YouTube Vanced, the mobile phone application popular among Android users to block all advertisements on the video-sharing platform, is being shut down due to legal reasons. It also allowed users to customise their notifications as well as apply a ‘true dark mode'.
Vanced gave users an ad free experience on YouTube, which is otherwise only possible through subscribing to YouTube Premium.
"Vanced has been discontinued. In the coming days, the download links on the website will be taken down. We know this is not something you wanted to hear but it's something we need to do. Thank you all for supporting us over the years," a tweet on its official handle said. It also added, “Currently installed versions will work just fine, until they become outdated in 2 years or so."
While Google has not publicly commented on Vanced being shut down, The Verge reported that owners of the popular app were sent a cease-and-desist letter, forcing them to stop all forms of distribution or development of the app. This follows Google's action on two other third party bots that one could use on the popular app Discord, wherein users could listen to music on YouTube without ads.
