I just tried to look up a specific video of a Nick Swardson stand up bit. All I searched was “Nick Swardson loitering”. There were 5 fucking ads before an actual user posted video, then one real human posted video that barely had anything to do with Nick, then 5 more fucking ads.
I knew they were forcing ads into videos but clogging the entire search feed with ads is unfuckingbelievable.
Is this really what it’s come to? Ads are more important than what I’m actually looking for? Are people really okay with this?
Because I don’t know how to do all that shit on my phone 😭
I’ve had several people try to explain but I just can’t fuckin do it. I’d need someone to sit down with me and show me while explaining every action.
Use your app store to install Firefox.
Install ublock origin Firefox extension.
Go to Youtube using Firefox.
You can also download and install Newpipe
You can then subscribe to your favorite channels through that app without subscription and view videos without ads and even download the video or audio to your phone!
I tried it but it doesn’t seem to work for me correctly or maybe I am doing something wrong. I patch the YouTube app and install it but as soon as I close and open it, all the changes made by the patch are apparently gone. Shorts that are hidden on the first start after the patch are visible again, ads seem to be reduced but still happen occasionally.
I disabled the default YouTube app, gave the patched version a different name, disabled auto update, repatched it but nothing seems to stick after opening it again.
And then the whole “I have to download the apk so that I can use it” because I don’t have rooted my phone is just inconvenient.
I stick with my yt-dlp server and Plex instead.
From my experience, if you’re on iOS then Brave is the only browser I know of that includes a built-in adblocker (although I have my own issues with Brave).
If you’re on Android, should be able to just install Firefox (or a fork like Fennec), tap the three dots in the app > Extensions > uBlock Origin
If you’re otherwise using the YouTube app, I don’t have much to add in that respect as I usually use Invidious or NewPipe.
FYI Brave is about to start having issues with ad blocking due to the Manifest V3 shit since it’s Chromium based
MV3 only applies to extensions. Brave’s adblocker is implemented in their content filtering engine, which is part of the browser itself. This completely bypasses the extension system.
Plenty of adblocker extensions on iOS Safari.
For YouTube, I’d recommend Vinegar, although the more general adblockers will also work.
Assuming you’re on android, you can use this download link on your phone to download the .apk for NewPipe. This link is a direct download to install the app. (If you don’t trust my link, you can got to newpipe.net yourself), so if you click it, it should immediately start downlaoading and you can follow the steps to install the app. It’s pretty self explanatory.
It’s a frontend for youtube that removes all ads. You can’t comment or like, but you can subscribe to channels via NewPipe, just like you’re used to in youtube. But no ads. You do not need to login, it is not tied to your youtube account.
Youtube doesn’t like ad dodging frontends, so every once in while the app won’t work and you’ll need to go back to youtube (or a different alternative) for a day or two until the folks at NewPipe fix it again. It’s kind of an arms race like that, but with advertising.
For Android, NewPipe is great. I think I prefer FreeTube now however. Mostly because of the ability to use the Invidious api, built in SponsorBlock, settings coss-compatibility with the desktop version, and a better way to organize and export data (IMO). However, freetube android does has a few rough spots that newpipe doesn’t have, so ymmv.
I prefer ReVanced because it’s close to the native YT experience without the bs (blasphemy)
Everyone is making suggestions assuming OP uses a certain OS but you are asking the real question here.
Get GrayJay.
That’s all. Just use grayjay. Either go to grayjay.app and get it, or get it off the Google play store. It’s “Grayjay” from “futo”
Op said he doesn’t really know how to do jack shit with his phone, so I provided the easiest option l, as well as the better option.
I used to run a public TLS DNS server that would do some hardcore ad/tracking blocking. I shut it down when I switched myself, friends and family to a private Tailscale network with VPN on the exit nodes.
It was a little janky to manage but I still have the files laying around; my point is I could turn it back on. Since it’s DNS-based it applies to all websites and apps running on your devices, and with TLS it’s also encrypted so your ISP wouldn’t be able to track your DNS requests. You would however be trusting me, a random stranger with your queries.
I hate to say this, but you’re exactly the reason why Youtube and other services feel safe and comfortable enshittifying their services.
