YouTube Wrapper App ‘Musi’ Finally Pulled from the App Store — Free Lunch Ends for Millions of Users

Photo Credit: Musi

After ruffling some serious major label feathers, YouTube wrapper app Musi has now been removed from the App Store. The app provided a way for users to create playlists and stream music without paying for YouTube Premium. The app likely went against the YouTube developer terms of service for its API, with both Apple and Google/YouTube closing down the free lunch.The YouTube API terms of service is very clear that ‘YouTube wrapper’ apps that enable features of YouTube Premium break its terms of service. “Your API client will not encourage or create functionality for your users or other third parties to separate, isolate, or modify the audio or video components of any YouTube audiovisual content made available through the YouTube API.”

That’s exactly what the Musi app permitted, allowing users on iOS to create playlists of their favorite songs with an option for ‘audio only’ for music videos uploaded to YouTube. Now the app appears to have been removed from the App Store, with developers posting in the reddit community three days ago to confirm the app’s removal.

“The app is currently unavailable while we address some comments relating to the App Store. We don’t have an estimated time as to when it’ll be back but rest assured this has our top attention!,” the comment from the musi_app_support account reads. They have not addressed the concerns, but it’s also worth noting that Musi contained in-app purchases to remove ads from the app.It’s worth noting that most people responding in the reddit thread concerning the removal are clearly using the app to avoid paying for services like Apple Music, Spotify, or YouTube Music. “I have been using Musi for almost seven years so far. And this is the first time Musi is not available for me. I really hope Musi soon becomes available again. I do not want to go back to Apple Music and pay $10 a month. No thanks. Musi please come back,” reads one comment asking for the return of the app.

YouTube is taking steps to crack down on wrapper apps like Musi, but they are a dime a dozen on both iOS and Android. Yet another app advertising the same features as Musi is called Demus and it offers the ability to bookmark favorite songs and music videos, sort songs, create playlists, view annual listening statistics (much like Spotify Wrapped), view song lyrics and artist bios, and stream content via AirPlay.