1478
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by oct_opus@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

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. uBlock Origin: (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. SponsorBlock: 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. Return YouTube Dislike: Since YouTube removed the dislike count, it's been harder to gauge the quality of videos. This extension brings back the dislike count.
  4. DeArrow: Extension for crowdsourcing better titles and thumbnails. It removes click-bait titles and thumbnails providing a cleaner Youtube.
  5. 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. 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

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] noodlejetski@geddit.social 139 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

just one needed: LibRedirect set to automatically redirect the URLs to Piped or Invidious. no.ads, no shorts, no tracking, and Piped comes with SponsorBlock built in.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/libredirect/

[-] schwim@lemmy.world 28 points 1 year ago

I found this comment more useful than the OP. With Google getting ready to block ad blockers, I'm hoping this is a way to continue watching YT content.

[-] itsAsin@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago

looks like i may be heading back over to Firefox.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[-] Speculater@lemmy.world 74 points 1 year ago

Reminder to all, Firefox on Android can use UBlock Origin. It's an easy setup, no more ads.

[-] BaroqueInMind@kbin.social 28 points 1 year ago

Corollary, you can install Firefox Nightly and setup an addon collection on the FF website and use pretty much all desktop addons on your mobile Firefox browser.

load more comments (9 replies)
[-] deepinder_brar@lemmy.world 42 points 1 year ago

Use youtube revanced with microg on non rooted phones, it comes with all the premium and unique features....

[-] joey@lemm.ee 17 points 1 year ago

I'm in the Newpipe bandwagon. NewPipe has been the best way for accessing YouTube for a long time on Android. It's available in f-droid. Another plus on my book. I'm kinda not so much into installing a random apk for revanced.

load more comments (8 replies)
[-] yemmy@lemmy.world 35 points 1 year ago

For YouTube Shorts, you can copy this filter into the uBlock My Filters.

[-] sp6@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago

That's nice, although somewhat different than what OP linked. I think the filter you linked will completely remove shorts, where the extension OP linked (Youtube Shorts Block) will instead convert shorts into a normal video, despite the misleading name. Although I think the extension has an option to completely block shorts too

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] nekusoul@lemmy.nekusoul.de 26 points 1 year ago

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:

www.youtube.com##.ytp-endscreen-content
www.youtube.com###related

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.

[-] PipedLinkBot@feddit.rocks 11 points 1 year ago

Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/feed/subscriptions

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.

load more comments (5 replies)
load more comments (3 replies)
[-] autokludge@programming.dev 23 points 1 year ago

I came across Unhook, which lets you remove parts of YouTube that are designed to keep you there.

Changed the YT home page to subscriptions instead of 'the algorithm'.

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] zeekzag@lemmy.world 23 points 1 year ago

If you use a script manager (Tampermonkey, Violentmonkey, Greasemonkey, Firemonkey) I can recommend some userscripts:

  1. Tabview for Youtube - condenses comments, description, playlists and chat into a neatly organised sidebar,
  2. YT Resource Unholder - improves how YT handles resources and improves performance,
  3. YT CPU Tamer - more performance improvements,
  4. YT AV1 - forces YT to use AV1 for all videos.
load more comments (4 replies)
[-] mojo@lemm.ee 21 points 1 year ago

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.

[-] tinned_tomatoes@feddit.uk 14 points 1 year ago
load more comments (8 replies)
load more comments (6 replies)
[-] Stealth_Bummer@lemmy.world 21 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Youtube search fix: This is not a extension but if you save this as a bookmark javascript:location.href=location.href+'&sp=CAASAhAB'; in your browser it can be used to remove youtubes recommended / "people also watched" videos from a search.

To use it, search for something on youtube and then click the bookmark you have made and it will then reload the search page and only show listings for what you searched for and remove youtubes recommended / “people also watched" videos from the search.

[-] Crul@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

javascript:location.href=location.href+‘&sp=CAASAhAB’;

In firefox, you can also add a keyword to this shortcut (e.g.: yt):

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%s&sp=CAASAhAB

Then you can use it from the search bar like yt testing and it will redirect you to this URL (replacing %s with testing):

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=testing&sp=CAASAhAB

EDIT: and a fancier option is to use Redirector, Request Control (or similar) to create a redirection from YT searches without the CAASAhAB query param to the one with it.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] Teknikal@lemmy.world 19 points 1 year ago

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.

[-] QubaXR@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago

I suspect YouTube's blacklist (do not recommend this channel / video) is length-limited. I recently noticed some of the oldest content I banned coming back in recommendations.

Feels like as I add more bans, the oldest ones get released. Really frustrating.

[-] NightOwl@lemmy.one 8 points 1 year ago

Really need a RES type addon for YouTube to keep a list of channels you want blocked. Really hurts searches too when it's always the same popular channels populating the results because of popularity.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (7 replies)
[-] ultralight@lemmy.world 18 points 1 year ago

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@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago

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.

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] bilb@lem.monster 18 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
  • Pay for youtube premium

^ducks^

[-] EnderWi99in@kbin.social 14 points 1 year ago

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.

[-] cxx@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago

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.

load more comments (7 replies)
[-] DerKriegs@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 year ago

Honest truth, you go around actually paying a network for their services and everyone loses their minds. There's a Nolan Batman GIF somewhere here...

load more comments (12 replies)
[-] Lord_Boffum@lemmy.world 18 points 1 year ago

Perhaps it bears mentioning that DeArrow is developed by the same person as SponsorBlock. That gave me a lot of faith in it right off the bat.

[-] ultratiem@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago

For people on Apple devices and Safari, check these out: https://apps.apple.com/ca/app-bundle/fizzy-water-bundle/id1601247237

Vinegar is for YT and Baking Soda for the rest of the web. Little annoying the devs split them up but they are both great as they give you a basic video. No ads, overlays, nothing. It may seem like a small thing but man does it have a huge impact.

[-] Sivaru@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago

NewPipe is more than enough.

load more comments (5 replies)
[-] MedicPigBabySaver@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago
load more comments (1 replies)
[-] LightDelaBlue@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago
load more comments (4 replies)
[-] pazukaza@lemmy.ml 11 points 1 year ago

Please keep in mind that every extension you install is an attack vector for hackers. Just because an extension does something cool doesn't mean you should install it.

Please stick with the most used extensions, the ones that Mozilla recommends. This is for your safety.

[-] Merulox@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

df tube (distraction-free youtube): toggleable options that allow hiding the recommendation feed and featured videos on the homepage, so as to reduce distractions.

To those who allow their free time to be consumed by youtube because they consider it to be a good investment of their time since they're learning new things, please try this. You might realize that Youtube really just is a poisonous social media amongst all the others and that you really don't need the suggestions.

load more comments (3 replies)
[-] sic_semper_tyrannis@feddit.ch 10 points 1 year ago
[-] 10EXP@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 year ago

Truffle improves the livestream watching experience on YouTube significantly, adding a Twitch-style theatre mode (with chat on the side), BetterTTV emotes, and more.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] Juggernaut@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

What about for twitch? cause its actually worst that cable tv was sometimes

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] OutrageousUmpire@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

That is a long list of things to make the site usable. I wonder if we as the fediverse community can leverage Peertube and eliminate the need for all these blockers.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] Teritz@feddit.de 8 points 1 year ago

I never Heard of DeArrow thats nice thanks

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] SharpMaxwell@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

Annotations Restored For Youtube is also a really good one, adds back the old styled annotations to old videos that had them, makes old videos a little bit more watchable if they had important info in the annotations

load more comments
view more: next ›
this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2023
1478 points (97.9% liked)

Technology

59094 readers
3701 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS