Please see our announcement regarding version 2.0.0 for some of the details regarding the application's major bump. Some bits of information is out of date from the original post so please continue with the information below.
Announcement of YouTube Music Desktop App v2
Install notes:
As this is a complete rewrite and many things have changed all versions of YouTube Music Desktop App before 2.0.0 are considered a different application and will have a leftover install and data of Version 1.Y.Z. Version 2.0.0 will look for your old configuration on first launch to migrate your settings if applicable. Please remember to uninstall the older version of YouTube Music Desktop App after successfully launching 2.0.0.
Version 2.0.0 should use YouTube Music Desktop App for its new data directory and if you're looking to remove data from Verson 1.Y.Z you can look for these folders.
Deleting these folders are at your own risk!
- Windows:
%appdata%/youtube-music-desktop-app - Linux:
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/youtube-music-desktop-appor~/.config/youtube-music-desktop-app - macOS:
~/Library/Application Support/youtube-music-desktop-app
Summary:
This is a full rework of the entire codebase of YouTube Music Desktop App primarily done by @NovusTheory with integrations done by @Alipoodle.
Now running on the latest version of Electron fixing the This browser is Insecure issue, as well as a Vue based background window to improve the interactivity of custom UI elements external to YouTube Music such as the titlebar and for the settings window.
This application has a lot but not all of the features from the original YouTube Music Desktop App, so pull requests for getting new features re-added are greatly appreciated. Please make sure to open an issue or come to the Discord if you're looking to implement a feature so multiple developers aren't conflicting with feature additions or if it's a feature that we're not looking to implement.
The final list of features which made it include:
| Features | Features | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Easy Install | Multi platform setup (Windows, Linux (deb, rpm), MacOS) | In app navigation for new Layout |
| Hide to Tray | Start on boot | Continue where you left off |
| Discord Rich Presence | Custom Global Shortcuts | Taskbar Progress + Buttons (only on Windows) |
| Last.fm scrobbling | Exponential Volume (variant of dB Audio) | Speaker Fill for Surround Sound |
| Disabling of hardware acceleration | Quick access buttons in Player for Add to Playlist/Library | Now playing Notifications |
| Custom CSS |
| New Features | New Features | New Features |
|---|---|---|
| Always display Volume Slider | Sleep timer (Was in Beta Builds of v1) | New Companion Server (Not Backwards compatible) |
| Pause on Continue where I left off | Encrypted user settings for more sensitive settings (previously was plaintext on disk) |
Future of YouTube Music Desktop App
As you may know YouTube Music Desktop App has sat in limbo with no updates for years and the last latest update is almost 4 years ago. Version 2.0.0 is a fresh start and to help maintain the app for the foreseeable future.
P.S. Thanks to everyone who tested version 2.0.0 in the release candidate builds.
Note to macOS users
As the application is not signed and notarized you will run into problems installing the application telling you that it's damaged or is a risk to install. There are workarounds for this. Use your best judgement.
Note to linux users
This build will get stuck on Checking for updates... due to an issue not allowing the application to continue. The CI build artifact from https://github.com/ytmdesktop/ytmdesktop/actions/runs/7688358807 has the issue resolved.