I found this through Louis Rossman's announcement video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DePDzfyWkw There is only an android app so far. I am on iOS, so I can't actually try it. It looks like an...
There is only an android app so far. I am on iOS, so I can't actually try it. It looks like an interesting project, and I will definitely be keeping an eye on it.
This is pretty exciting. There are only a few YouTube content creators I care to check in with regularly (including Louis Rossmann (that tag needs an edit too!) and Solar Sands). I would probably...
This is pretty exciting. There are only a few YouTube content creators I care to check in with regularly (including Louis Rossman Rossmann (that tag needs an edit too!) and Solar Sands). I would probably follow more, except that I dislike YouTube as a platform and the way the incentives change the style and content of the videos.
I'm honestly not optimistic Grayjay will ultimately be successful, but I like the principles and goals—so I went ahead and bought a license. Here's hoping!
Quick, fix his name before he finds out! :-) I stumbled upon Louis' video today on Odysee (I'm subscribed to his channel there) and immediately installed Grayjay. I'm just like you - love the...
Quick, fix his name before he finds out! :-)
I stumbled upon Louis' video today on Odysee (I'm subscribed to his channel there) and immediately installed Grayjay. I'm just like you - love the idea, bought license right away. I watch a few people on Youtube and:
Youtube app is not good
desktop is even worse
ads are too much
Grayjay mitigates all of that for me, I ca subscribe and watch my favorite creators again. I hope it sticks around. I don't even need new features, just update plugins according to API changes and I'm happy.
And as people already suggest - desktop version would be great. Either as a program or web version. But I can live with mobile version, it's really nice experience after all the shit we got shoved by the big ones...
I don't watch YouTube from my phone, but once a version comes out for desktop or web, I don't think I'll ever use YouTube directly again. We need more software like this.
I don't watch YouTube from my phone, but once a version comes out for desktop or web, I don't think I'll ever use YouTube directly again. We need more software like this.
We don't get more sotware like this because it's technically against the TOS to grab content like this. Wish it the best but also won't be surprised if it gets too big and Google snipes it down.
We don't get more sotware like this because it's technically against the TOS to grab content like this. Wish it the best but also won't be surprised if it gets too big and Google snipes it down.
It's open source, they can't snipe it down per se. It's like RE3 (GTA3 and VC reverse-engineered engine) - they took it down from Github, but it still exists and can be found and used. Grayjay as...
It's open source, they can't snipe it down per se. It's like RE3 (GTA3 and VC reverse-engineered engine) - they took it down from Github, but it still exists and can be found and used. Grayjay as an app probably can't be sniped while plugin might. But plugin can be user (re)created. And then sniped again. And (re)created... And we see where it goes :-)
I use Kodi at home on my TV and Youtube still runs flawlessly there. No ads, no quality loss etc. And I guess there are millions of people using Kodi and Youtube plugin and Google doesn't give a ...
I hope Grayjay will be with us for at least a few years. It is nice refresh of what we could have had if big compabies were not greedy and were user oriented.
I dunno what you're using, but there are clients for YouTube for desktop that are available using invidious or Kodi or some front end with YouTube DL. This looks far nicer though, and may be worth...
I dunno what you're using, but there are clients for YouTube for desktop that are available using invidious or Kodi or some front end with YouTube DL. This looks far nicer though, and may be worth using Anbox or some other compatibility.
No, Ross isn't making a video hosting service or platform. He's just using YouTube and Twitch APIs to pull video feeds. If these companies pull their API access (think Reddit), then what they...
No, Ross isn't making a video hosting service or platform. He's just using YouTube and Twitch APIs to pull video feeds. If these companies pull their API access (think Reddit), then what they essentially have is a Creator-Follower Instagram-esque platform. Although I support Ross, to really beat YouTube and/or Twitch means to have your own hosting.
The comment talking about this being similar to Kodi or Stremio but with "followers" is pretty much right.
I don't see it advertised anywhere on their site, and have yet to see it mentioned in comments, but it appears to block ads from the videos. I've tried it out, and the app works really well for...
I don't see it advertised anywhere on their site, and have yet to see it mentioned in comments, but it appears to block ads from the videos.
I've tried it out, and the app works really well for something described as being in alpha. I'm going to stick with it as my primary video app for a while and see how it goes. The only feature it misses for my rather minimal mobile video consumption is Sponsorblock.
