Release v0.23.0 Beta

Summary

This release comes with dozens of bug fixes, new player enhancements, user experience improvements, performance improvements, and features that we were able to implement thanks to the help of our users and new contributors. We hope that the scale of this update and its changes properly reflects our dedication to making FreeTube the best free and open source app it can be.

We would also like to thank all the translators that make FreeTube more accessible to all of our users!

Note

The setting Export Playlists For Older FreeTube Versions will be deprecated in v0.24.0. This setting was introduced in v0.20.0 when we launched our full-fledged User Playlists. This allowed users to export their playlists into one big playlist and import the file into FreeTube versions older than v0.20.0. This setting is being deprecated because we don't recommend sticking with older versions of FreeTube. It is highly recommended that you upgrade to the latest version of FreeTube if you are still using an outdated version of FreeTube.

Note

MacOS 10.15 is no longer supported, as Electron v33.0.0 does not support this OS version. MacOS 11 (Big Sur) or later is required to run FreeTube going forward.

Features

• Add autoplay toggle to the video player by @kommunarr in #5866
• Add Shift+? shortcut to view all keyboard shortcuts in-app by @kommunarr in #6306
• Right-click or hold-click on page ←/→ arrows to access navigation history by @kommunarr in #5227
• [MacOS] Make ⌘←/⌘→ go back/forward by @PikachuEXE in #6466
• Sort user playlist videos by published date by @GLEBR1K in #6280
• Add volume and playback rate change notifications to videos by @ikizey in #6473
• Added Button to Show Original Title and Thumbnail for DeArrow by @JL0000 in #6164
• Add setting for opening URLs passed to FreeTube in a new window by @OothecaPickle in #6242
• Update 'Only Show Latest Video for Each Channel' setting to handle a custom number of videos per channel by @c-ciobanu in #5901
• Add setting blocking autoplay after long periods of inactivity by @kommunarr in #5871
• Add Gruvbox color schemes & accent colors by @DontBlameMe99 in #5887
• Add Catppuccin Frappe color theme by @DontBlameMe99 in #6445
• Add Unlisted badge on watch page for unlisted videos by @OothecaPickle in #5856
• Add --help and --new-window flags and fix --version flag by @Zander671 in #6455
• Added buttons to hide hidden channels/text by @JL0000 in #6156
• Undo feature for Remove From Playlist by @Soham456 in #5885
• Add support for hms timestamp in query string by @ChunkyProgrammer in #6012
• Show corresponding keyboard shortcuts in button labels by @kommunarr in #5857
• Local API: Display more video tags in search results by @absidue in #5926
• Invidious API: Add support for auto-dubbed audio tracks by @absidue in #5943
• Invidious API: Extract streaming data expiry date from URL by @absidue in #5997
• Show previous search queries as search suggestions by @kommunarr in #6414
• Only refresh current trending tab by @ChunkyProgrammer in #6667
• Add Creative Commons License to Description of Videos by @SudharakaP in #6614

Fixes

• Fix video player turning into a white screen by @absidue in #6489 and #6534
• Fix Freetube from crashing for non-English captions in certain cases by @angus6b23 in #5970
• Fix app crashing from search bar use on certain devices by @absidue in #6085
• Fix: Video description collapsible and no longer hijacks page scroll by @sabs21 in #5665
• Fix live streams buffering endlessly by @absidue in #6019
• Fix full window for videos with a 4:3 aspect ratio by @absidue in #5976
• Fix settings password handling by @absidue in #5988
• Fix some undesired attributes being saved to playlists.db by @TheodorSmall in #5900
• Fix shortcut for macOS setting shortcut in video page by @PikachuEXE in #6054
• Fix use of deprecated Invidious route on the videos subscription tab by @absidue in #6057
• Fix context menu adding video scroll bar by @a0kami in #6075
• Fix nightly builds by updating package list before installing build dependencies by @absidue in #6084
• Fix error reading storyboards.board by @PikachuEXE in #6097
• Fix 'shaka-video-container' class being removed from video container by @OothecaPickle in #6090
• Fix cursor hiding when first opening video by @OothecaPickle in #6135
• local API: Fix playlists and podcasts not appearing in search results by @absidue in #6196
• Fix export playlist button visible in edit mode by @PikachuEXE in #6273
• Fix tap to seek not using skip interval setting by @absidue in #6288
• Fix stats button text color on some themes by @OothecaPickle in #6406
• Fix bug when parsing home page by @ChunkyProgrammer in #6403
• Fix channel home page list view by @ChunkyProgrammer in #6316
• Fix auto-generated RTL captions position by @absidue in #6314
• Fix 'Object has been destroyed' when FreeTube is passed a URL with no windows open on macOS by @OothecaPickle in #6278
• Detect and properly error on DRM protected videos by @absidue in #6479
• Fix live chat error message overflowing by @ChunkyProgrammer in #6327
• Fix Share button not working when the window width is below 900 pixels by @MarmadileManteater in #6492
• Fix second to last tooltip overflowing due to our wide player controls by @absidue in #6528
• Fix Hide Unsubscribe Button not hiding the button in search results by @absidue in #6298
• Fix tooltips overlapping with top/bottom bar by @sullivanlng in #6656
• Handle unplayable content better with the local API by @absidue in #5922
• Avoid logging an error when a player cache entry does not exist by @absidue in #6640
• Show precise view counts for videos on search results page (Local API) by @OothecaPickle in #6284

