I’m leeching premium from a friend so no ads on pc, but because I’m getting sick and tired of all the shorts shit being pushed onto me (even play automatically when I would open the YouTube app) I’m using Grayjay on my phone instead of the official YouTube app. Never ads and it even has sponsor block. Plus you can follow creators instead of channels, across platforms. And downloading a video means you can actually watch it without a connection too. It has more perks then someone paying for premium has. Piracy pais off.
On android I use Revanced. It patches the official Youtube app (patches are open source) to greatly expand the base functionality and offer a lot more customization of the UI.
For me the best features are ad block, sponsorblock (skips in video sponsored segments), and complete excision of shorts from all aspects of the app.
It also works on Youtube Music, effectively allowing free premium (just don’t get the local downloads of your most listened tracks to help save data, but I have unlimited anyway).
I am honestly not against in-video sponsorships because it’s at least vetted by the creator and I can hold them accountable if they push garbage. Also it’s negotiated by them, not some trickle from google. At some point these folks need to get paid.
They get paid whether sponsored sections of the video are skipped or not though, which is the beauty of sponsorblock. Sometimes the sponsor sections are high effort though and worth watching.
Meh sometimes I see a thing I actually want to know about and nothing helps a creator more than using their affiliate links/codes. It’s how they keep getting good sponsors. Even better when I see them promoting something I was already interested in or currently use. It’s an easy way for me to give back to them without having to pay directly. Though I am also happy to sometimes just pay people I like.
There aren’t many products being sponsored through YouTube creators which are actually worth it imo. I mean, the best VPN providers don’t pay loads of money for ads. Same with many other products. Companies focused on mass ad campaigns often have expensive products which are not that great. I did see some which are actually pretty good, but most of it is just average at best.
But I also have a personal hate towards ads in general. We are being overloaded with ads wherever you look. I try to live as ad free as possible. I think sponsorblock is awesome, because the creator still gets payed as no one can see you skipped the promotion part. I also don’t like self promotion parts either. I don’t like begging for likes and subscriptions. If the video is good, it gets a like. If the creator is good, I’ll follow. If it’s really good, I’ll consider patreon. Many of the best creators do not beg for likes and only slightly mention patreon at the outro.
I understand creators need to do it, don’t get me wrong. I just don’t like it so sponsorblock is perfect as creators can continue doing it while I can auto skip. Before I had sponsorblock I never clicked any of the links because of what I mentioned before, so me skipping the parts doesn’t change anything for the creator.
That’s fair, I hadn’t considered that people may actually want to click through on sponsored content to help the creator.
I really enjoy not having to see another ad for the usual sponsored brands ever again though (raid, vpns etc) .
I totally get it. I use freetube regularly, we are so saturated with advertisements the Internet is basically unusable with at least some level of ad blocker. I just don’t go out of my way to block the on-air reads for podcasts and YouTube. I used to do some on a podcast I produce so it felt weird and like I was pulling the ladder up behind me lol
Grayjay is from Louis Rossmann, one of the biggest advocates for right to repair. It costs 10 dollars, one time payment, but if you don’t pay it also works. It’s open source. If you have an issue and mail then, they actually respond (fast) to try to solve the issue, or make changes to the app to make it better. It’s really great what they do. And YouTube hates him.
I picked up Grayjay so I can actually watch early access videos from creators I follow on Patreon. I honestly love how it seamlessly integrates multiple services around creators. Also supports Nebula, and IMO provides a nicer experience compared to the official app.
Personally I still use NewPipe (Tubular fork) for my daily viewing just because I kind of prefer that UI
Same, that combination never causes me any problems (I use uMatrix too which is always causing problems, but I get to decide which domains to allow cookies, scripts, and XHR requests from/to).
Also firefox + ublock, but for me, it literally makes YouTube unusable. As in videos just flat out will not play in any way. I just get an endlessly loading spinner for the video
I have this problem or it will play for like 3 seconds and then buffer for a bit, play 3 seconds, buffer, repeat for infinity. No matter what I do I have one of these issues with Firefox and any adblocker and it’s super annoying.
I’m using firefox + ublock origin and have never had the reported issues either.
Best setup by far. Changed my internet experience for the better in so many ways.
Folks should also get freetube
I’m leeching premium from a friend so no ads on pc, but because I’m getting sick and tired of all the shorts shit being pushed onto me (even play automatically when I would open the YouTube app) I’m using Grayjay on my phone instead of the official YouTube app. Never ads and it even has sponsor block. Plus you can follow creators instead of channels, across platforms. And downloading a video means you can actually watch it without a connection too. It has more perks then someone paying for premium has. Piracy pais off.
