I bet YouTube is Ad-Block...Blocking you!

[myleszey]

Any folks who use Android based operating system, I highly recommend looking into PipePipe. Lets you browse Youtube, Niconico and others, without ads and other fluff. Doesn't seem to be a way to reliably "log in" to your google based accounts though.

[BlackMageGaming]

I don't know of any specific adblocking software for YouTube on iPhones. But...

If you get an ad on a YouTube video, then press on the YouTube Shorts tab, then close the YouTube shorts tab, it will skip the ad on the original video immediately.

Now, I don't know if this works for anybody else, but this still works on my device. If anybody else is able to test this, please let me know.
(Note: this only works on iPhones I think)

 

[SiLver]

Oddly, Despite hearing about many people having trouble with ad-blockers not working on youtube, I haven't had the website block me at all. I have multiple ad-blockers, and I'd figure one of them would set off the youtube anti-blocker detector, but I guess not! It is of note that I'm on Firefox, which may have something to do with my seemingly being unaffected.

--Edit for more content I thought up--

For being on my phone, I use NewPipe its free and allows for essentially all of the features of youtube premium (ad-free, background play, ect.) as-well as it gives access to some other websites such as soundcloud and bandcamp, Its really great for listening to music!

[Melooon]

Apparently YouTube is testing server-side ads (meaning the ad will be encoded into the video so there is no way for your computer to tell the difference between the ad and the video)

If thats true then ad-blocking could become very difficult  Although I kinda wonder how practical it is; custom encoding every YouTube video would be super expensive for Google, Im not sure its worth it ~ Unless they have some new super high-speed encoding technology??

Its also bad news for archiving, since if you used a YouTube downloader, it would include the ad in the video you were trying to archive and you have to manually edit it out  (All the more reason to archive video you like now!!)

adblocking software for YouTube on iPhones.

I use AdGuard on iOS, it works but its not perfect - sometimes it just reverts to showing you a static image ad that you can skip - but that's less intrusive than a video ad, so its better than nothing!

[Audball]

When the battle for ad-blocking started however many months ago, I also have never had an issue blocking youtube ads. I saw a reddit user long ago also bring this up and I think the reason this is the case is a combination of uBlock Origin as well as Privacy Badger (an addon that blocks various trackers, many of which are ad-related). I've seen others talk about this combo, which I've just been using as my standard browsing experience, being basically impenetrable for youtube's ads.

That said, I now have just moved to using the program FreeTube on my pc (ad-free youtube in its own program window, local account that still lets you "subscribe" to channels and make playlists, but its all local and not tied to a Google account), as well as NewPipe on my android phone.

If youtube does decide to do server-side ads, then that may be the straw that breaks the camel's back for me and I will probably start seriously trying to wean myself off of youtube entirely.

[grubbyfox]

If youtube does decide to do server-side ads, then that may be the straw that breaks the camel's back for me and I will probably start seriously trying to wean myself off of youtube entirely.

Same. I'm stubborn enough to drop most things when others try to push something on me. Youtube has been bugging out on waterfox and firefox for me these past weeks, so I just couldnt watch youtube for many days. I just went to watch other stuff instead.

It works in firefox now, but not waterfox still, so I watch a little bit now, but yeah.... i would def drop maybe 80% or more of my youtube watch time if they start to strong arm ads into the video.

It's strange because I dont actually care about ads when I'm watching it through for example Chromecast (because that means I'm on my TV, where theres a lot more ads on cable anyway). I just hate that the ads VERY OFTEN break the video stream and we end up wasting 5 minutes trying to get it back. Imagine if cable tv pulled that nonsense for people... every time there was an ad break, you risked the cable going out and you'd have to wrestle the TV to get it back... 

Anyway, I'm def never ever getting YT premium. I'd soon just drop watching videos. The people making stuff I like, would probably find other places to show their stuff. For example, I like discovering music on YT to get on Bandcamp. A lot of great people make huge compilations of stuff that is available on Bandcamp. If people stopped watching that on YT, I'm sure they'd start posting elsewhere to showcase the music.

[Audball]

I'm stubborn enough to drop most things when others try to push something on me.

