I’d say stick with what works for you. I will say that NewPipe does not even touch your Google account. You have to go to takeout to export your playlists and then import them into NewPipe. Since I’ve found all three (for all three platforms), the only way I watch YouTube now is through them. Ads are a foreign concept to me now.
NewPipe (mobile), FreeTube (desktop), SmartTube (TV). If you did not know about these, you’re welcome.
I’ve actually come full circle (as of yesterday) back to SUSE. I began using Linux around 2002. My first two distros were discovered out of frustration with my horrible Windows XP upgrade experience. Long story short, my first experience with Linux was Red Hat (probably 2.*) and SUSE Linux (both purchased in boxes). Since then I’ve used Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, Arch, Mandrake (memories), and just about every flavor in between. I’ve never messed with Gentoo or Slackware, but I’ve been around. That said, I’m currently finding my return to openSUSE to be a breath of fresh air. I may have rediscovered my new OS home (at least for a while). It’s definitely different, but give it time, I suppose. It may grow on you… or maybe not.
Yeah, definitely don’t get that app from the Play Store. F-droid is a reliable source for that and many other open source android apps. You could also go straight to the source like @Bloodyhog@lemmy.world mentions below.