PSA To people watching YouTube with AdBlockers

You might have noticed that even on Firefox (depending on your lists) YouTube may detect uBlock Origin on Firefox now

There’s already a workaround (found, again, here), but I figured I would use this opportunity to tell people that projects like Piped and Invidious exist, which both allow you to watch YouTube without loading their ads, with improved Privacy and (in the case of Piped) even Geoblocking-Circumvention and SponsorBlock out of the box.

They’re both great tools, and using something like LibRedirect you can even automatically go to Piped or Invidious when clicking/opening a YouTube link (and more).

Both don’t load ads, but unless changed in the settings Individous may still make connections to Google/YouTube to load the video(s) themselves.

Bit of a shameless plug for these projects, but I figured this is a really good time to show these projects as I often see people asking what they are in threads on here

db2,

I’ll stick with revanced, there really isn’t anything they can do to stop it long term.

twistedtxb,
@twistedtxb@lemmy.ca avatar

Revanced is pretty much perfect for my needs.

And SmartTube on my Android TV.

Bandicoot_Academic,

Just a note for people wanting to install it:

The only official website is www.revanced.app and www.github.com/revanced , all other websites are unoffincial and can sometimes spread malware. Unfortunetley the official site has terrible SEO and shows up very low in search results. Also the revanced team dosen’t distibute prebuilt apks for copyright reasons, you have to patch the stock apk yourself.

MomoTimeToDie,

Am I just insanely lucky or something? I just use chrome and it hasn’t complained about my adblock once, and I watch a lot of YouTube.

Lumun,
@Lumun@lemmy.zip avatar

You are probably lucky, for now. I’m pretty sure they are rolling it out in waves. Boiling the frog and all that.

Thorny_Insight,

They’re probably A/B testing it on only part of the users. I didn’t get it for a long time either, but when it appeared the first time it just kept showing up again and again after that.

tallwookie,

started using FreeTube (the installed version) - after importing my YT account data it’s basically the same thing as YT just outside the browser - but without ads/etc

GreasyTengu,

switched to freetube yesterday, pretty good so far, though I cant figure how to import my playlists over.

tallwookie,

no playlists yet but you can export your subscriptions (from youtube) - docs.freetubeapp.io/…/importing-subscriptions/

mihnt,
@mihnt@lemmy.world avatar

deleted_by_author

    •
    GreasyTengu,

    ah, makes sense why it wouldn’t take the playlists i exported from youtube then.

    iHUNTcriminals,

    I think the last update made it better. I used to get errors loading pages and feeds… It would still work but it would post an annoying error bubble. Now it doesn’t! This is one of my must haves for a Linus install.

    Sir_Kevin,
    @Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

    I did the same yesterday and was pleasantly surprised with how much more responsive it is compared to normal YouTube in a browser. The interface is very snappy. FreeTube also has Sponsor Block built in as an optional feature.

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

    I would love to use it, instead of YouTube but two things hold me back.

    1. Sometimes I like to just browse the home page and watch some recommended videos, and Freetube does not have that.
    2. Blocking channels with Freetube is kinda bothersome. Having to copy-paste the name of every channel I don’t want to see is tedious, especially since I use the Blocktube extension, and at this point have hundreds of channels blocked. I would be happy if there was a similar option in Freetube, or if I could import my blocklist from BlockTube.
    shish_mish,
    @shish_mish@lemmy.world avatar

    I am using Ublock and sponsor block,so far no adverts but it is always good to have more tools,just in case.Thank you for the links :)

    QuinceDaPence,

    My HTPC has accounts in chrome on there for each member of the family. All are configured the same with ublock origin but only one is getting the popups.

    CubbyTustard, (edited )

    deleted_by_author

    •
    elltee,
    1. Choose instance: github.com/TeamPiped/Piped/wiki/Instances
    2. Click instance link
    3. watch videos
    4. ?
    5. profit

    You can create account on a per instance basis.

