Just as another data point, I use and enjoy NewPipe, but definitely experience the first two points listed above- I get crashes and failures to load not infrequently.
Perhaps a hardware issue, or NewPipe handles spotty connections poorly or something.
There's a history tab, I don't really use ot but looking over it now it looks decent, and can sort by most and last played.
The only issue I've had with search is that it doesn't return playlists, but my typical flow is to go to the profile page and follow a link from there so it hasn't bothered me.