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

Kbin_space_program,

If you're on Android, Newpipe, from Newpipe.net, is great.

I found out about it when Google delisted it.

Historical_General,
@Historical_General@lemmy.world avatar

Youtube shorts block is a godsend by the sounds of it, installing now.

winkerjadams,

You can also easily block them with ublock origin’s block element feature :)

Historical_General,
@Historical_General@lemmy.world avatar

I like the part where it’ll play as a normal video as well.

JohnBoBon,

Yesssss. Youtube shorts are fine except that it won’t let you navigate them like a normal video. I don’t understand why they don’t wanna have consistant layout between shorts and videos. It’s like a separate site

whats_all_this_then,

My guess: keeping it similar to TikTok, since that’s what shorts trt to compete with.

Nioxic,

alternatively:

“Blocktube” allows you to just straight up block all shorts

and use slightly more advanced code to block any videos with various parameters (specific words in their title, length, from a certain channel etc)

a lot of youtubers i follow constantly have “podcast” episodes and i dont give a fuck about them, but with blocktube… its like they dont exist

axzxc1236,

Restore YouTube Username from Handle to Custom

This script restores REAL NAMES in comments instead of @user-xxxxxx, I am so sick of that shit, I hope revanced will have this function soon. (Edit: I guess that will never happen)

ratherrisky,
@ratherrisky@lemmy.kiberness.xyz avatar

For older/lower end computers, enhanced-h264ify is a godsend. It blocks youtube from playing VP9 codec which can cause heavy cpu usage on older hardware. It can also block 60fps video as well.

Hamartiogonic,
@Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz avatar

Thanks for the tip! Using dearrow has been great so far. I wish I could use it on my iPad too, but I guess now there’s another reason to use my laptop more.

scarabic,

I love to see all this fantastic innovation but it’s a shame that most of it is confined to desktop/laptop computers. 95% of my YouTube consumption is on my phone, iPad, and Roku. Those platforms just aren’t extensible in the same ways. It’s too bad because I’m least likely to sit at my gaming PC watching videos.

I will mention that if you go premium, ads are removed on all devices.

Gestrid,

Vanced used to be the way to go, but the project isn’t being maintained anymore.

Instead, I’d recommend ReVanced. It can be pretty simple to setup. All you need is Vanced MicroG, ReVanced Manager, and a download of the recommended version of the YouTube app from APKMirror. Currently, the recommended version is v18.23.35. (ReVanced Manager will tell you what the recommended version is every time you go to patch YouTube.)

Install Vanced MicroG first. Then install and open ReVanced Manager. Open the “Patch” tab, “Select an application”, then select “Storage” and navigate to where the YouTube app you downloaded is located. Then “Select patches”, making sure to include the MicroG patch. Then select “Patch”, then “Install”. You’re done!

Bonus tip: After the patch process is complete, before you tap “Install”, tap the three-dot menu in the upper-right and select “Export” to export the patched APK in case you run into trouble with the installation itself. That way, you don’t have to rerun the whole patching process, and you have a backup.

Edit: It seems !revanced has a guide you can follow, too, in their Master Post.

nekusoul,
@nekusoul@lemmy.nekusoul.de avatar

Two things I also like to do is changing my Youtube bookmark to https://www.youtube.com/feed/subscriptions and adding the following two filters to uBlock:

<pre style="background-color:#ffffff;">
<span style="color:#323232;">www.youtube.com##.ytp-endscreen-content
</span><span style="color:#323232;">www.youtube.com###related
</span>

This basically makes it so that I only see videos from channels I’m actually subscribed to, without having any content pushed on me from the algorithm.

masterofn001,

If you are an Android user, I highly recommend libretube or pipepipe from f-droid, Izzy, or github repo. No ads. No suggestions. Only what you tell it to show you. Nothing else. And it can download.

Libretube: libre-tube.github.io

pipepipe: codeberg.org/NullPointerException/PipePipe

ultralight,

Probably not the crowd for this but I just use YouTube premium at this point. I used ublock previously to manage some of this but the kicker was ensuring I could watch YT seamlessly on all devices (TV - fire stick, ipad, ios). I know I can setup a pi hole but have been moving last couple years. Perhaps soon once I settle.

