So I’ve been using youtube ad blockers since pretty much when ad blocker extensions were first available. Lately though I’ve been getting hit more and more with these messages that YT was sending out every 5 or so videos telling me that adblockers aren’t allowed. No problem, just gotta wait 5 seconds to x it out and then close my video. The straw that broke the camel’s back though was when instead of a close-able pop-up, they just posted it in front of a video and wouldn’t let me watch anything until I disabled my adblocker.

So I disabled it and… wow. It’s just so, so, trash. 2 ads before a video plus midrolls and every video ever. I tried listening to a playlist of songs and was getting a midroll ad every single time. Imagine trying to just listen to music for 3 minutes and getting interrupted by a commercial for a chevy silverado! Half the ads were for youtube premium and they specifically mentioned that it would get rid of all the ads. It just felt so damn predatory. I couldn’t enjoy anything that wasn’t already demonetized.

And you know I’m fine with ads I guess. I could live with an ad before every video, but the fact that I was getting upwards of 5 ads in a 10 minute video was just plain absurd. I also hate that youtube got rid of the yellow markers to show you when an ad was coming up, so now it’s just out of nowhere and always interrupts a key part of the video.

E: I’ve been on Firefox for over a year.

  • SomeDude
    13•9 months ago

    ReVanced can patch your YouTube client (even without root) and add (your choice of) features, for example adblocking, picture in picture, playing in background as well ad quality of life improvents like hiding the “block” of news videos, remove reels or certain buttons

    • @[email protected]
      5•9 months ago

      Hmm. I’ve always had premium so never looked into ReVanced. I knew it existed, but didn’t realise it might be useful for more than just bypassing ads.

      Most of these should be regular settings. I want several of them. My biggest bugbear is shorts. But I also want to be rid of those little popup things and the overlay cards at the end of a video.

    • @[email protected]
      3•9 months ago

      The reviews on the play store make this sound like a pretty trash app. Maybe I’m looking at the wrong one…

        • @[email protected]
          4•9 months ago

          Thanks, that’s much different! lol This looks pretty involved. Does it need to be updated all the time as Youtube updates, similar to NewPipe? Because NewPipe is a pain to keep updated but it also a lot less work. lol

          • @[email protected]
            2•9 months ago

            What I usually do is tell the Play Store to not update it. Also, I don’t think it’s that involved. Take this with a grain of salt because I’m pretty experienced with phone modification, but I think it’s just downloading the file, opening it, selecting YouTube, choosing what modifications you want, and installing it.

          • SomeDude
            2•9 months ago

            ReVanced doesn’t really require frequent updates. After modifying the YouTube app, I disable auto updates and keep using it until something doesn’t work properly (usually ads reappear)- Happens maybe every 4-5 months for me.

            For example, the YouTube version I’m using right now is 18.23.35 from June 10th, while the newest version that can be patched with ReVanced is 18.35.44. But since I haven’t seen any issues, I didn’t even bother to check for updates. Only your comment made me check and realize that I can update it.

          • @[email protected]
            1•9 months ago

            I don’t find it at all annoying to keep NewPipe up to date.

            I think you may need to take a look at Obtainium.