Legal
Licence
Every Shoal app is free software, released under the GNU General Public License, version 3 or later. You may use, study, share and change it. If you distribute something built from it, it must stay under the same licence with its source code available. The source for each app is on GitHub.
No warranty
The apps are provided "as is", without warranty of any kind, to the extent the law allows. The services they connect to can change or stop working at any time, and the contributors can't promise any feature will keep working.
Not affiliated
Shoal is an independent project. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Google, YouTube, TikTok (ByteDance), Instagram or Meta, X Corp., Bluesky Social PBC, Reddit, Inc., Sentry or any other company whose service an app connects to. YouTube, YouTube Music, TikTok, Instagram, Reels, Bluesky, X, Reddit and other names are trademarks of their owners and are used only to say what the apps work with.
The Shoal fish icons are our own drawings. Some are inspired by the shape and colours of the service an app works with, so you can tell them apart, but they don't use anyone's logo.
Using the apps
You're responsible for using the apps lawfully and in line with the terms of the services you use them with. Downloading or redistributing content may need the permission of whoever owns it. Don't use the apps to break the law or anyone's rights.
Open-source software we build on
| Project | Licence | Used in |
|---|---|---|
| NewPipeExtractor | GPL-3.0 | Swordfish, Clownfish, Pufferfish |
| AndroidX Media3, Jetpack Compose, Glance and other AndroidX libraries | Apache 2.0 | All apps |
| Coil | Apache 2.0 | All apps |
| OkHttp | Apache 2.0 | All apps |
| kotlinx.serialization, kotlinx.coroutines | Apache 2.0 | All apps |
| Sentry Java SDK | MIT | All apps (optional error reports) |
| NewPipe (its proof-of-origin token code) | GPL-3.0 | Swordfish |
| RxJava | Apache 2.0 | Swordfish |
| VacuumTube | GPL-3.0 | Swordfish (TV mode) |
| MaterialKolor | MIT | Pufferfish |
| Shizuku API | Apache 2.0 | Shoal |
| Shevery (recommended, not bundled) | Apache 2.0 | Shoal |
Design ideas come from PixelPlayer, Meld and Metrolist. Data comes from SponsorBlock and DeArrow (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0), Return YouTube Dislike, LRCLIB and BetterLyrics.
Donations
Shoal is free. Donations through Liberapay are voluntary gifts to support development; they don't buy any product, service or special treatment, and Liberapay's own terms apply.
Copyright concerns
If you believe something in a Shoal repository infringes your rights, open an issue on the repository concerned or use GitHub's takedown process, and we'll respond promptly.