FreeTube is a free and open-source desktop YouTube client for Windows, macOS, and Linux, built on Electron and published under the AGPLv3 by a small volunteer team led by a developer credited only as "PrestonN"; the current release (0.25.2) is still labeled Beta. Its website and documentation state that subscriptions, playlists, and watch/search history are stored only on the user's machine, that no account is required, and that the app contains no analytics; it fetches YouTube data by scraping either directly (Local API, the default) or through a user-chosen third-party Invidious instance. The project's own privacy page is candid that the user's IP address and the requested content are still sent to YouTube or to the Invidious instance operator on every request, that an update check contacts github.com unless disabled, that a proxy test contacts ipwho.is, and that the optional SponsorBlock feature sends a hash of each watched video ID to a third-party server. Local data files (including watch and search history) are stored as plain, human-readable databases, and release binaries are not code-signed. Privacy Guides lists FreeTube under its Frontends criteria; no breach, security advisory, third-party audit, or regulatory action involving FreeTube was found in this research.
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FreeTube's website (whose /privacy/ path serves the same page as the homepage) states that all user data is stored locally and never sent or published to the internet, that users can subscribe to channels without an account, and that subscriptions, playlists and history live only on the local machine; the same page labels the current release 0.25.2 as Beta.
The Data Location doc lists the exact local files FreeTube writes — profiles/subscriptions, settings, playlists, watch history, search history and a subscription cache — and notes they are plain, human-readable files that can be opened in any text editor, i.e. locally stored but not encrypted at rest.
FreeTube's Credits page names the project's 'Owner / Lead Developer' as PrestonN (a GitHub handle, no legal name or entity) and lists eight named co-developers, and credits the Invidious team and LuanRT for the two extractor backends; the Local API is built from third-party MIT modules (youtubei.js, bgutils-js, googlevideo) not maintained by the FreeTube team.
FreeTube's FAQ discloses that the developers work on the app in their free time and are 'mostly the only people' working on it, that release binaries are not code-signed because signing licenses are expensive (so antivirus warnings are expected), and that the project accepts only Bitcoin donations for hosting and eventual signing costs — no company, foundation, or institutional funder is named.
FreeTube's repository publishes the complete application source under the GNU Affero General Public License version 3, so anyone can inspect, audit or fork the running code rather than rely on the operator's description of it.
The SponsorBlock doc states that, when the opt-in feature is enabled, FreeTube sends a hash of each watched video's ID to the SponsorBlock server, that users are then subject to SponsorBlock's own privacy policy, that the team cannot guarantee privacy for this service, and that it 'highly encourage[s] users to keep this feature disabled'.
The Invidious API doc describes the optional backend as an external server, not run by the FreeTube team, that proxies requests, video, images and RSS on the user's behalf and mixes many users' traffic — a privacy gain against YouTube that simultaneously places a third-party instance operator in the data path.
FreeTube's Privacy doc discloses that with the default Local API each request sends the user's IP address and the requested identifiers (e.g. a channel ID) directly to YouTube, and that with the Invidious API the same information is sent to the user's chosen third-party Invidious instance, which then fetches from YouTube on the user's behalf; it recommends a VPN either way.
GitHub's Security tab for the FreeTube repository shows no published security advisories, but also that the project has not set up a SECURITY.md vulnerability-disclosure policy; no third-party audit, bug bounty, breach, or regulatory action involving FreeTube was found in this research.
FreeTube's Privacy doc states the app has no built-in analytics and requires no sign-up or account, and that YouTube cannot count views or observe watch habits because FreeTube uses its own player; it also enumerates the outbound contacts beyond YouTube — an update/changelog check to github.com (disableable), a 'Most Popular' request to the set Invidious instance, opt-in SponsorBlock and DeArrow, and a proxy test to ipwho.is.
Privacy Guides lists FreeTube on its Frontends recommendation page (criteria: open-source, self-hostable, full basic functionality for anonymous users), describing local storage of subscriptions, playlists and history, while warning that the user's IP address may still be visible to YouTube, Invidious, or SponsorBlock depending on configuration.