    Cheers

    over_clox,

    I can’t comment on how Piped works, but I can tell you how it doesn’t work. Piped does not access or utilize your Google account in any way. 👍

    This comment was posted from a device that’s never been logged into any Google account in the first place.

    Tanya,

    What email account provider do you use? Would be interested to get free of Google. .

    shish_mish,
    @shish_mish@lemmy.world avatar

    Proton mail is excellent and comes with a decent VPN that is free for personal use.

    SimplePhysics,

    If you want to get away from just Google, you can try iCloud or whatever Microsoft calls their Mail product now. If you want to get away with big tech run products, I recommend Proton. Of course you can always go full tinfoil hat and host your own email server with your own domain, but that will set you back at least 7 bucks a year, even if you for the cheapest register (Cloudflare, they don’t add their own fees at all, so you can’t really go lower).

    over_clox,

    Unfortunately I still use Google, just not on this particular phone or my tablet. I’m still in the process of gradually de-Googling myself.

    I’ve heard Proton is good though, it’s on my radar in the future… proton.me

    Also, not for daily use, more as a throwaway email for sites that have no business asking your email… www.dispostable.com

    Tanya,

    Thank you, I will look into it!

    rush,

    It doesn’t use the APIs at all, which is also why Google can’t Cease & Desist them for not complying with API terms

    guyrocket,
    @guyrocket@kbin.social avatar

    Piped <> New pipe legacy?

    Morgikan,
    @Morgikan@lemm.ee avatar

    I run my own Invidious instance on my local network and its not bad, but you really aren’t able to endlessly doom scroll Youtube recommendations with it. That sounds like a non-issue, but its more difficult to find new content you like without that algorithmic aspect. Technically, Invidious will load playlists, but the UI is designed to maximize the video presence without the other add-ons, so scrolling is a pain. Also, history is unnamed so its just a thumbnail with no other info.

    You can change UI of Invidious with Stylus (ex. userstyles.world/…/invidious-all-instances-player…), but that won’t run in qutebrowser and I love my native vim bindings.

    beta_tester,

    Ever since I disabled every recommendation in libretube I don’t watch anything on youtube anymore because I have no fucking clue that it even exists.

    Morgikan,
    @Morgikan@lemm.ee avatar

    I’ve been relying on yt-dlp and hint links to pipe video from Youtube to mpv. Its not a bad solution, but isn’t quite the doom scrolling I want. Here’s an example: files.catbox.moe/688xbo.png

    averyminya,

    That’s one of the reasons I like Piped, the video you are currently on does have a small similar-to feed on the side

    doublepepperoni,
    @doublepepperoni@hexbear.net avatar

    Yeah, as good as Youtube’s algorithms are at pushing hardcore right-wing content on completely fresh accounts in like 3 clicks, my accounts have been around for so long that my recommends tend to be on the money most of the time.

    I discover multiple new channels each month from my recommends whereas 10 years ago I’d occasionally check a channel that a friend recommended or was embedded on a forum post

    Morgikan,
    @Morgikan@lemm.ee avatar

    Hah, it still tries with the right-wing conspiracy garbage though every so often though. Its like “Hey…you wanna watch some hate crimes? No? Uh… uh… ok, here’s the 37min of LOTR facts you asked for…”

    doublepepperoni,
    @doublepepperoni@hexbear.net avatar

    Oh, definitely but it’s shockingly bad when using YT without logging in

    janbug,

    I’ve found for me, freetube works better than invidious and piped. Much better response time and freetube has subscriptions nd a good UI.

    lemann,

    Freetube on desktop + newpipe/libretube on mobile is pretty much my combo. I very, very rarely visit youtube’s site directly anymore lol

    moreeni,

    I haven’t visited the site intentionally from my devices in years

    Sir_Kevin,
    @Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

    FreeTube actually has Invidious support as well so you can use both if you like.

    zeroshift11,
    @zeroshift11@lemmy.world avatar

    Ad Block Plus Chrome extension still works perfectly for me.

