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Top Extensions to Make YouTube Bearable

Hello fellow, lemmings, lemmur !

If you are like me, you probably spend a lot of time on YouTube, more than you want to admit.

I remember the days when videos had stars instead of thumbs up or down, and when YouTube had, let’s say, more mature content on it.

Now the site has a lot of functionalitys that are great for Google, but that I don’t need nor want.

So, to improve the enjoyment of the platform, I present to you the ultimate extension survival kit for YouTube:

  1. https://ublockorigin.com/: (or your favorite ad-blocker) This is an absolute must-have. It’s a good ad-blocker that not only blocks YouTube ads but also works across all websites. It’s lightweight, efficient, and open-source. Say goodbye to ads.
  2. https://sponsor.ajay.app/: Skip over the sponsored segments of videos. It’s a community-driven project, with users submitting the timestamps of sponsored content. You can even customize it to skip over different types of segments like intros, outros, and more.
  3. https://www.returnyoutubedislike.com/: Since YouTube removed the dislike count, it’s been harder to gauge the quality of videos. This extension brings back the dislike count.
  4. https://dearrow.ajay.app/: Extension for crowdsourcing better titles and thumbnails. It removes click-bait titles and thumbnails providing a cleaner Youtube.
  5. https://github.com/doma-itachi/Youtube-shorts-block: If you’re not a fan of shorts, this extension is for you. It plays the Youtube shorts video as if it were a normal video and hides the “shorts” tab from the left menu. Firefox Link Chrome Link
  6. https://addons.mozilla.org/fr/firefox/addon/enhancer-for-youtube/: Allows you to add theming options, auto-HD, keyboard shortcuts and more.

These are the extensions I use. Don’t hesitate to suggest more. I will edit the post accordingly.

It’s not lost on me that these extensions remove many things that were not initially a problem on YouTube but that either arose because of the monetary incentive of Google handling the website, Youtubers trying to make money, or as countermeasures to problems that were taken care of by a previous extension. This kind of feels like an arms race…

Edit 1: Changed the YouTube Shorts Block description and added Enhancer for YouTube

deepinder_brar ,

Use youtube revanced with microg on non rooted phones, it comes with all the premium and unique features…

Hiccup ,

Do you have a guide or tutorial for this?

dinckelman ,

Get the manager here, download the youtube apk of the version it recommends, and choose the patches you want. No guide needed

BigDickless ,

lemmy.world/c/revanced the master post has a guide

OtakuAltair ,

!revanced

Alkider ,

adb to remove google services, fdroid for a firefox browser, revanced manager on github to compile revanced, and once that’s done all that’s left is to install it. Maybe also export it so that you don’t have to rebuild that version again.

fry_boiter ,

I used vanced and was very satisfied. Now revanced draws so much power I constantly had to recharge my phone, even when not using YouTube. Hat to uninstall it for this reason.

decisivelyhoodnoises ,
@decisivelyhoodnoises@sh.itjust.works avatar

Did you download a ready apk? If yes, it was malware. Follow the recommended procedure with the manager and patching the original YouTube apk yourself

joey ,

I’m in the Newpipe bandwagon. NewPipe has been the best way for accessing YouTube for a long time on Android. It’s available in f-droid. Another plus on my book. I’m kinda not so much into installing a random apk for revanced.

Diego ,

deleted_by_author

    •
    Nioxic ,

    This is the same on vanced

    And sponsorblock built in, as well

    Alternatively, the web app from piped.video is pretty great too. Works nicely on my phone

    No tracking, no ads, no bullshit

    GFGJewbacca ,

    I’ll chime in with my vote for NewPipe as well. It’s served me very well, and does so much.

    altima_neo ,
    @altima_neo@lemmy.zip avatar

    With revanced you just get the APK from GitHub and patch the appropriate version of the official YouTube APK.

    Hyperi0n ,

    Revanced as better features and let’s you sign in.

    joey ,

    I’m sure it does. I don’t really need sign in though. YouTube is the last place where I want to have comment interaction. And Newpipe do have local playlist and bookmark options which I need.

    Krompus ,
    @Krompus@lemmy.world avatar

    Newpipe, you mean that app that displays an annoying “GURU MEDIDATION” error for 30% of videos? Try LibreTube, it actually works.

    joey ,

    Well I experienced it from time to time when YouTube changes some things. Actually haven’t faced it in a long time.

    darkkite ,

    i’ve never had an issue with newpipe that wasn’t fixed by updating to the latest version

    Krompus ,
    @Krompus@lemmy.world avatar

    I had it installed for years, updated regularly, and ran into those errors too often to recommend it.

    NightOwl ,

    It’s much more stable that it was in the past. I’d run it on the desktop if I could.

    zxo ,

    NewPipe is great, it gets around the main issue with Piped/Invidious instances (that being rate limiting by Google). I’ve been using it for years and it’s been great all this time.

    schmak ,

    Similarly if you’re on iPhone look up sideloadly and install uYouPlus

    skylestia ,
    @skylestia@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

    In addition to some of the ones listed in OP, I use

    • YouTube Auto Like - automatically likes videos you open them (optionally only when you’re subscribed to the channel). If you’re on a Chromium browser, Google removed this extension from their web store so you can’t install it from there anymore. But you can install it manually if you want by downloading it from the Github repo here.

