Shoal

A fresh current.
Your kind of apps.

Open-source Android apps that feel like they belong together. Your content, your colours, your choice. Free to use, with no Shoal feature paywalls. Start with Shoal to install and update the family.

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Meet the whole shoal ↓

Our current

Apps should feel like a natural habitat.

Less hassle.
More of what you love.

Sometimes watching a video feels like an obstacle course: an advert, a sponsorship, another prompt to upgrade. Downloads sit behind a subscription, and the interface can feel generic, cluttered and tired.

We wanted a fresh current. So we dipped our hands into the water of app development.

Shoal puts the experience first: a unified Material You design, colours that adapt to your phone, and controls that feel familiar from one app to the next.

Your content shouldn't
need a costume change.

Big companies use different designs to distinguish their brands. But when you're just watching a vertical video, why should every service feel like a completely different world?

A friend sends a Reel in one chat, a TikTok in another. Some days you want unhinged Reels; other days, a little brain-rotting Shorts. Clownfish brings those services into one app, each in its own tab, with a familiar home around them.

Not every service can share the same native interface. Where an app uses a service's website, its pages and rules still apply. We're building a shared home, not pretending those differences have disappeared.

Why fish?

Fish are free to swim through a vast ocean. They adapt to their surroundings and thrive in a natural habitat. That's the spirit behind Shoal: simple, adaptable apps that give you room to enjoy what you came for.

We believe you should have a choice beyond the primary apps made by monopolies and big companies. Shoal doesn't add advertising profiles or sell your personal information. The services you connect to keep their own privacy policies.

Free to swim.
Free to stay.

No Shoal feature paywalls. No subscription to unlock our controls. Payment is optional, and donations help keep the project moving. A thank-you should never decide what you're allowed to do.

Third-party services may still require an account, impose restrictions or charge for their own content. Shoal's features remain free.

Support the shoal or help build it. Both are welcome.

By the community.
For the community.

The apps

Features depend on each service and the streams it makes available. Shoal does not promise complete YouTube feature parity, access to paid content, or a fully native interface for embedded websites.

Each one is built with Jetpack Compose and Material 3 Expressive, and is free software under the GPL.

Available now

Swordfish

YouTube with SponsorBlock, DeArrow, Return YouTube Dislike, background play and picture-in-picture built in. Choose available audio tracks, captions and quality, with chapter names as you scrub. Phones, tablets, Chromebooks and TVs.

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Available now

Blobfish

Bluesky laid out like Bluesky: your pinned feeds, threads, verification badges, Profile Links, posting with pictures and profile editing. Sign in on Bluesky's own page, no app password needed. X has its own tab.

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Early release

Clownfish

YouTube Shorts, TikTok and Instagram Reels in one app, each in its own tab and signed in with your own accounts, without the sites' get-the-app nags.

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New

Pufferfish

YouTube Music laid out like Spotify: Home mixes, your library and playlists, offline downloads, lyrics when available, a sleep timer, and the whole app coloured from the album art.

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New

Anglerfish

Reddit as an app: Material tabs for Home, Popular, Search, Inbox and you, without Reddit's get-the-app nags. Signed in on Reddit's own page.

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Start here

Shoal

Installs and updates every app in the shoal, silently with Shevery, Shizuku or root, and only ever installs apps signed by Shoal. Sign in to your accounts once here and the apps use them.

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Swordfish

Everything you'd expect from a video app, without the parts you wouldn't choose.

Material You everywhereThe app, its icon and its launch screen follow your wallpaper, in light and dark.
No ads, no trackingNo account needed. Nothing is sent anywhere except the services listed below.
SponsorBlock and DeArrowSkip sponsor segments and swap clickbait titles and thumbnails for community ones.
Background and picture-in-pictureKeep listening with the screen off, or keep watching in a floating window.
Shorts, your wayYouTube, TikTok or Reels layouts, daily limits, or turn them off completely.
Learning feedSwap recommendations for science, maths, history and more.
Phones, tablets, ChromebooksGrid feeds and a two-pane watch page on big screens.
TV modeYouTube's TV interface for big screens, with ad blocking and SponsorBlock from VacuumTube. Remote, touch or any Bluetooth controller.
Optional sign-inBring your subscriptions, likes, history and Watch later across from your account.

A look inside

Real screenshots from a phone. Every app works on tablets, Chromebooks and foldables too.

Pufferfish: Home, with your mixes and shortcuts
Pufferfish: Home, with your mixes and shortcuts
Pufferfish: the player takes its colours from the album art
Pufferfish: the player takes its colours from the album art
Swordfish: chapters, SponsorBlock segments and dislikes
Swordfish: chapters, SponsorBlock segments and dislikes
Blobfish: sign in on Bluesky's own page
Blobfish: sign in on Bluesky's own page
Shoal: installs the apps and keeps them up to date
Shoal: installs the apps and keeps them up to date

Credits

The people who make Shoal, turning together. Updated from GitHub every day.

Built on the shoulders of NewPipeExtractor, SponsorBlock and DeArrow (data under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0), Return YouTube Dislike, VacuumTube (MIT), Jetpack Compose, Media3 and Coil.