Vanced used a WebView and tricked YouTube into playing ad-free videos and unlocked YouTube Premium features like background playback. Because Vanced was just an app, it didn’t require root and wasn’t stopped by the Play Integrity API. Allowing YouTube to reach into your phone via the WebView sounds like something that could shut down these “alternative” clients, though. Google has become increasingly hostile toward ad blockers in recent years, and while the Google legal department already killed YouTube Vanced with a cease-and-desist letter in 2022, having the technical department put a stake through the heart of modified clients sounds like the next plausible step.

Source: Google’s “Web Integrity” Android API could kill “alternative” media clients

This is a concerning precedent. It’s a good time to consider using Firefox.