Apple has just removed ProTube 2, one of the most popular third-party YouTube enhancements. Here are the top 3 alternatives that you can install for free.
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Apple pulls ProTube 2 off the App Store
Apple pulled ProTube 2 app from the App Store on September 1, 2017. As you already know, YouTube and other popular social networking websites aren’t too fond of third-party apps that alter the behavior of their stock application.
Here’s what happened behind the scenes – Youtube submitted a takedown request to the developers of third-party YouTube apps on the App Store.
Consequently, Jonas Gessner, the developer of ProTube 2, also came under the ambit.
This entire fiasco began a year ago and YouTube only ramped up such legal threats over time. They want the developers to remove every single “enhancement” feature from their app and stick to the stock features. This effectively renders all such apps useless.
Jonas even tried to get them on board to work out an agreement, but to no avail. YouTube also threatened him with legal action and he finally decided to give in voluntarily.
The primary reason behind this is that YouTube is now looking to profit off of its app with a subscription-based model. Therefore, any other app on the App Store is direct competition.
So it makes perfect sense why they are going after each one of them.
Will ProTube make a comeback on App Store?
The chances of ProTube 2, in its present form, making a comeback to the App Store are slim to none. With that being said, the developer is considering to launch it again on Cydia.
However, that would severely reduce the app’s user base because not everyone owns a jailbroken device. Moreover, there’s no way of syncing App Store purchases with Cydia.
This would mean all existing users would again need to spend money to purchase this app.
There’s also a chance that YouTube might still legally threaten Jonas again. Therefore, this effectively rules out a Cydia release as well, at least for now.
While no other app can match ProTube, here are a few free alternatives that come close. You can use them with or without jailbreaking your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.
Top 3 ProTube alternatives
#1 ProTube++
Installing ProTube++ is probably your best bet right now. It has all the features of the original application and bypasses the piracy check put in place by Jonas Gessner.
But here’s the catch – you can’t use your own Google account with the tweaked version.
You can download it using any of the App Installers given below.
If for some reason you don’t like App Installers, you can always request me to send an IPA file.
#2 Cercube
It lets you download videos to your device, block native advertisements, and much more. It also comes with a neat download manager.
You can download it using any of the app installers given above.
#3 YouTube++
Although it’s less feature rich than Cercube, it’s still very popular and a decent alternative. It lets you download videos, block ads, disable age restrictions, and much more.
The download procedure remains the same.
ProTube was a truly unique app and no other app will ever be able to achieve what it did but it’s time to move on now.
How do you like these new alternatives? Drop your comments in the comments section below.
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hi, i read your page. I would love to install protube ++ without app installers, can you send me the ipa? thank you
I would recommend using Panda Helper as they are totally legit. I have the IPA but it’s of the older version.