Loosing focus

[umbrellapeace]

This app describes itself as a fork of the newpipe app that is focused on bringing a polished and modern look by implementing the material 3 expressive design language without losing the original newpipe apps taste. But since the beginning of this project I have observed that it hasn't been keeping up with it's promises of a modern and polished look and more focus has been put onto adding additional features to the app and fixing bugs that are being caused by this new features that are being added.

And also some commits indicate that there have also been changes being made to the newpipe extractor which isn't the focus of the project and the project also requests users to report bugs related to the newpipe extractor to the main newpipe project. But that doesn't seem fair when changes are being made to the extractor itself. And on this same topic I would also like to ask about a confusing term that I saw on some release notes and that is the term pipepipe extractor, is this app using the newpipe extractor or the pipepipe extractor? And on other release notes I read somethings about SABR, why is this the focus of this project when it claims to be a project focused on bringing modern and polished look and not the newpipe extractor improvement or fixes.

I have used this app since the first release and only the first two releases have brought prominent user facing changes that the project promises to do and the other very few material 3 design changes that came have been through the addition of new features and not much has been done to make the app more modern and polished.

[wizdom13]

Thank you for raising this so thoughtfully, and especially for supporting WizeStream since its first release. Your criticism is fair: the project has grown beyond the narrower description we originally used.

WizeStream began primarily as an effort to bring a polished Material 3 Expressive experience to NewPipe. Since then, its scope has expanded to include local-first features, additional streaming services, playback improvements, synchronization, and other functionality. Recent development has therefore focused more heavily on capabilities and stability than on visual refinement. We understand why this made the project’s stated identity feel inconsistent with its actual direction.

I have now updated the documentation to describe WizeStream more accurately as an independent, privacy-friendly, NewPipe-based Android streaming client. Material 3 Expressive remains an important pillar, but it is no longer presented as the project’s only purpose. UI consistency and polish will continue to be treated as important ongoing work.

Regarding the extractor:

• The extractor originally came from NewPipeExtractor.
• It later incorporated changes derived from PipePipeExtractor.
• WizeStream-specific modifications are now integrated directly into the WizeStream repository and maintained by this project.

Therefore, WizeStream does not currently use the untouched official NewPipeExtractor or PipePipeExtractor. It uses its own integrated extractor derived from both. I agree that directing every extractor-related report to NewPipe would be unfair. Problems caused by WizeStream’s integrated extractor or its modifications are WizeStream’s responsibility and should be reported here. Only issues confirmed to exist in the official upstream project should be referred upstream.

SABR was added because changes to YouTube’s media delivery were affecting reliable playback and downloading. Supporting playback is fundamental to a streaming client, so some extractor work became unavoidable. However, we also acknowledge that this added substantial complexity and introduced bugs that required further work.

Your feedback prompted me to clarify the project’s identity, extractor lineage, and bug-reporting responsibility throughout the README, FAQ, contribution guide, issue template, and store metadata. Thank you for pointing out the mismatch clearly and constructively.