    I also use the following userscripts:

    • Return Youtube Dislike - Does the same thing as the Return Youtube Dislike extension in the OP
    • Youtube Shorts Redirect - redirects Youtube Shorts to a full watch page, so you can watch them like a regular video.
    • Resize YT To Window Size - resizes the video player so that it fills in the entire dimensions of the browser window and moves video players to the top of the page so you can scroll down to see comments, recommend videos, etc.
    • YouTube CPU Tamer by AnimationFrame - reduces Youtube’s CPU usage during video playback. I don’t really understand the technical aspects but it’s all explained in the description of the userscript. This script IS NOT compatible with SponsorBlock!

    Stuff I’m looking for (if anyone has any recommendations):

    • Remove duplicate videos from a playlist
    • display playlists in a grid layout instead of a list layout
    • block youtube channels i don’t like
    dizzy ,
    @dizzy@lemmy.ml avatar

    You might be interested in pockettube. Not quite what you asked for but it does allow you to make groups of subscriptions and display those in a grid layout.

    skylestia ,
    @skylestia@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

    pockettube looks great, thanks for the recommendation!

    Hyperi0n ,

    Why the hell would anyway want to poison their liked views with an extention that likes every video they watch?

    SteveMan ,

    I do this on my work and home account.

    I seldom watch ‘random’ videos, mostly stick to a large curated list of channels I’ve grown to like over the years and I got sick of always having to remember to like or even go back to like videos (as doing my small part of channel interaction is the least I could do for them).

    I enjoy all the videos of said channels (otherwise I wouldn’t be watching them…).

    The auto like is set to happen after 30% of the video and is very easy to hit the 0 key or - key to unlike or dislike on the small amount of videos I watch that don’t deserve a like.

    Pretty simple. A solution that works for many might not work for you and that’s just dandy.

    Hyperi0n ,

    The 30% watch and like option is a neet feature. Seems very customisable.

    bigcheese ,

    I really like Distraction Free YoutubeYou can remove the trending tab, shorts, recommendations, comments aka all of the time wasting fluff which really helped me cut back my YouTube usage

    t0lo ,

    Is there something which alters the algorithm to have less company videos?

    STUPIDVIPGUY ,

    i never get corpo videos? algorithm is just confusing

    Speculater ,
    @Speculater@lemmy.world avatar

    Reminder to all, Firefox on Android can use UBlock Origin. It’s an easy setup, no more ads.

    BaroqueInMind ,
    @BaroqueInMind@kbin.social avatar

    Corollary, you can install Firefox Nightly and setup an addon collection on the FF website and use pretty much all desktop addons on your mobile Firefox browser.

    Lix_xD ,

    For non Firefox users, use kiwi browsers for chrome extensions or revanced

    Lix_xD ,

    For non Firefox users, use kiwi browsers for chrome extensions or revanced

    moitoi ,

    And, you can add sponsorblock using beta, nightly or fennec f-droid and custom list of addon.

    Some_Emo_Chick ,
    @Some_Emo_Chick@lemmy.world avatar

    Here’s a filter list for UBlock Origin that blocks out all YouTube Shorts.

    github.com/gijsdev/ublock-hide-yt-shorts

    Vormuk ,

    If you are already an android user. It’s definitely worth putting I some time to check out ReVanced on github.

    They are the spiritual successor to Vanced and you use the ReVanced manager to patch your own youtube APK (and many more apks.)

    Bogasse ,

    I’ll add that NewPipe is a great app, has a fork to support sponsorblock and can mix your YouTube subscription with other sources (eg. PeerTube), which could allow for a smooth transition.

    You have to be willing to loose your personalized suggestions page, but when it comes to me it helped a lot to get less addicted.

    NightOwl ,

    Losing personalized suggestions was a plus for me, since youtube is so thrown off by one video and even when it recommends channels that fit into the genre you like it doesn’t seem to be able to understand why it is that you like certain channels.

    For instance, video games. It should know not to recommend channels that don’t have really loud youtubers who are screaming at me to smash the like button and have the most obnoxious thumbnails. But, it just sees that I like games. And then it is horrible for spoilers where I might watch a video for a game review I’m interested in then next it does is start filling my feed with spoiler content from that video.

    I can do without it.

    Bogasse ,

    Yeah it’s the same for me. When I watch Youtube on my computer I often feel like I wasted a lot of time. On my phone I can only pick high quality content from the curated list of creators that I’ve maintained over the years, and it is a much better experience.

    beefontoast ,

    Brave browser on android has YouTube ad blocking by default.

    Sivaru ,

    NewPipe is more than enough.

    pineapplelover ,

    Also a shoutout to Libretube. Much better UI and updates quickly. With the downside that it’s less reliable

    Araozu ,

    Libretube with my own Piped instance, almost flamless. One line setup with docker, Runs perfectly on a 5$ VPS. I haven’t entered youtube in months, there is no reason other that to import suscriptions, channels, etc.

