Flow
by A-EDev · GPL-3.0-only · open source
Watch YouTube and play music from it without signing in, with recommendations worked out on your phone. An unofficial, open-source client; it isn't made by or connected with YouTube.
Needs:Android 8.0+ · 64-bit ARM
2113 Apps is independent, not affiliated with or endorsed by A-EDev. Official sources: flow.aedev.me · source code on GitHub.
- Version
- 2.2.1
- Size
- 17.0 MB
- Requires
- Android 8.0+
- Updated
- 2026-08-28
Screenshots
Introduction
Flow is an open-source client for YouTube and YouTube Music by a developer who goes by A-EDev. It plays videos and music without a Google account and builds its recommendations on your phone, from what you watch, with an engine the project calls FlowNeuro. It is unofficial: Flow fetches everything from YouTube itself, using the NewPipe Extractor library (version 0.26.5 in this release) plus its own code.
What it does
From the project’s feature list:
- Videos, Shorts, channels and search, with no account required.
- A separate music section for YouTube Music, with lyrics and song recognition.
- Background playback, picture-in-picture and downloads, with VP9 and AV1 supported.
- Importing subscriptions and history from NewPipe.
- Optional SponsorBlock, Return YouTube Dislike and DeArrow integrations, and casting to DLNA/UPnP devices on your network without Google services.
- Syncing your library to another device running Flow, paired by QR code.
What it connects to
We read Flow 2.2.1’s source code for this section.
- YouTube, directly, for everything you watch and search. There is no Flow server in between.
- api.pipepipe.dev, run by the PipePipe project, when the app starts: Flow asks it for the current version of a decoder needed to play YouTube streams and keeps the answer for 24 hours.
- Return YouTube Dislike (returnyoutubedislikeapi.com) is on by default: it shows dislike counts by sending the ID of each video you open. You can turn it off in the settings. SponsorBlock and DeArrow are off until you enable them.
- On request only: lyrics services, and Shazam when you use song recognition.
The copy here has no update check, and our scan found no trackers or ad libraries. IzzyOnDroid flags it NonFreeNet, because it depends on YouTube.
The permissions it asks for
Most of Flow’s 21 permissions are for playback and downloads. The source explains the unusual ones: the microphone is for music recognition, the camera for scanning the QR code when syncing with another device, display over other apps for a pop-up player on phones without picture-in-picture, and all-files access is optional, for saving downloads to the public Movies and Music folders so they survive uninstalling the app.
About this file
- This is the developer’s own build of version 2.2.1, the “foss” variant for 64-bit ARM, signed with the key whose fingerprint the README publishes (CN=Flow, O=AEDev). It is the same file as on IzzyOnDroid and on the project’s GitHub releases. GitHub also has a universal build for other processors and a separate “Flow Nightly” app for testing.
- It needs Android 8.0 or later. The 17.0 MB file declares 21 permissions.
- Flow is licensed under the GPL-3.0; its source code is on GitHub.
- YouTube is a trademark of Google. Flow’s default launcher icon is a red rounded shape with an F, closely modelled on YouTube’s logo, and the app offers other icons you can switch to. This site isn’t connected with YouTube or Google.
What’s inside the APK
Trackers
No code matching the Exodus Privacy tracker signatures.
Native code
Needs a 64-bit ARM phone; 32-bit-only devices are not supported.
Android versions
Built for Android 16 (target API 36).
Permissions
7 of them need your approval first.
Flagged by IzzyOnDroid:
- NonFreeNet: Relies on or promotes a proprietary network service.
CPU types in this build: arm64-v8a (64-bit ARM, almost every phone since 2017).
Asks you first (7)
Android shows a prompt before the app can use these.
- Use the camera · CAMERA
- Show notifications (Android 13+) · POST_NOTIFICATIONS
- Read shared storage (Android 12 and older) · READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE
- Read music and audio files · READ_MEDIA_AUDIO
- Read videos · READ_MEDIA_VIDEO
- Record audio with the microphone · RECORD_AUDIO
- Write shared storage (Android 10 and older) · WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE
You switch these on in Settings (2)
Special app access. Nothing is granted until you turn it on yourself.
