It's not true, the features for Patreon are clearly highlighted with [only for our patrons] in the extension description. The basic groups for organizing playlists are free, if you want extended features, you should become a patron. It takes time to update the extension every time YouTube changes internally.

Furthermore, the decision to keep some features for the Patreon version of PocketTube was made to ensure the long-term feasibility of the free version.