This could be pretty cool for all sorts of media curation, if you have a PLEX or a Kodi server, if you want to throw in a bunch of podcasts, or maybe federated comments through your own server,...
This could be pretty cool for all sorts of media curation, if you have a PLEX or a Kodi server, if you want to throw in a bunch of podcasts, or maybe federated comments through your own server, this could really be something. Maybe even plugins for legitimate services, like the XBMC days of yore.
This is essentially a paid version of Stremio or Kodi but with specific features for following content creators. However, although I support Ross, do note that Ross isn't creating his own servers...
This is essentially a paid version of Stremio or Kodi but with specific features for following content creators.
However, although I support Ross, do note that Ross isn't creating his own servers for video hosting. If YouTube or Twitch pull their plugs (Ross's Dev's API keys), then that leaves them with barely anything but a glorified graph network of creators and subscribers.
I looked at the website and I don’t see a pricing page. Is it free? Open source? Or is it one of those things where it tells you you have to make in-app purchases to make it work as promised?
I looked at the website and I don’t see a pricing page. Is it free? Open source? Or is it one of those things where it tells you you have to make in-app purchases to make it work as promised?
It has the option in the app to pay 10 dollars, but it's unclear if that actually unlocks any features or if it's more akin to a donation. As of right now it doesn't appear like any features are...
It has the option in the app to pay 10 dollars, but it's unclear if that actually unlocks any features or if it's more akin to a donation. As of right now it doesn't appear like any features are locked behind a paywall
Grayjay is not an easy or cheap app to build and maintain. We have full time engineers working on the app and its surrounding systems. And will likely not make its money back anytime soon, if ever. FUTO's mission is for open-source software and non-malicious software business practices to become a sustainable income source for projects and their developers. For this reason we are in favor of users actually paying for the software. That is why Grayjay wants you to pay for the software.
In the announcement video, he talks about the pricing. No, it's not free. Yes, it's open source - the reason being that they want you to be able to see and verify that what the app is (or isn't)...
In the announcement video, he talks about the pricing. No, it's not free. Yes, it's open source - the reason being that they want you to be able to see and verify that what the app is (or isn't) doing, is exactly what they claim (i.e. no data collection, etc.).
Yes you can download and install it. Yes, you can download the source code, take the "buy" portion out of the app, and compile it yourself. You can download the source code and modify it however you see fit for your own personal use, but Louis specifically mentions that if you download the source code and attempt to redistribute it, they will come after you.
No it's not "open source" it's "source available". If you care have a look at this blog post that explains the problem. https://hiphish.github.io/blog/2023/10/18/grayjay-is-not-open-source/
Thanks for the detailed answer. It’s a pity that one has to find answers to important questions like this in nooks and crannies. In this case, an announcement video.
Thanks for the detailed answer. It’s a pity that one has to find answers to important questions like this in nooks and crannies. In this case, an announcement video.
No, you can use RSS for pretty much any website. YouTube has them built in. Most RSS readers support it out of the box, you can just paste a YouTube channel url into the feed URL and it should...
No, you can use RSS for pretty much any website. YouTube has them built in. Most RSS readers support it out of the box, you can just paste a YouTube channel url into the feed URL and it should work. But if you're using an RSS app that doesn't support that, you can make a feed URL like this:
https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=<CHANNEL ID HERE>
And for other video websites like Twitch, which don't support RSS, you can use RSS Bridge to generate a feed.
I found this through Louis Rossman's announcement video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DePDzfyWkw
There is only an android app so far. I am on iOS, so I can't actually try it. It looks like an interesting project, and I will definitely be keeping an eye on it.
This is pretty exciting. There are only a few YouTube content creators I care to check in with regularly (including Louis
RossmanRossmann (that tag needs an edit too!) and Solar Sands). I would probably follow more, except that I dislike YouTube as a platform and the way the incentives change the style and content of the videos.I'm honestly not optimistic Grayjay will ultimately be successful, but I like the principles and goals—so I went ahead and bought a license. Here's hoping!
Quick, fix his name before he finds out! :-)
I stumbled upon Louis' video today on Odysee (I'm subscribed to his channel there) and immediately installed Grayjay. I'm just like you - love the idea, bought license right away. I watch a few people on Youtube and:
Grayjay mitigates all of that for me, I ca subscribe and watch my favorite creators again. I hope it sticks around. I don't even need new features, just update plugins according to API changes and I'm happy.
