this post was submitted on 05 Oct 2025
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GrayJay has allowed me to nearly de-youtube! (fedia.io)
submitted 18 hours ago by atro_city@fedia.io to c/degoogle@europe.pub
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For those that don't know, GrayJay allows consuming media from many platforms, all in one app. Peertube, Odysee (lbry), twitch, kick, removedute, nebula, soundcloud, and more! You can also sync your playlists, watch list, subscriptions, and so on across devices.

I've discovered interesting creators across multiple platforms (peertube, odysee, billibi, dailymotion, ...) and have reached the point now where I can just switch of the youtube source and just consume media from all other sources. Billibi (Chinese youtube) for example has accounts that just sync/copy/rip entire channels from youtube and there are some creators that sync their channels onto peertube, odysee, or elsewhere. With Grayjay, it doesn't matter where anymore since it can probably access it.

What I enjoy a lot is not worrying about youtube updating and breaking the plugin because I just don't consume it anymore. You can give it a shot too.

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[–] ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Does it bypass the age restrictions on non-account watching? I use mostly newpipe for youtube but sometimes still hit the "you have to be 18+ to watch this video now log in you little bitch" blocker.

[–] atro_city@fedia.io 2 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

There is an option for it, but I don't know how well it works. Maybe it works so well that I haven't noticed?

Youtube plugin preferences

[–] ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

I'll give it a shot, thanks!

Edit: Nope, fails to load video due to age restrictions. If anyone with an account wants to download this stupid video and upload it to catbox or archive I'll love you forever. I haven't seen it in years lol.

[–] waldo_was_here@piefed.social 3 points 17 hours ago

Welcome to the other side .

[–] A_norny_mousse@feddit.org 1 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) (1 children)

I have two main usage scenarios:

  • I get a youtube link through a social media post etc.
  • I search for a certain artist/song or some other keywords

In both scenarios, is it possible to make the app search globally (all enabled providers) and give me the non-YT choice first?

I see it has a youtube plugin. What is it based on => https://gitlab.futo.org/videostreaming/plugins/youtube/-/raw/master/YoutubeScript.js
Apparently their very own script to scrape youtube. That will cause trouble in the future, unless they get it from elsewhere (e.g. yt-dlp) in a way I cannot see.

[–] atro_city@fedia.io 2 points 13 hours ago

If you search for the youtube title and have the youtube source/plugin enabled, if the video has been mirrored to another platform, that will come up. If not, then you can choose to enable the youtube source/plugin. Search results don't seem to give priority to any platform so order can be random.

I see it has a youtube plugin. What is it based on?

You can find the source if you search for it. There is a guide for how to write plugins. If you understand that, I guess it'll answer your question. You could also ask the devs. They probably have a good answer.

[–] Dequei@piefed.social 2 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

Is it foss?

[–] atro_city@fedia.io 3 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

In the FAQ

Can I see the source code?

Yes, we have a gitlab repository here: Grayjay Gitlab Repository

[–] Dequei@piefed.social -2 points 16 hours ago (3 children)

You can see the code, but nobody can participate, so not really foss, right?

[–] Mika@piefed.ca 3 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

This have never been a requirement to be a free software, as you can just fork it.

However it doesn't have a free licence https://gitlab.futo.org/videostreaming/grayjay/-/blob/master/LICENSE.md

So yes, it's not FOSS, it's open code.

[–] atro_city@fedia.io 5 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

If someone is saying "I'll use Youtube because this alternative doesn't check every single box on my list" is letting perfect be the enemy of good.

[–] Mika@piefed.ca 3 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

You still use youtube de-facto, just via another app. Besides, there is NewPipe.

[–] atro_city@fedia.io 3 points 13 hours ago

*Looks at post title*

*Looks at community title*

I'm not sure you understand what we're trying to do here.

[–] atro_city@fedia.io 3 points 16 hours ago

I would encourage you to look a bit further. I typed "grayjay github" and right there are merged pull requests. There is also a CONTRIBUTION.md.

[–] classic@fedia.io 1 points 17 hours ago

Don't see anything on the site that says it is