Out of the box it can play audio in the background, and now that extensions are available you can block ads as well. You don’t really need constantly updating 3rd party clients or questionable firewalls anymore if you just want usable youtube on a phone.
The only problem with firefox on android is that its slow af compared to chromium based alternatives. I can’t see a difference on pc but it is clearly noticeable on android.
I also have this issue where the webview will refuse to change after a while.
I can try to leave a site typing in and address or try to switch tabs the UI will indicate the page changes and is loading but will still show the old site.
Eventually it goes black and is stuck until I force close and reload the page.
Haven’t yet figured out how /where to report as a bug
Hey all! If I understand this right, for YouTube on iOS, Firefox works well since its built-in adblocker handles YouTube?
But, surely there’s no difference from using regular Safari with Vinegar or another content blocker, right? I just have that on my homescreen as a bookmark and it’s fine. I uninstalled the YouTube app.
What confuses me is Orion, which seems to be the only iOS browser that actually does have third-party extensions, so you can use uBlock, etc. I wonder how long that will last?! Maybe Apple decided there’s no point in booting them, since the EU will soon require an end to this Webkit bullshit for all iOS browsers?
The only issue I have is Youtube automatically downgrading my Quality setting by one each time I watch a new video.
The following thing happens, if I do NOT manually select 1080p each time I watch a new video:
It starts at 1080p for a couple seconds, then buffers a couple seconds. Afterwards it resumes playing at 720p. If I don’t manually reset it to 1080p, the next video starts at 720p, buffers again, and resumes with 480p. This continues all the way down to 144p.
I have not found anything that is able to help me with this issue. By now, I’ve become accustomed to that, but it’s still annoying.
Using the Youtube High Definition addon for FF didn’t help.
Youtube revanced lets you select a prefered quality setting for wifi and a separate one for mobile data. It will force the quality into that setting or the nearest one to it if it’s not available in as high a quality.
This alongside adblock, sponsor block, and lots of customizable UI improvements.
The only issue I have is sometimes when I try to fullscreen a video, Firefox then tries to pop it out and then kind of crashes? It’s more like returns to homescreen, the video is playing, but not visible, and if I reopen or click over to Firefox it’s just the top right corner of Firefox in the bottom left corner of my screen. I’ve tried everything I can think of to fix it.
That’s been happening to me also since the last update. It also won’t allow me to actually log into Lemmy. It goes through the login process, but doesn’t actually log me in. I always have to use Chrome to log in to check the mod reports since Liftoff doesn’t have that ability yet.
yes, it’s true, especially useful for IOS users, but for Android I recommend YouTube Revanced. you can block ads, there is sponsorblock and many others, such as disabling the “shorts” function
Yeah I’m almost positive you’re right and the person you’re responding to is not. All browsers on iOS are skins of safari essentially right now. That’s about to change but only thanks to the EU
oh yeah, I forgot about the whole apple engine. it’s kind of nonsense that all browsers have to use it. Let’s hope this will change when Apple introduces sideloading
I can recommend Orion Browser. It’s from the people that make Kagi. It has the option to either install chrome or Firefox addons. Syncs across iCloud also.
IIRC AdGuard iOS content filter works on safari a while ago to block youtube ads, but that was before youtube began its war against adblockers. Haven’t tested it again yet.
I haven’t tried newpipe, is it missing any features compared to revanced? I love that I can disable the shorts player, play with my screen off, and the wide array of customization options
My main issue with new pipe is that when I scroll down to read the comments, the video disappeares. It’s not fixed in place (don’t know what that’s called). Other than that, it’s great overall!
You will have to add your channels once. These can be backed up into a file and imported onto another device. Not super convenient but compared to how annoying the official app is I am OK with it.
Significantly easier? Newpipe is simply installed from fdroid. I’ve only looked for a few minutes but it looks like revanced “patches” YouTube. Does that mean it doesn’t create its own app but overtakes another? How does that interact when the app underneath gets a play store update?