    jlow,

    Is Libredirect working good for you? Every few month I turn it on for a couple of services (YT, Wikipedia, Reddit, Github, Twitchan) and turn it off after a few days because I can’t be bothered trying to find instances that work, it’s just a constant pain for me.

    rush,

    It works well, services not working is more about websites trying to block these tools, and I try to be understanding of the issues.

    jlow,

    Yeah, fair enough.

    forensic_potato,
    @forensic_potato@lemmy.world avatar

    I’d like to add to the sentiment of this post by saying that if you ever used any of those amazing websites, I’m sure the developers will highly appreciate it if those with the means could consider contributing to their projects.

    We all know how greedy and shameless YouTube can be, and yet those developers give us incredible products for free. And if you ever saw the entitled requests of some users on their projects’ pages whenever YouTube implements some changes, and they have to rush to fix their code, I’m sure you would appreciate them even more. I’ve personally seen quite a few projects being abandoned because of the sometimes thankless job of being a developer, and I would hate it for any of these to suffer a similar fate.

    So if you can and are willing, feel free to join me in contributing to:

    deweydecibel,

    The irony of these smalltime maintainers asking for donations when their own software is purpose made to hurt the income of smalltime creators. Particularly if they include Sponsorblock.

    Hominine,
    @Hominine@lemmy.world avatar

    lemmy.ca/comment/3988439

    porksoda,

    I was about to say add uBlock Origin to that list but apparently they don’t accept donations per the bottom of their homepage.

    I will not accept donations or sponsorships of any kind.

    That’s some fuck you energy right there.

    ryannathans,

    Not uncommon, the project I am maintainer of doesn’t accept donations either

    vlad76,
    @vlad76@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

    What a King.

    forensic_potato,
    @forensic_potato@lemmy.world avatar

    Lmao serious ‘fuck you’ energy.

    Out of curiosity I went to the project’s page and saw more info on why they don’t take donations:

    Free. Open-source. For users by users. No donations sought. If you ever want to contribute something, think about the people working hard to maintain the filter lists you are using, which are available to use by all for free.

    WeLoveCastingSpellz,

    Its crazy all my piped servers stopped working which sucks, if anyone is willing to share a server that works or a self hosted one they could let me in. Hit me up

    GenderNeutralBro,

    I’d also like to point out that mpv has youtube-dl built-in (and can also use the cooler fork, yt-dlp). You can open YouTube links directly in mpv and they will play with no bullshit. It can even pull 4K streams.

    There are browser plugins that let you open links directly in external programs like mpv, although they are a bit of a hassle to set up (especially if you are on Ubuntu with their godforsaken Snaps).

    Morgikan,
    @Morgikan@lemm.ee avatar

    If you really want to kick mpv up a notch you should check out the uosc UI for mpv: github.com/tomasklaen/uosc

    GenderNeutralBro,

    Ooh, never heard of this before and it looks super cool. Thanks for the tip!

    Player2,

    Revanced also works with no problems

    EnderofGames,

    I stopped using Revanced for NewPipe when it was giving me trouble. But I have a friend that swears by Revanced.

    They are Android only, iirc. Practically the mobile app version of the projects someone listed in another comment.

    MigratingtoLemmy,

    I really should install LibRedirect

    AstridWipenaugh,

    What’s the most turnkey solution with good features? I’m an experienced developer and can self-host, but I’m not looking for another thing to maintain.

    Morgikan,
    @Morgikan@lemm.ee avatar

    They all have pros and cons. For me, I wanted something that would be accessible from one central point across a zero tier network. This way I wasn’t having to maintain database copies of free tube via rclone or other tool and handle merges. That pretty much just meant Invidious. Someone had actually made a tool to automate docker container deployment and build out the PostgreSQL tables. It turned out to be the simplest solution for me.

    Here is a link: github.com/tmiland/invidious-updater

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