Customize YouTube to work exactly the way you want it to.

I’m using this all the time myself. There is no login to YouTube required and it supports adding subscriptions and doing everything important you can do on YouTube.

And the best part is no ads whatsoever.

  • _sideffect@lemmy.worldEnglish
    29·
    18 days ago

    My lg tv is jailbroken so I have the ad blocked version of YouTube on it, but I was on my Chromecast with Google tv yesterday and decided to go back to the regular YouTube app since I was there.

    I was watching a video of 20 minutes in length, and got one 30 second ad at the start; ok fine.

    After 4 minutes, they decided to show me a 50 second unskippable ad.

    I backed out of the video, and deleted the regular app.

    Fuck Google.

  • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.worldEnglish
    39·
    18 days ago

    I’d argue that Brave is the best way. The adblock is seamless and requires no add-ons, and you retain the full functionality of the site.

    • Olgratin_Magmatoe@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5·
      16 days ago

      Youtube/google/alphabet are almost certainly aware it exists already. The only real risk is too many people switching to it.

      But even then there isn’t much they can do to stop it’s use. They can’t tighten up or remove their api, but then page scraping will take over. They can obfuscation their page, but that will not work forever.

      It’s a cat and mouse game that is impossible to win for them.

      • nforminvasion@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        16 days ago

        You know the same thing was said with Beeper’s imessage on Android pytorch success. “Apple won’t be able to change this. They’d have to change the very nature of imessage itself to block this!” And then, two days later it was blocked completely so, as much as I would hope Google couldn’t block FreeTube, don’t expect such huge successes without tempering expectation.

        • Olgratin_Magmatoe@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          16 days ago

          I can’t say I’m familiar with that particular event. But I’m guessing there is a difference there in that iMessage is well, a messaging service. YouTube isn’t, their videos are on public webpages.

          All Freetube and company needs to do, if it comes to it, is find a way extract a video from a public webpage. There’s a million ways to do that.

          iMessage is not a public webpage, and so there is no real way around it unless you go through their api.

    • c10l@lemmy.worldEnglish
      31·
      18 days ago

      On iOS I’ve been using Vinegar - Tube Cleaner by developer And a Dinosaur. It doesn’t replace YouTube as a whole - only the video player. Better interface, no ads.

      • QuarterSwede@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        18 days ago

        Using uYou via AltStore and it’s such a better experience. I’d rather stop using YouTube altogether than pay Alphabet to use YouTube without ads. I’m not enabling user hostile behavior to push people into Premium. Screw that.

    • Sneezycat@sopuli.xyzEnglish
      196·
      18 days ago

      More like using iOS is not cool. At least in the EU they get some more things, but I was trying the other day to show a workmate how to install an ad blocker and it turns out you can’t even install firefox extensions on iOS!

    • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3717·
      18 days ago

      As someone who’s survived ACTUAL cancer, and spent a year of my life dealing with this shit, and dealing with the aftermath of it now, having to get a colonoscopy this friday as part of my checkups, you can fuck right off with your casual usage of that word.

      Lets slice open your chest, put a medical port in a surgury where you’re still awake, and still somewhat feel whats happening because thats how they do it with todays medical insurance. Thats what we get in America. Lets have you on chemotherapy for a year so you’re so out of it and so physically weak that you can’t wash your own dishes. You have to ask a friend to pull the suction cup drain so the water in the sink can drain so you’re able to individually lift dish.

      Lets have the government tell you that cancer doesn’t qualify you for disability, so you end up with $0 income for 9 months, and expected to pay rent.

      Lets have bus drivers roll their eyes at you for being 40 years old, and not able to lift groceries that aren’t that heavy. Made to feel like an elderly person, but people treat you like an asshole for wasting their time.

      Lets have you go through that, and tell me again how youtube is cancer.

      • parpol@programming.devEnglish
        82·
        18 days ago

        “X is cancer”, “X spreads like cancer”, “X is cancerous” are so incredibly common phrases. Are they generally considered inappropriate?

        • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.worldEnglish
          46·
          18 days ago

          “Spreads like cancer” not so much to me. “Is cancerous” I would say to avoid saying, unless it legitimately IS a risk for cancer.

          I was told that being in a brick building, is not a threat for cancer. However, living in a brick home after say 40 years, actually CAN be a risk for cancer. Which not a lot of people would know. So I think keeping “is cancerous” to an actual legitimate basis is a good idea to spread actual good information. Because if I said “brick houses are cancerous”, that sounds like an exaggeration, but in the long run it’s true.

          “Is cancer” really just depends on how casually its being used. Something that causes you a mild inconvienence? Yeah, I’d find that offensive. But using it towards something that may not be literal cancer, but still poses a physical harm, I find less offensive. Like saying “Nestle is a cancer on this planet”. I wouldn’t find that offensive, because Nestle uses literal slavery, while draining the planet of natural resources, and giving the middle finger to everyone else. Yeah, THAT can be called a cancer. But youtube? Put on an adblock, move on with your day.

      • southsamurai@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        12·
        18 days ago

        Damn. That’s brutal.

        I’ve used that phrase myself in the past, and never thought of this, despite having done hospice care. Thanks for the perspective. That’s serious, you made me rethink things.

      • JadenSmith@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        61·
        18 days ago

        I’m sorry to read you were treated so poorly during your treatment. I hope you are in a better situation, if not now then in the near future.

        • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.worldEnglish
          74·
          18 days ago

          Well, I brought up the worst parts because it emphasises the harsh realities yoj go through with that.

          But you’ll notice I didn’t speak ill of the actual treatment plan. The people I would see every 2 weeks. I’d be brought into this room, and hooked up to this machine, and the thing would take 6 hours every time. But the nurses were nice. They took care of anything they could. The one time my body rejected the chemo, the head nurse fixed things before I knew what was happening. My skin had turned lobster red, and was in the process of poisoning itself to shut down the foreign chemo drugs. This being after 3 months of treatment. I just felt my skin a little warm, and I felt dizzy. But unrelated to the cancer, I grew up being told never to ask for help. Always tough it out. Which is TERRIBLE advice. If there are any new dads out there, don’t teach your kids they shouldn’t get help when they need it.

          So I’m sitting in the chair, knowing I’m burning, knowing I feel dizzy, and not sure if that’s bad enough to warrant asking for help. I’m looking at the floor, thinking “It’ll pass…just let it pass”.

          And the head nurse sees me, rushes over, and starts adjusting the chemo pump. She says (not asks, says), “You’re feeling hot right now, and you shouldn’t stand. You’re dizzy, and you have no leg strength. You will fall on your face if you try. You’re having a chemical reaction, and this dosage has become too strong. We’ll lower the dosage.”

          All of this, without me trying to bring attention to myself. I didn’t want to worry her, when so many others in that room are elderly. I figured I’ll be fine.

          What I didn’t know is that if left untreated like that, your body will eventually go into shock. From there you could pass out. You could have a heart issue. You could have a seizure. It all depends on how your body tries to react. And she told me, in no uncertain terms, that if I ever feel somethkng is odd, to ALWAYS speak up. They’d rather have 100 false alarms than 1 ignored real issue. Which was total culture shock for me. I’m used to being ignored.

          And my family were there for me too. Financially especially. I had no income. So they paid my rent. For a year. I tried to pay my sister back for a portion of what she paid in rent, and she wouldn’t take it.

          So, yeah, my message highlighted the worst parts of the experience. But I had some people looking out for me too.

          • JadenSmith@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            31·
            18 days ago

            You’ve been through a fair bit! Sounds like you have built a strong perspective. Your family sounds rather loving.

      • helenslunch@feddit.nlEnglish
        32·
        17 days ago

        My guy, I’m sorry to hear about your situation, but it’s just an expression.

