YouTube Music Clients: 8 Open-Source Apps Compared (2026)

These apps play music from YouTube Music in an open-source player of their own instead of the official app. None of them is made by Google or YouTube. Seven of them are built around YouTube Music; the eighth, Bloomee, is a general music player whose online sources come from plugins.

Because they rely on YouTube Music, they share two limits. They only work where YouTube Music is available: the READMEs of Metrolist and ArchiveTune say you need a VPN or proxy elsewhere. And a change on YouTube’s side can break them until the developers release an update. That is why IzzyOnDroid flags the YouTube Music clients it carries NonFreeNet (dependent on a proprietary service).

Quick picks

• Most features, or a 32-bit phone, and fine with an app in maintenance mode: Metrolist.
• More than one account, or your own music files too: ArchiveTune.
• You care most about the look: VIVI Music.
• A small download with no account, or podcasts too: Gyawun Music.
• Synced lyrics from several sources, a full equalizer, or Android Auto: SimpMusic.
• An older phone on Android 6, a TV, or RiMusic playlists to bring along: Kreate.
• You don’t want to depend on YouTube alone: Bloomee.

They install side by side, so you can try more than one.

At a glance

	Metrolist	ArchiveTune	Kreate	VIVI Music	Gyawun Music	SimpMusic	OuterTune	Bloomee
Online source	YouTube Music	YouTube Music	YouTube Music and YouTube	YouTube and YouTube Music	YouTube Music	YouTube Music and YouTube	YouTube Music	Plugins
Plays local files	Not listed	Yes	Yes	Not listed	Not listed	Not listed	Yes	Yes
Account sign-in	Yes	Yes, several accounts	Yes	Not listed	Not listed	Optional	Optional	Not needed
Synced lyrics	Yes	Word by word	Yes, from KuGou and LrcLib	Word by word	Yes, from LRCLib	Yes, several sources	Word by word	Yes, adjustable offset
Music recognition	Yes	Yes	Not listed	Yes	Not listed	Not listed	Not listed	No
Android Auto	Not listed	Yes	Yes	Yes	Not listed	Yes	Yes	Not listed
Minimum Android	8.0	8.0	6.0	8.0	7.0	8.0	7.0	7.0
CPU types in the build	ARM and x86, 32- and 64-bit	ARM and x86, 32- and 64-bit	ARM and x86, 32- and 64-bit	ARM and x86, 32- and 64-bit	64-bit ARM only	64-bit ARM only	ARM and x86, 32- and 64-bit	64-bit ARM only
Size	26.9 MB	37.2 MB	18.9 MB	29.7 MB	14.3 MB	27.5 MB	10.1 MB	24.4 MB
Permissions	12	17	16	15	10	14	12	12
Tracker SDKs in our scan	None	None	None	None	None	None	None	None

“Not listed” means the project’s README doesn’t mention the feature, not that we tested it and found it missing. The last five rows come from the APKs we checked. Music recognition is why three of them ask for the microphone; Kreate asks for it for its audio visualizers, which are off by default. You can decline that permission if you don’t use the feature; Metrolist’s and VIVI’s manifests explicitly mark the microphone as optional.

Metrolist: the established one

Metrolist has the longest feature list here: offline downloads, an equalizer, tempo and pitch control, listen-together sessions with friends, Last.fm scrobbling and full library sync if you sign in. It is also the base that ArchiveTune is built on. The developers have put it in maintenance mode: bug fixes and small improvements continue, but no new features.

ArchiveTune: more accounts, more audio control

ArchiveTune starts from Metrolist’s framework and adds quick switching between several accounts, playback of local files alongside streams, EBU R128 loudness normalization and word-by-word lyrics. Version 15.1.0 added Android Auto. Its current releases use a new package name, so they install as a separate app next to older copies such as version 13.4.0. The developers support only their official release, not forks.

Kreate: the RiMusic line, carried on

Kreate is a fork of RiMusic, the client that grew out of ViMusic, and it continues that line now that RiMusic’s developer has closed the project. It caches and downloads songs, fetches synced lyrics from KuGou and LrcLib, runs on Android Auto and Android TV, and keeps separate profiles, each with its own library and settings. Since version 2.2.2 you can sign in to sync your library; the developer warns that YouTube increasingly limits playback without an account. It needs only Android 6.0, the lowest here.

VIVI Music: design first

VIVI Music is the one to pick if looks matter: colors follow the album art, songs can have animated backdrops, and lyrics highlight word by word. Its README also covers Android Auto, with steps for making it show up in the car.

Gyawun Music: small, and no account

Gyawun Music is the smallest download here, at 14.3 MB. It covers the essentials: offline downloads, synced lyrics from LRCLib, an equalizer with a loudness enhancer, a sleep timer, and podcasts. Its README doesn’t mention accounts, and we found no sign-in in its source code; recommendations follow you between devices through a visitor ID instead. Its build is for 64-bit ARM phones.

SimpMusic: lyrics, an equalizer, no account

SimpMusic is still labelled beta but actively developed, with a new release in late September 2026. It pulls synced lyrics from several sources, has a ten-band equalizer with AutoEq headphone profiles, and supports Android Auto, SponsorBlock and Return YouTube Dislike. It works as a guest, without an account; change its Content Country setting, which defaults to Vietnam. The file we host is its FOSS build, without Chromecast support or Last.fm.

OuterTune: only if you know what you’re getting

OuterTune plays YouTube Music and your own music files, with word-by-word lyrics and Android Auto. But its maintainers have stopped developing the YouTube Music version, and newer releases are local-only players. The file here is the last release with YouTube Music, and it won’t get fixes when YouTube changes something on its side.

Bloomee: not tied to YouTube

Bloomee takes a different approach. It is a local and streaming player for Android, Windows and Linux, and its online sources come from plugins rather than being built in. It doesn’t need a YouTube account. Its developer warns that fake “official” Bloomee websites hand out modified APKs. We describe how to check the file you have on its page.