DiabolicalDucks,

Of all the streaming services we subscribe to, our family uses YT Premium the most by a large margin. In terms of hours watched/$ it’s easily the best value. And you get YT Music.

Pyro,

Yea. I got Google music way back, it got moved to YouTube music and wrapped with premium. Can’t complain about the result

SilentStorms,

You can set up NextDNS, which will block ads across devices and networks. I think the free tier gives you 300k queries a month.

Never done PiHole but I think the result is similar, with less hassle.

Maheswara,

Tamper monkey with user script to stream YouTube videos as audio…

S_204,

Does this stuff work on mobile?

I use my phone to cast, and/or a google dongle on the TV for Youtube primarily. Almost never from a desktop… does this work still?

HelloHotel,
@HelloHotel@lemmy.world avatar

Newpipe is a personal favorate, its a verry solid, unified package (no plugin support). Can watch most non DRM yt stuff as well as its own non account subscription system, no plugin support means no dearrow or sponsorblock. But it doesnt even relise that the ads even exist so it doesnt load and play them.

EDIT: dark theme is a thing!

Didz,
@Didz@lemmy.world avatar

Even better is NewPipe x SponsorBlock x Return YouTube Dislike all in one.

bilb,
@bilb@lem.monster avatar
  • Pay for youtube premium

^ducks^

EnderWi99in,

Nah, it's worth it. Services like that cost money for a reason. I'm fine paying for a platform like YouTube. I'm just bothered by how they've changed monetization that negativity impacts the people making the content.

ClamDrinker,

I had YT premium for a while, and then I just wanted to download some videos (you know, like they advertise you can) and they just didnt allow it. Had to either watch it in the YT app or on youtube.com on my PC. That’s not downloading - thats just streaming with less computation for youtube, which helps youtube but not me. What a great ‘premium benefit’!

Cancelled my premium right then and there, if they cant provide a feature as simple as just being able to download videos to mp4 or something, thats just misleading. Literally takes seconds to find a third party site or app (NewPipe) that does it.

cxx,

I’m impressed! Suggesting paying for YouTube premium on Reddit is a one-way ticket to downvotesville.

I pay for it too, and it’s completely worth it considering how much time I spend there every day (including music)…

Not to mention the other day I had to use normal YouTube on someone else’s computer and the ads are unbearable.

4815162342, (edited )

.

mojo,

All I’m wishing for on Android is for NewPipe or LibreTube to let me login to get my suggested front page. On desktop, Sponserblock is awesome, and I’ve been liking DeArrow.

uBlock Origin is simply a requirement on every single browser and should always be installed. I’d recommend going into the settings and enabling all the extra filters as well.

Frellwit,

I’d recommend going into the settings and enabling all the extra filters as well.

I’d recommend sticking with the defaults unless you have a specific use case where extra filters are needed. More filters = higher chance of breakage.

decisivelyhoodnoises,

Agree. Enable only what you understand you should enable

tinned_tomatoes,

Use revanced on Android

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

Teknikal,
@Teknikal@lemmy.world avatar

It’s bearable on smartube next if you have an android TV, firestick or similar

My biggest problem with YouTube is they keep giving me videos I’ve already watched and it seems they wipe them from the watch list very quickly to try and trick you into clicking it again.

I also hate the fact that if I say I’m not interested In something they take no notice and send it to my recommendations again regardless.

HughJanus,

Fun fact, if you dislike a video, YT just interprets that as “engagement” and sends you and everyone else more videos like it.

Hyperi0n,

Not really. I’ve purged all Sam Hyde content from my YouTube using the not interested feature.

latewizard,

Who’s Sam Hyde?

Hyperi0n,

Right winged comedy YouTuber. Most of his fan base is very far right.

MedicPigBabySaver,

lemmings

HelloHotel,
@HelloHotel@lemmy.world avatar

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