And as people already suggest - desktop version would be great. Either as a program or web version. But I can live with mobile version, it's really nice experience after all the shit we got shoved by the big ones...
I don't watch YouTube from my phone, but once a version comes out for desktop or web, I don't think I'll ever use YouTube directly again. We need more software like this.
We don't get more sotware like this because it's technically against the TOS to grab content like this. Wish it the best but also won't be surprised if it gets too big and Google snipes it down.
It's open source, they can't snipe it down per se. It's like RE3 (GTA3 and VC reverse-engineered engine) - they took it down from Github, but it still exists and can be found and used. Grayjay as an app probably can't be sniped while plugin might. But plugin can be user (re)created. And then sniped again. And (re)created... And we see where it goes :-)
I use Kodi at home on my TV and Youtube still runs flawlessly there. No ads, no quality loss etc. And I guess there are millions of people using Kodi and Youtube plugin and Google doesn't give a ...
I hope Grayjay will be with us for at least a few years. It is nice refresh of what we could have had if big compabies were not greedy and were user oriented.
I dunno what you're using, but there are clients for YouTube for desktop that are available using invidious or Kodi or some front end with YouTube DL. This looks far nicer though, and may be worth using Anbox or some other compatibility.
No, Ross isn't making a video hosting service or platform. He's just using YouTube and Twitch APIs to pull video feeds. If these companies pull their API access (think Reddit), then what they essentially have is a Creator-Follower Instagram-esque platform. Although I support Ross, to really beat YouTube and/or Twitch means to have your own hosting.
The comment talking about this being similar to Kodi or Stremio but with "followers" is pretty much right.
I’d be all over this if there was an iOS version. I love the idea of a universal video feed.
I don't see it advertised anywhere on their site, and have yet to see it mentioned in comments, but it appears to block ads from the videos.
I've tried it out, and the app works really well for something described as being in alpha. I'm going to stick with it as my primary video app for a while and see how it goes. The only feature it misses for my rather minimal mobile video consumption is Sponsorblock.
This could be pretty cool for all sorts of media curation, if you have a PLEX or a Kodi server, if you want to throw in a bunch of podcasts, or maybe federated comments through your own server, this could really be something. Maybe even plugins for legitimate services, like the XBMC days of yore.
This is essentially a paid version of Stremio or Kodi but with specific features for following content creators.
However, although I support Ross, do note that Ross isn't creating his own servers for video hosting. If YouTube or Twitch pull their plugs (Ross's Dev's API keys), then that leaves them with barely anything but a glorified graph network of creators and subscribers.
I looked at the website and I don’t see a pricing page. Is it free? Open source? Or is it one of those things where it tells you you have to make in-app purchases to make it work as promised?
It has the option in the app to pay 10 dollars, but it's unclear if that actually unlocks any features or if it's more akin to a donation. As of right now it doesn't appear like any features are locked behind a paywall
In the announcement video, he talks about the pricing. No, it's not free. Yes, it's open source - the reason being that they want you to be able to see and verify that what the app is (or isn't) doing, is exactly what they claim (i.e. no data collection, etc.).
Yes you can download and install it. Yes, you can download the source code, take the "buy" portion out of the app, and compile it yourself. You can download the source code and modify it however you see fit for your own personal use, but Louis specifically mentions that if you download the source code and attempt to redistribute it, they will come after you.
No it's not "open source" it's "source available". If you care have a look at this blog post that explains the problem. https://hiphish.github.io/blog/2023/10/18/grayjay-is-not-open-source/
This alone makes it pretty clear it isn't open source then.
Thanks for the detailed answer. It’s a pity that one has to find answers to important questions like this in nooks and crannies. In this case, an announcement video.
Is there any reason to use this app over just subscribing to everything through RSS feeds?
How do you do that? I looked and it seems the only RSS feed apps just give you news.
No, you can use RSS for pretty much any website. YouTube has them built in. Most RSS readers support it out of the box, you can just paste a YouTube channel url into the feed URL and it should work. But if you're using an RSS app that doesn't support that, you can make a feed URL like this:
https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=<CHANNEL ID HERE>And for other video websites like Twitch, which don't support RSS, you can use RSS Bridge to generate a feed.