsored segments, "this video is sponsored by…", and ReVanced can skip them automatically, using a community-built database of timestamps. It can also skip intros, outros, and "don't forget to subscribe" reminders. You choose which segments get skipped and how.

Put together, the ReVanced YouTube experience is close to what YouTube would look like if it were designed by people who use it instead of people who monetise it.

ReVanced YouTube Music

YouTube Music gets its own patch set, and it goes through the same Manager with the same process:

Ads removed – including the audio ads between songs.

Background playback – which, for a music app, is kind of the point.

The "upgrade to Premium" buttons and labels hidden, so the app stops begging.

One small catch: signing in on the patched Music app needs a slightly different helper app than YouTube does. The Manager points you to the right one, so it's mostly a non-issue.

Not Just YouTube: Reddit, TikTok, and More

The patching idea isn't limited to YouTube. The community has built patches for other apps too:

Reddit – hide ads and promoted posts.

TikTok – filter your feed and remove clutter.

Twitch – block embedded ads in streams.

Fair warning: the YouTube and YouTube Music patches are the flagship, best-maintained ones. Everything else is more experimental, and patch availability changes as apps update. Check the current patch list inside the Manager before counting on any specific one.

Signing In: ReVanced MicroG

Here's the small catch, and the easy fix.

A patched app can't sign in to your Google account on its own. Google checks each app's signature, and the patched version has a different one.

The fix is a tiny helper app called ReVanced MicroG. It stands in for Google's sign-in service and lets you log in to YouTube ReVanced with your normal Google account. Install it once, sign in once, done- your subscriptions, history, and playlists all appear like magic.

You don't strictly need it. YouTube ReVanced works fine without signing in; you just won't see your subscriptions. But most people install MicroG, and it takes about a minute.

How to Install ReVanced, Step by Step

First, what you need:

The steps:

1. Install ReVanced Manager. Android may ask you to allow installation from your browser or files app.

2. Open the Manager and select YouTube. The exact buttons move around between Manager versions, but the flow is always: pick an app, pick patches, patch.

3. Check the version. The Manager shows the recommended YouTube version. If yours matches, perfect. If not, it will help you get the right one, or you can grab the APK from a trusted mirror like APKMirror.

4. Choose your patches. Stick with the defaults your first time. You can always re-patch later with extra tweaks.

5. Tap Patch and wait. A few minutes. Keep the app open until it finishes.

6. Install the result. The Manager offers to install YouTube ReVanced when the patch is done.

7. Install ReVanced MicroG and sign in. The Manager links you to the right version. Log in with your Google account, and your subscriptions appear.

That's the whole thing. The official YouTube app stays on your phone untouched; you now have both, and you can keep whichever you prefer in your dock.

Root or No Root?

For most people: no root. The steps above work on any phone, and that's the end of it.

Rooted users (say, with Magisk) get an extra option: patching the original YouTube in place, keeping the official package name. Sign-in works without MicroG, and a few edge cases disappear. But it's more steps with more ways to break things.

If you don't know what rooting is, ignore this section completely. You don't need it.

What About ReVanced Extended?

You'll run into the name ReVanced Extended (often shortened to RVX) in forums. It's a separate patch set, maintained by a different developer, with more options, extra hiding tweaks, deeper layout changes, and more customisation overall.

Think of it as the spicier branch of the same tree. Start with ReVanced patches, since they're the most maintained and best documented. If you later find yourself wishing for more knobs to turn, RVX, which installs through its own Manager variant, is the next stop.

Is It Safe? Is It Legal?

The tool is safe. It's open source, the code is public, it's been used by a huge community for years, and it collects nothing: no account, no data, no analytics. The patched app is built from the official YouTube, on your own device.

The real danger is fakes. Since Vanced died, shady websites have been selling "Vanced" and "ReVanced" downloads, or handing out ready-made patched APKs filled with who-knows-what. This is a genuine malware risk, and it's how people actually get hurt. Avoid unverified downloads, and never pay for ReVanced.

Is it legal?

The project sits in a much safer spot than Vanced ever did, because it distributes no modified apps, only the tools for you to modify your own. But using a modified YouTube client still goes against YouTube's Terms of Service. Real-world consequences? Account bans are rare, and there's no known history of Google banning users en masse for this. But the risk isn't zero, and it's your call to make.

One more honest note: if you block all ads, the creators you watch don't earn ad money from your views. If a channel matters to you, channel memberships and direct support still work perfectly well.

What Happens When YouTube Updates?

YouTube updates itself on its own schedule, and the patched app doesn't follow along automatically. It keeps working for a while, but eventually YouTube's changes make it feel stale or buggy. The fix is simple: open ReVanced Manager, patch the new version, install, and sign in. It's a ten-minute chore every few weeks.

Keep the official YouTube app updated too; that way you always have a matching base to patch from.

What ReVanced Can't Do?

No real offline downloads. ReVanced removes ads and unlocks playback; it doesn't unlock paid content. The external download patch is a workaround through a separate app, with its own rules.

Not the full Premium catalogue. You get the comfort features, not the paid subscription perks.

Not on iPhone. Android only. Patching requires access that Android gives, and iOS doesn't.

Not fire-and-forget. Occasional re-patching is part of the deal.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is ReVanced free?

Completely, no paid version, no locked features, no ads. The project runs on donations. If a website is charging you, close the tab.

Do I need to root my phone?

No. The normal install works on any modern Android phone. Root is an optional extra for people who already have it.

Can I keep the official YouTube app?

Yes. YouTube ReVanced installs as a separate app, so both can sit on your phone together. Use either one whenever you like.

Will my Google account get banned?

Unlikely, but not impossible. Modified clients break YouTube's terms, though there's no known history of mass bans. Some careful people use a secondary account just in case.

What happened to Vanced?

It shut down in March 2022 after legal pressure from Google. And no, those "Vanced" APKs floating around random sites are not the old app kept alive. They're bait. Avoid them.

Is ReVanced Manager on the Play Store?

No. Google doesn't allow tools like this in its store. It is not available on the Play Store.

Can I patch on my computer?

Yes, there's a command-line version for advanced users. The Manager is easier and does the same job, so most people never bother.

What's the difference between ReVanced and YouTube Premium?

Premium is official: you pay monthly, get offline downloads, and keep everything within the terms of service. ReVanced is free: you get the ad-free experience, background play, and extra tweaks, but no offline downloads, and it lives in a legal grey zone.

What is ReVanced?

ReVanced is a patching tool. In simple terms: it takes an app like YouTube, applies a set of changes (called patches), and gives you back a new, modified app.

Do I need MicroG?

You don't strictly need it. YouTube ReVanced works fine without signing in; you just won't see your subscriptions.

Conclusion

ReVanced took what everyone loved about Vanced and rebuilt it the smart way: open source, patched on your own device, no middlemen, nothing to pay.

Once you have ReVanced Manager, follow the steps above, and in ten minutes you'll have YouTube without ads, videos that play with the screen off, and sponsor segments that quietly skip themselves.