YouTube Vanced Is The Best YouTube App Period

I am an avid music fan and I am one of those people who prefer to videos to audio tracks. When it comes to music videos YouTube has no equal. Naturally for most people that would mean you launching the official YouTube app which kind of sucks in a number of ways.

The many failings of the Official YouTube App

Prior to September 2018, the official app’s capital offence was that it didn’t have a dark mode. Google have since introduced a dark mode which you can enable under General settings it’s better than nothing but for me it’s not dark enough. Besides what if you want a pink or blue mode?

Then there are other crimes:

You cannot switch off ads even if you are inundated with stupid irrelevant ads. My IP address due to AFRINIC delays still sometimes gives my location as SA. I am bombarded with South African ads all day if I use the official app.
There is no background play if you minimise the app. This requires YouTube premium which is not available in Zimbabwe.
You cannot force HDR mode
You cannot override the playback maximum resolution. Normally the official YouTube app does a good job of detecting your maximum resolution but sometimes it gets this wrong.
Picture in Picture mode on older versions of Android

Fortunately there is YouTube Vanced

This is where YouTube Vanced comes in and sweeps you off your feet. It comes with all the features that the official app does not have plus more. This is a modded app so naturally this is where I issue a disclaimer and tell you that if you destroy your device following this guide it’s entirely your fault not mine.

How to install YouTube Vanced

Like some good things Youtube Vanced is not available in the Play Store. You can however follow these instructions if you want to install it.

Go to the YouTube Vanced App’s website
Click on downloads
Unless you have rooted phone, in which case you will most likely know what to do anyway, select the Non-root version
Select your preferred APK, I suggest you go with the White/Black version
Install the APK on your device
Download the MicroG APK from the same website, you will not be able to login unless you install microG. Another thing to note is that you cannot launch microG after it has been installed that is the expected behaviour
Launch YouTube Vanced login into your YouTube account and enjoy