YouTube ReVanced is the official YouTube app, just with some code patches applied. They avoid being taken down by only releasing a patcher app and list of patches. You install the patcher app, a specific version of YouTube (which can be done within said app), select from a looong list of patches (everything from removing ads to integrating SponsorBlock and DeArrow [which changes clickbait titles and thumbnails to something neutral] to restoring the video quality menu to hiding shorts and all those react buttons under vids to blocking videos based on keywords), and the app creates a custom YouTube APK with all those patches applied.

It’s impossible to go back to stock after using ReVanced. I have over fifty patches applied and without them the app is a web of dark patterns and enshittification. With them I have a simple app with a few buttons per page (just the ones I use) that opens directly to a feed of just the videos I want to watch.

The downside is it’s a pain to setup without root since YouTube is usually a system app, but with root you can even mount ReVanced over the base app so it’s completely undetectable by the system (though there’s always a chance Google will add something within the app to catch users that the RV team might not catch due to YouTube’s infamously convoluted design and server-side A/B testing).