I’ve been using it for years; just download and install the apk from the website like any other side-loaded app. Yes it modifies the original youtube app, replacing it. I’ve never had an issue with the main app updating and breaking anything. Updates to revanced have to be applied manually the same way as the original install, but I’ve been super lazy and gone several years at a time without updating at all and I’ve never had an issue.
I used to run the original vanced app the same way; rarely if ever updating. It just hasn’t been necessary. Hell, the only reason I’m not still using original vanced app is because the device it was installed on has a broken screen.
Revanced is essentially the same app as the original youtube app with all premium functionality; but with adblock, sponsor block, and a huge host of toggles to show/hide almost every part of the UI or modify the apps behaviour (things like fixed quality settings instead of just ‘auto’ or a default playback speed).
Thanks for the detailed reply. So does the underlying YouTube app never receive app store updates? I’m surprised it went years without some sort of connection issue.
I just had to go check and see, but yes the app still receives google play updates. My YouTube app last updated 5 days ago according to google play. It’s listed as ‘installed by X-Plore’ (the file manager/browser app I use and installed the apk from) in Androids app manager though, instead of being listed as installed by google play.
I’ve just never received an update that’s broken the app, or it’s hacked functionality. I download and install updated vanced apks when I happen to feel like it, which is very very few and far between.
Yes for all those things. Doesnt have youtube recommended or sign in, but you can export youtube subscriptions from your account. LibreTube is also great and i like it better (when my phone doesnt cause problems)
Last time I tried Newpipe it wasn’t all that great. Would be fine if you just hit up YouTube for random stuff, but didn’t have any consideration for channels you subscribed to. I’m guessing it’s gotten better?
I didn’t know Firefox didn’t have extensions on iOS. I would have called it Firefox android instead of mobile. I’m glad there’s still ways for iOS users to do this.
Yeah same but Orion is legitimately running sponsor block, dark reader, and unlock origin for me. Tried it on YouTube tonight and zero ads for a few hours. I thought this was against Apple’s TOS for devs or something.
Why install the app when all the same features work in browser? Not only did I save storage space, I also kept privacy as well as reduced CPU/RAM usage on my mid-tier phone using the browser that was already installed.
All apps send telemetry, this includesNewPipe. Your data is in that telemetry. The less apps you have installed, the less likely your data is sent to parties that leverage your information for profits.
The link you’re using here is not telemetry. Telemetry is some sort of reporting on how the app is being used that’s “phoned home” back to the app creators. In the case of NewPipe, as the link you provided shows, there is none of that; and indeed, it only executes enough JavaScript to grab the video download link. Google still records a download, because they own the server (and any access of someone else’s server can be logged), but NewPipe is only sending it (1) the video page URL, (2) an anonymous user-string, required for every web request, and (3) a single, unidentifying query string parameter.
Some apps don’t even send that much, and you can prove it by checking their source code when available.
Excuse me, did you even read what you have linked? The first link literally explains the privacy policy of “the NewPipe’s” website.
Also, what the fuck is even newpipe.app? github.com/TeamNewPipe/NewPipeThe GH repo as well as the F-Droid release all link to newpipe.net and I couldn’t find any reference to the .app website there.
Why install the app when all the same features work in browser?
This is a pretty fair argument. It reminds me of the early 2010s when the sentiment everyone had was “we have an app for that”. We don’t need more specialized apps (which really aren’t that specialized - most of these do exactly the same thing), we just need intelligent solutions using what we have. Back in the day that was responsive layouts, today it’s browser extensions.
I did use that for a while. Google was always finding ways to break it. I don’t use youtube on my phone often and when I had newpipe 9/10 times it was broken when I wanted to use it, so it didn’t make it onto my next phone.
ReVanced? Adguard has been able to block ads both from the yotube app and youtube in a browser for years, too. Also, any chrome based browser can do it with extensions for, also bene a thing for years. I’ve used opera, kiwi, and bromite for that.
Adguard is in the category of questionable firewalls. I used it for a while and it was just too kludgey for me when there’s not many apps with ads that I use anymore. Android has free software for pretty much everything at this point.
DDG has a browser, and it's based on Chromium which is from Google, so this is a shit take. Do not use Chromium based browsers if you value privacy or ad blocking features.
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