Running uBlock Origin [1] and NextDNS [2], I can't remember when I last saw an ad on YouTube. I recommend you give it a try.

[1] https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock

[2] https://nextdns.io/

NewPipe as a replacement for youtube's default player, at least if you're on android. And uBlock works on Firefox for android.

I recommend going with the APK version of NewPipe as the FDroid install often takes a while to catch up to breaking changes on youtube.

https://newpipe.schabi.org/

You can add the NewPipe repo to bypass F-Droid official repo.

https://archive.newpipe.net/fdroid/repo?fingerprint=E2402C78...

NewPipe’s instructions on adding this repo to F-Droid: https://newpipe.schabi.org/FAQ/tutorials/install-add-fdroid-.... Note the warning to export your data from your current version of NewPipe before upgrading.

Great to see they have a repo up now, I imagine I can switch from the apk to that directly as they have the same signing key?

Thank you. It was just two presses on my phone to add the repo.

Unfortunately, on mobile. At least on iOS

I was previously considering to make my next phone an iPhone (better integration with my MacBook), but I recently discovered Youtube Vanced and realized that if I'm ever going to watch non-trivial amounts of Youtube on my phone it might be worth it to stay on Android just for that app.

Both Vanced and NewPipe are pretty good YT alternatives.

Vanced is a modded YT app, while NewPipe is open source and has a background player too, with download feature.

You can use a DNS based solution on iOS. It's easy for WiFi and there are apps that can change it for the cellular network as well.

I have run a pihole at home for a while now. YouTube ads still show.

They increasingly use the same servers for ads, so a DNS-based solution won't work well.

You don't need a DNS based solution, you can just use the "AdGuard" app, which will block ads in Safari.

However, neither Adguard nor DNS based blocking will block ads in the iOS Youtube App.

Pythonista on iOS can run yt-dl, works well

YouTube may terminate your access, or your Google account’s access to all or part of the Service if YouTube reasonably believes that its provision of the Service to you is no longer commercially viable.

I've never ever heard of this happening. I feel like there's almost no chance this isn't just bluster

That's in terms on service. Google may start enforcing this clause whenever they want.

Good thing I don't have a persistent Google account.

You don't have to log in to use newpipe

FWIW, I subscribe to YouTube Premium which lets me download videos, watch them without ads, and also includes YouTube Music (essentially like Spotify but without as good a recommendation engine).

If, for some reason, I really wanted to download a video to have a copy of it forever, I'd use youtube-dl

YouTube premium lets you “download” videos but I don’t think it doesn’t actually let you get an MP4 file. It just lets you watch the video offline.

But normal YouTube videos aren’t DRMed at all so you should be able to find the file in cleartext somewhere on your hdd

I don’t think you can use that feature on the web. It’s mobile app only. Maybe you can use adb to grab them off an android device but it’s not nearly as easy as youtube-dl. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were DRM’d in that scenario anyway.

In another thread someone explained that the videos were stored in their original chunked format, so it wouldn't be that easy to just extract it.

True. That's a good clarification to make

You can but using an ad content blocker such as uBlock origin would be far easier.

https://ublockorigin.com/

Yeah, and many apps are based or borrow code from YouTube-DL to achieve this.

For example NewPipe (Android) and FreeTube (Windows MacOS, Linux)

VLC too. [0]

As someone pointed out recently, [1] this presumably breaks the YouTube terms of service, as presumably does any use of youtube-dl.

[0] https://github.com/videolan/vlc/search?q=youtube

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24894425

Sure. And you can extract the audio track if you want to listen to lectures without having to play video (on your phone, say).

You can also do this on Android with NewPipe. Unlike the official app you can lock your screen or use other apps without the audio pausing.

Does newpipe provide off-line access?

Yes! And it has more useful features than official YouTube app, e.g. users can change size/aspect ratio - quite useful in portrait mode; or brightness/volume with a single swiping up/down.

It has downloads too.

Yes