    Only problem is for some reason some not-so-popular videos are slow to load on 720p, but load fine in 480p or 1080p. Really weird.

    zxo ,

    NewPipe is currently doing a big rewrite of the app, so that’s probably why development seems stagnant.

    Also I have heard of Clipious being good too

    crystal ,

    The one thing that stops me from using NewPipe is not seeing answers to comments.

    It’s such an important feature but it’s simply missing.

    Until that’s added I don’t think NewPipe will be an option for me.

    Araozu ,

    You can try LibreTube, it has almost all the features of youtube. Only downside is some videos are slow to load, but if you can host your own Piped instance that’s solved. It has sponsorblock built in, regular updates, and a better ui imo

    hockeyhippie ,

    I use YouTube Archivist to download channels I want and view them in Jellyfin. There’s now a companion app for FF/Chrome to subscribe or download stuff you’re interested in from a browser.

    Longmactoppedup ,

    That looks great. I suspect YouTube is going to get the enshitification treatment at some point in the near future. Having an archive of content will be handy.

    tookys ,
    @tookys@fosstodon.org avatar

    @hockeyhippie

    @oct_opus

    Got a link to the program your using? I had used playon.tv when I got their $40 lifetime license, then they decided people only live 6 years.

    So I'm hoping to find a way to link up the meta data for all my already downloaded and keep up with new videos.

    (Currently at 30k YouTube recordings)

    tookys ,
    @tookys@fosstodon.org avatar

    @hockeyhippie

    @oct_opus

    Oh it's a docker server, and can import existing files.

    This is exactly what I was looking for.

    ThisIsNecessary ,

    I use a browser extension that is called “Comments Sidebar for YouTube”. It just puts the comments along the side instead of under the video so I can scroll through them without leaving the video. I think YouTube used to do this? I remember finding this extension to replace that function.

    Araozu ,

    A year ago that would randomly appear for me. It seems they were a/b testing it.

    ThisIsNecessary ,

    I found YouTube impossible to use without it

    NightOwl ,

    Is there a reliable channel blocker addon or front end that let’s you keep a list of channels you want blocked. Some channels just keep populating play next or searches when I don’t want them to because of how popular the channels are.

    kratoz29 ,

    Google does not like this…

    morgan_423 ,
    @morgan_423@lemmy.world avatar

    Maybe if they’d stop enshittifying their site trying to strong arm people into buying Premium, and start making the user experience actually bareable for people without ad blockers (I’d happily take a unskippable ad between videos if they’d remove the experience-destroying mid-roll ads), then people wouldn’t go through these measures to block ads and modify things in Google-unfavorable ways.

    ultratiem ,
    @ultratiem@lemmy.world avatar

    For people on Apple devices and Safari, check these out: apps.apple.com/ca/app-bundle/…/id1601247237

    Vinegar is for YT and Baking Soda for the rest of the web. Little annoying the devs split them up but they are both great as they give you a basic video. No ads, overlays, nothing. It may seem like a small thing but man does it have a huge impact.

    sutlusalca ,
    @sutlusalca@kbin.social avatar

    Also don't forget these two:

    • De-mainstream Youtube
    • Clickbait remover for Youtube
    kokesh ,
    @kokesh@lemmy.world avatar

    Vanced. Still works like a charm! Get Vanced Manager from APK Mirror and install.

    wizardbeard , (edited )

    Please don’t. Revanced has been around for well over a year now and is actually maintained. Vanced was abandoned ages ago. Revanced is significantly less buggy, has options to block shorts, and has Sponsorblock built in now.

    Official site: revanced.app

    APK mirror is great for getting the right Youtube APK version to patch with Revanced Manager though. Revanced also supports Youtube Music, pretty much giving you the premium features for free.

    kokesh , (edited )
    @kokesh@lemmy.world avatar

    Switched to it, root install, total happiness.

    EnderWi99in ,

    YouTube Premium feels pretty bearable as is. I'm not really sure what I'd want it to do besides have the option to turn the algorithm on and off. When I leave 5hrs of Bob Ross on for my dog for an afternoon I would prefer that not counted in future pushed content.

    clearedtoland ,

    Isn’t there an incognito mode for that too? I don’t really use it but I’m certain I’ve seen it.

    That said, I canceled premium because I don’t really use it now. Originally paid for it after buying a house and DIYing a lot. Now I’ll stick to the extensions and see if I hang in there.

    EnderWi99in ,

    Yeah that's fine. To each their own, but I basically live on YouTube so for me it's worth it.

    arnoid ,

    Sadly ad blockers will soon stop working on YouTube…. theverge.com/…/youtube-videos-disabling-ad-blocke…

    chat_mots ,
    @chat_mots@jlai.lu avatar

    Even Twitch agressive ad-blocker blocking methods can be bypass fairly easily (it’s just not as easy as downloading an adblocker). I have hope for the future of YouTube’s adblocker !

    oct_opus OP ,

    When there is a will there’s a way. They underestimate what people on the interwebs are willing to do to watch bad videos without being bothered by even abysmally crappier ads 🤡

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