Why not contributing to original newpipe project?

[relishdumpling]

Hey, I was just wondering why you're not trying to work on the md3 design for the original newpipe project?

I understand that there are many different opinions about the redesign but it is a fact that many other Foss apps implemented md3/you (what all in all leads into a much cleaner and modern implementation of the whole smartphone design), but creating thousands of newpipe forks and trust every of them is just not really working.

Could you maybe clarify your decision? (As I also think of a much better functionality and implementation when it is delivered in the original repo)

Still thanks for your contribution and I really like the ideas and implementation of that md3 design!

[wizdom13]

Thank you for the thoughtful question and for your kind feedback about the Material 3 design.

WizeStream originally began with a strong focus on modernizing NewPipe’s interface, but it has gradually developed into a broader, independently maintained project. It now includes not only Material 3 styling, but also different navigation and product decisions, additional playback features, device-to-device synchronization, per-channel playback profiles, extended filtering and sorting, multi-audio improvements, and its own release cycle.

Contributing such a large redesign directly to NewPipe would require the upstream maintainers to agree with and maintain all of these design and architectural decisions. NewPipe understandably has its own priorities, review standards, roadmap, and opinions about how its interface should evolve. Maintaining WizeStream independently allows experimentation and faster development without placing that burden on the NewPipe team.

This does not mean that upstream contribution is excluded. Small, generally useful fixes can still be contributed upstream when appropriate. WizeStream also continues to respect NewPipe’s GPL license, preserve attribution, and follow upstream development where useful.

I agree that users should be careful when trusting forks. That is why WizeStream keeps its source public, publishes reproducible-build information, uses its own clearly identified package and signing key, and is distributed through established channels such as IzzyOnDroid.

So the intention is not to fragment NewPipe unnecessarily, but to maintain a clearly independent project for changes whose scope and direction are substantially different from upstream.