Changes

• Bump electron from 33.2.1 to 34.0.1
• Make Big Play Button smaller by @ChunkyProgrammer in #6002
• Change default value of display big video play button to false by @ChunkyProgrammer in #6005
• Make seekbar and player controls appear at bottom of video and take full width by @ChunkyProgrammer in #6007
• Stay in fullscreen/fullwindow/PiP + default viewing mode setting by @kommunarr in #5903
• Update autoplay next recommended/playlist video setting to be "by default" by @PikachuEXE in #6400
• Remember playback rate in watch session by @ikizey in #6449
• Change default locale to system by @ChunkyProgrammer in #6031
• Apply active FreeTube theme to shaka-player menus by @absidue in #5986
• Added functionality to export a single playlist by @Zeabyte in #5779
• Make playlist import match existing playlist by ID first by @PikachuEXE in #6094
• Add support for Key Moments with the local API by @absidue in #6171
• Better player error handling by @absidue in #6180
• Add warning message to proxy settings by @ChunkyProgrammer in #6099
• Add icons to trending tab by @ChunkyProgrammer in #6239
• Local API: Add support for home tab on channels by @ChunkyProgrammer in #6033
• Use ft-input-tags for external player custom args by @absidue in #6221
• Make history page remember last query string & search limit by @PikachuEXE in #5192
• Update build workflow to add back osx-arm64 by @PikachuEXE in #6157
• Filter out unsupported watch page only mixes from search results by @absidue in #6244
• Support saving screenshots as WebP files by @absidue in #6263
• Add live chat support for upcoming videos by @ChunkyProgrammer in #6376
• Add a new extension to the extensions list by @MStankiewiczOfficial in #6396
• Add missing release builds by @efb4f5ff-1298-471a-8973-3d47447115dc in #6415
• Filter out members-only section on channel home pages by @absidue in #6437
• Switch back to the WEB client for the local API with potokens by @absidue in #6436
• Add Welsh and Tamil to the active locales list by @absidue in #6552
• Disable spell checker on the ft-input Component by @SudharakaP in #6599
• Dozens of PRs with assorted performance improvements by @absidue

New Contributors

• @OothecaPickle made their first contribution in #5856
• @angus6b23 made their first contribution in #5970
• @TheodorSmall made their first contribution in #5900
• @a0kami made their first contribution in #6075
• @Zeabyte made their first contribution in #5779
• @JL0000 made their first contribution in #6164
• @Samueru-sama made their first contribution in #5747
• @c-ciobanu made their first contribution in #5901
• @sabs21 made their first contribution in #5665
• @MStankiewiczOfficial made their first contribution in #6396
• @ikizey made their first contribution in #6449
• @GLEBR1K made their first contribution in #6280
• @Zander671 made their first contribution in #6455
• @SudharakaP made their first contribution in #6599
• @Soham456 made their first contribution in #5885
• @sullivanlng made their first contribution in #6656

Full Changelog: v0.22.1-beta...v0.23.0-beta