On android I use Revanced. It patches the official Youtube app (patches are open source) to greatly expand the base functionality and offer a lot more customization of the UI.
For me the best features are ad block, sponsorblock (skips in video sponsored segments), and complete excision of shorts from all aspects of the app.
It also works on Youtube Music, effectively allowing free premium (just don’t get the local downloads of your most listened tracks to help save data, but I have unlimited anyway).
I am honestly not against in-video sponsorships because it’s at least vetted by the creator and I can hold them accountable if they push garbage. Also it’s negotiated by them, not some trickle from google. At some point these folks need to get paid.
They get paid whether sponsored sections of the video are skipped or not though, which is the beauty of sponsorblock. Sometimes the sponsor sections are high effort though and worth watching.
Meh sometimes I see a thing I actually want to know about and nothing helps a creator more than using their affiliate links/codes. It’s how they keep getting good sponsors. Even better when I see them promoting something I was already interested in or currently use. It’s an easy way for me to give back to them without having to pay directly. Though I am also happy to sometimes just pay people I like.
There aren’t many products being sponsored through YouTube creators which are actually worth it imo. I mean, the best VPN providers don’t pay loads of money for ads. Same with many other products. Companies focused on mass ad campaigns often have expensive products which are not that great. I did see some which are actually pretty good, but most of it is just average at best.
But I also have a personal hate towards ads in general. We are being overloaded with ads wherever you look. I try to live as ad free as possible. I think sponsorblock is awesome, because the creator still gets payed as no one can see you skipped the promotion part. I also don’t like self promotion parts either. I don’t like begging for likes and subscriptions. If the video is good, it gets a like. If the creator is good, I’ll follow. If it’s really good, I’ll consider patreon. Many of the best creators do not beg for likes and only slightly mention patreon at the outro.
I understand creators need to do it, don’t get me wrong. I just don’t like it so sponsorblock is perfect as creators can continue doing it while I can auto skip. Before I had sponsorblock I never clicked any of the links because of what I mentioned before, so me skipping the parts doesn’t change anything for the creator.
That’s fair, I hadn’t considered that people may actually want to click through on sponsored content to help the creator. I really enjoy not having to see another ad for the usual sponsored brands ever again though (raid, vpns etc) .
I totally get it. I use freetube regularly, we are so saturated with advertisements the Internet is basically unusable with at least some level of ad blocker. I just don’t go out of my way to block the on-air reads for podcasts and YouTube. I used to do some on a podcast I produce so it felt weird and like I was pulling the ladder up behind me lol
Shorts are the bane of my ADHD ass
I’m going to have to look into Greyjay for sure just for the no shorts part
Yeah I hear ya, same here. Fuck shorts.
Grayjay is from Louis Rossmann, one of the biggest advocates for right to repair. It costs 10 dollars, one time payment, but if you don’t pay it also works. It’s open source. If you have an issue and mail then, they actually respond (fast) to try to solve the issue, or make changes to the app to make it better. It’s really great what they do. And YouTube hates him.
https://grayjay.app/
TIL Louis Rossmann somehow more based than I believed
Isn’t it only source available, and not open source, due to a restriction on reusing the code?
I picked up Grayjay so I can actually watch early access videos from creators I follow on Patreon. I honestly love how it seamlessly integrates multiple services around creators. Also supports Nebula, and IMO provides a nicer experience compared to the official app.
Personally I still use NewPipe (Tubular fork) for my daily viewing just because I kind of prefer that UI
Same, that combination never causes me any problems (I use uMatrix too which is always causing problems, but I get to decide which domains to allow cookies, scripts, and XHR requests from/to).
Also firefox + ublock, but for me, it literally makes YouTube unusable. As in videos just flat out will not play in any way. I just get an endlessly loading spinner for the video
Try an extension to spoof your browser agent.
I set mine to spoof Chrome and my Firefox + ublock stopped having any issues with YouTube.
I have this problem or it will play for like 3 seconds and then buffer for a bit, play 3 seconds, buffer, repeat for infinity. No matter what I do I have one of these issues with Firefox and any adblocker and it’s super annoying.
It sometimes happens for me as well
Usually I can to the vid if I go to the channel and try again. Or trying again a little while later.
It’s fuckin annoying when it trips
I have had that happen a few on desktop if I left a video paused overnight, but refreshing the page sorted it out right away.
Do you have uBlock Origin, or one of the fake adblockers that try to ride on its name?
yewtu.be
This is the way.