- All files access · MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE
- Display over other apps · SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW
Granted at install (11)
Low-risk permissions Android grants automatically, plus any we have not classified.
- ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE
- ACCESS_WIFI_STATE
- CHANGE_WIFI_MULTICAST_STATE
- DOWNLOAD_WITHOUT_NOTIFICATION
- FOREGROUND_SERVICE
- FOREGROUND_SERVICE_DATA_SYNC
- FOREGROUND_SERVICE_MEDIA_PLAYBACK
- INTERNET
- RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED
- REQUEST_IGNORE_BATTERY_OPTIMIZATIONS
- WAKE_LOCK
Defined by other apps (1)
Permissions that belong to another app or to this app itself.
- io.github.aedev.flow.DYNAMIC_RECEIVER_NOT_EXPORTED_PERMISSION
More Information
- Package name
- io.github.aedev.flow
- Version
- 2.2.1 (build 18)
- File size
- 17.0 MB (17,021,803 bytes)
- Requires
- Android 8.0 or later
- Category
- Media
- License
- GPL-3.0-only
- Developer
- A-EDev
- Source code
- github.com/A-EDev/Flow
- Released
- Aug 28, 2026
- Signer SHA-256
- 4322294ed4caa2d4294140095818080ffe8acc1fbe3cdc76107df45c5286be40
- File SHA-256
- 2e70e8df44a0975e39f1fd3959926578b2b92c604b714b97e5e0b6d7ef69eaeb
- Checked
- , against the IzzyOnDroid index · how we check · verify it yourself
Common questions
Is this APK the official Flow release?
Yes. It is the developer’s own release of Flow 2.2.1, byte for byte as IzzyOnDroid distributes it. Its SHA-256 matches IzzyOnDroid’s signed index, and it is signed with the certificate IzzyOnDroid records for the app (SHA-256 4322294ed4caa2d4294140095818080ffe8acc1fbe3cdc76107df45c5286be40).
What Android version does Flow need?
Android 8.0 or later (API level 26). Version 2.2.1 is built for Android 16 (target API 36). Needs a 64-bit ARM phone; 32-bit-only devices are not supported.
Can Flow access the internet?
Yes. The APK requests Android’s internet permission. In total it declares 21 permissions, and 7 of them need your approval first.
Does Flow contain trackers?
No known trackers: our scan of version 2.2.1 found no code matching the Exodus Privacy tracker signatures. The scan covers known tracker libraries; it doesn’t show what data the app itself sends.
Is Flow open source?
Yes. Flow is released under the GPL-3.0-only licence, and its source code is published at https://github.com/A-EDev/Flow.
Is Flow an official YouTube app?
No. It is an independent open-source app that fetches videos from YouTube itself. Its default icon is a red rounded shape very like YouTube’s logo, with an F in place of the play triangle; that doesn’t make it official, and YouTube has nothing to do with it. Because it depends on YouTube, changes on YouTube’s side can break playback until the app is updated.
Why does it connect to api.pipepipe.dev when it starts?
To fetch the current version of a decoder that YouTube video addresses need. In Flow 2.2.1 the app requests it from PipePipe’s server (api.pipepipe.dev) when it starts and keeps the answer for 24 hours, so most launches only read it from storage.
What is the difference between the “github” and “foss” APKs?
The project builds two variants with the same signing key. The foss variant, which is the one here, has the in-app update check switched off; the github variant checks GitHub for new releases and includes a Discord integration. Because the key is the same, one can install over the other.
I used Flow before version 2.0. Why won’t this install as an update?
Two breaks. Version 1.8.0 switched to a new signing key (“Android will not let you install it over the previous version — you need to uninstall the old app first”), and 2.0.0 changed the package name from com.flow.youtube to io.github.aedev.flow. Back up what you can and uninstall the old app first.
Recent releases
| Version | Released | Size | Requires |
|---|---|---|---|
| v2.2.1 · this download | Aug 28, 2026 | 17.0 MB | Android 8.0+ |
| v2.2.0 | Jul 19, 2026 | 35.5 MB | Android 8.0+ |
Versions currently kept in the IzzyOnDroid repository. We host and check only the newest one. Full changelog.
