Youtube let the other shoe drop in their end-stage enshittification this week. Last month, they required you to turn on Youtube History to view the feed of youtube videos recommendations. That seems reasonable, so I did it. But I delete my history every 1 week instead of every 3 months. So they don’t get much from my choices. It still did a pretty good job of showing me stuff I was interested in watching.
Then on Oct 1, they threw up a “You’re using an Ad Blocker” overlay on videos. I’d use my trusty Overlay Remover plugin to remove the annoying javascript graphic and watch what I wanted. I didn’t have to click the X to dismiss the obnoxious page.
Last week, they started placing a timer with the X so you had to wait 5 seconds for the X to appear so you could dismiss blocking graphic.
Today, there was a new graphic. It allowed you to view three videos before you had to turn off your Ad Blocker. I viewed a video 3 times just to see what happens.
Now all I see is this.
Google has out and out made it a violation of their ToS to have an ad blocker to view Youtube. Or you can pay them $$$.
I ban such sites from my systems by replacing their DNS name in my hosts file routed to 127.0.0.1 which means I can’t view the site. I have quite a few banned sites now.
If you’re on PC use Firefox with uBlock Origin.
For Android, Im personally using Libretube but using mobile Firefox with uBlock Origin also works.
On android you should try to go with youtube revanced, its a little tedious and time consuming to install but it is worth every single second.
Nah I prefer Libretube.
I’m curious, what makes you prefer Libretube?
PSA:Firefox + ublock origin combo works on android as well. If you don’t want to install revanced.
Kiwi + ublock 👍
NewPipe is another good option for android
Another option on Android is NewPipe. Doesn’t look as nice as Libretube imo, but it goes to Youtube directly for content which is useful since public piped instances can be a bit unreliable or slow from time to time. (Also on Libretube you have to sign up and re-import your subscriptions whenever you switch instances which can be tedious)
NewPipe is really good once you get the hang of it.
You have to keep in mind that its development has temporarily slowed down a bit, so you won’t have many new features, such as being able to view Shorts and Livestreams tabs in a profile (can be overcome by browsing the profile via Invidious and sharing the page to NewPipe) but bugfixes are usually quick. AFAIK the slowdown is due to a rewrite/refactoring which will make NewPipe easier to develop and maintain and improve its UI.
You can disable libretube proxy in settings
Also FreeTube for PC
Revanced still pretty much works for me
Yeah I just clicked X on their popup and went back to watching videos lol
That is just the beginning of your warnings. Later there will be a countdown before the x appears, and eventually there will be no x to click. You need to use ublock origin (and non-Chromium browsers). Remember to purge cache and updage ublock origin.
I just tried libretube but it crashes every time I click on a video :(
It’s such a shame because I used to use newpipe all the time and I absolutely loved that, until it also stopped working
Did you install it from fdroid? There is a problem in fdroid version that crashes app when trying to play video. Its already fixed on github but fdroid is slow to update.
Thank you!! Now it works perfectly :)
Its also available on IzzyOnDroid repo
I think you need to update NewPipe.
If you just installed the app from an apk file, try installing it from the F-Droid app instead, to keep on receiving new updates.
Alternatively, you could add it to the Obtainium app (use the search bar when adding), since it supports GitHub, F-Droid and many more repositories.
That’ll keep you updated!
Revanced not an option?
For iOS users, I highly recommend using Vinegar. 👌
I use Firefox with uBO on Windows and it doesn’t help. I tried installing filters I found online but they don’t do shit.
I’ll just install FreeTube.
It’s likely because you have some other addons/tracking protection/etc that blocks stuff or otherwise modifies how YouTube behaves. I had a YouTube enhancement addon installed, once I uninstalled that, everything got blocked properly again.
That’s odd. Were you using other YouTube add-ons?
NewPipe still works for me. But i see only crap, so i close it again.
Find channels and subscribe. It pulls them in from the feed.
clipious exists
Never heard of it.