  • sorrybookbroke@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    12·
    18 days ago

    Oh shit, I just made the switch and I’m liking it. I just “favourite” things from my sub feed in one small window, and watch in the other, and it autoplays (if I want) so I can just start doing shit while the background vids keep playing. Honestly kinda more convienient than youtubes gui. It has sponsorblock built in too, which is nice

  • doodledup@lemmy.worldEnglish
    582·
    18 days ago

    Am I the only one that hates third-party clients for Desktop? They all have terrible UI and UX. Firefox + UBlock + Youtube is the way to go. For the phone it’s NewPipe or Grayjay.

      • dan@upvote.auEnglish
        2·
        16 days ago

        ReVanced isn’t a third-party client though. It’s patches applied to the official client.

    • daq@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
      2·
      17 days ago

      I use the same combo on my phone without any issues or ads. Why use a client on the phone?

    • leadore@lemmy.worldEnglish
      31·
      17 days ago

      Firefox + UBlock + Youtube is the way to go.

      Unless you don’t like Google tracking everything you watch on youtube, that is.

      • person420@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
        1·
        16 days ago

        Let’s be real, no matter how you’re watching YouTube, if you’re accessing the video directly and not cached through a third party server, Google is still tracking you.

    • fross@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      17 days ago

      Revanced app had the superior UI/UX.

      Not because if taste, but because it is the YouTube UI that then allows you to add and remove stuff from the UI, getting away from all the user-hostile stuff. If you want to.

    • xthexder@l.sw0.comEnglish
      11·
      17 days ago

      Personally I still use the Firefox + uBlock + SponsorBlock + YouTube combo on my phone too. Maybe if I watched more YouTube on my phone it’d be worth figuring out an app with a better mobile UI, but I like that it’s a consistent experience anywhere I watch from.

    • Psythik@lemmy.worldEnglish
      9·
      17 days ago

      Don’t forget about Enhancer for YouTube, SponsorBlock, and DeArrow! They’re all a must-have for desktop YT.

    • PenisDuckCuck9001@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
      21·
      16 days ago

      If you use ublock origin and watch a lot, they’ll eventually put your ip address on a list where you have to log in to watch anything. Newpipe seems to be able to circumvent this but yt-dlp can’t. I haven’t tried freetube but maybe freetube can circumvent that.

    • EngineerGaming@feddit.nlEnglish
      41·
      16 days ago

      I used to think it is redundant too, but now see it as a quality-of-life difference. Because I can track my subscriptions and watch history, as well as have playlists. That is a massive improvement over folders of bookmarks.

    • helenslunch@feddit.nlEnglish
      103·
      17 days ago

      LOL the only terrible UI is the YouTube one. I dunno how people deal with all the garbage content and vertical videos that are relentlessly crammed down your throat. Not to mention the completely fucked search function.

    • Kanda@reddthat.comEnglish
      2·
      17 days ago

      I use Firefox with ublock on desktop, works like a charm. My favourite on android is YouTube revanced

  • Nima@leminal.spaceEnglish
    113·
    18 days ago

    i constantly gotta swap invidious instances because youtube is being relentless in their war against invidious.

    but the ui is awesome and I use it every day.

    • wulf@lemmy.worldEnglish
      6·
      17 days ago

      Invidious is awesome, if possible, self hosting one in docker is great and keeps it up to date

      • Dr. Wesker@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
        31·
        18 days ago

        It seems to be at random, and many of the instances don’t work correctly. You’re better off finding one that does, and setting it as default.

        • dan@upvote.auEnglish
          3·
          16 days ago

          Or host your own :) less likely to be blocked by Google if it’s just you using it.

    • kinship@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
      3·
      17 days ago

      How do I go about doing that (finding a good one and setting it up)? Its been a month that either the video loads or it doesn’t and when it does work it is extremely slow to the point I can’t watch on 1080p.

      • Nima@leminal.spaceEnglish
        2·
        17 days ago

        honestly I keep a tab open with the list of invidious instances open. because every day I usually have to change the instance. or swap it around.

        invidious is fighting youtube very hard, but youtube is fighting back. so its difficult to keep up with.

        i would keep an eye on the invidious instances list. and change to a different one if need be.