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.
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
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.
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.
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).
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.
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
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
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.
This is the way.
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 had that happen a few on desktop if I left a video paused overnight, but refreshing the page sorted it out right away.
Sadly, refreshing doesn’t help me either. I’ve tried.
It sometimes happens for me as well
Usually I can get 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
yewtu.be
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 used to get that, but now I don’t even get that few seconds.
Try an extension to spoof your browser agent.
I set mine to spoof Chrome and my Firefox + ublock stopped having any issues with YouTube.
Oh. I hadn’t thought of that. I’ll give that a try!
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).