Same here. Most people I know have been living near-completely ad-free existences for a while now and they all agree that if ads become non-negotiable in a service, they are dipping 100%. I just cannot deal with them anymore! They're all corporate as heck, out of touch, and sometimes actively make my day worse (I remember a youtube ad a long time ago from Geico where 90% of the ad was just ASMR-levels of detailed audio of a dog eating, it was disgusting.)

For example, I like discovering music on YT to get on Bandcamp. A lot of great people make huge compilations of stuff that is available on Bandcamp.

This is a pastime of mine as well! I do wonder what will become of things like this when/if Youtube goes down. Where would anyone go? I remember lots of people used to answer "vimeo" but I've never been so sure about that.

[grubbyfox]

Same here. Most people I know have been living near-completely ad-free existences for a while now and they all agree that if ads become non-negotiable in a service, they are dipping 100%. I just cannot deal with them anymore! They're all corporate as heck, out of touch, and sometimes actively make my day worse (I remember a youtube ad a long time ago from Geico where 90% of the ad was just ASMR-levels of detailed audio of a dog eating, it was disgusting.)

This is a pastime of mine as well! I do wonder what will become of things like this when/if Youtube goes down. Where would anyone go? I remember lots of people used to answer "vimeo" but I've never been so sure about that.

Yeah I've been wondering too. Vimeo and Dailymotion is so cursed and lame lol, but sometimes you find the most obscure stuff there. I wonder if Bandcamp and other places (Soundcloud maybe) would offer video-upload to creators, maybe. If people start running away from Youtube. I honestly wouldn't mind a capped video compilation if it meant ad-free. So anyone posting those 45 minute compilations of "etheral wave blah blah" etc lol on YT could keep posting there so we can "surf" and enjoy the videos, but at like 480p. For me, that would be a fine trade-off. I hate when Big Corp. has monopoly on everything.

Also, oh my god the audio.... XD there's an ad here that runs, where a pomeranian is like, smacking their lips for 5 seconds, and I've got misophonia so I feel like I wanna start punching walls everyyyy time that ad rolls. I seriously HATE when the make ads with the most disgusting or loud audio. Youtube is notorious for having ads with 300% louder volume too. FFS.


edit: also I should mention, the irony is that I've been curating older commercials on VHS and transfering them digitally to upload on YT. And I love sifting through old commercials on youtube, like actual TV commercials. Crazy how I'll legit watch ads when they are old, but the ad rolls make me want to start throwing furniture around.

[musicobsessed107]

uBlock Origin on Firefox still works, at least for now.

If that stops ever working, then I'll simply stop watching YouTube. A platform that is that devoted to killing off adblockers deserves to meet its demise. This is just YouTube being greedy and trying to destroy its platform even further. I'm not letting them get a single penny out of me.

[FE1NT]

my patience for ads is non-existent now. i'm someone who prefers Youtube over watching TV, as there's a plethora of media i'm actually interested in compared to cable television or streaming services. every time i'm hanging out with family and watching TV, i'm always surprised at how long ads roll, and i can't help but think like.. ya'll waste your time with this stuff??? that's utterly insane to me.

and i cannot comprehend how people that still subscribe to Netflix put up with ads after they've introduced them into their most basic paid tier.. which defeated the entire point of Netflix. we're just reinventing cable at this point.

i've also noticed ads in Youtube embeds in Discord, which immediately forces me to pause the video and just launch it in Firefox so i don't have to waste my time with it.

the web has turned to a corporatized pile of shit. i moved away from Chromium-based browsers entirely so i can at least still keep using uBlock Origin safely, which thankfully hasn't failed me at all. i'm also a huge fan of Youtube ReVanced on Android. it makes me wonder why people are paying for Youtube Premium at all.

i have a lot of feelings about the web in 2024.

[candycanearter07]

The one thing i think is really annoying is that most people dont even try to use alternatives, they always just say some crap like "but what alternatives are there? right none, so we have to keep using this site even though i didnt even take a second to look". this happens for every kind of thing online which people are annoyed with but keep using. It's not like alternatives are hard to find either.

It's the ol' chicken and egg problem. People need a lot of content to go to a new platform, which needs people to get content, which needs content to get people....

I had no issue simply blocking the "turn off your adblock" element and haven't lost any functionality but in general I don't really like youtube, there are better things out there.

I don't "really" like youtube, but it's better than being alone with my thoughts.

Apparently YouTube is testing server-side ads (meaning the ad will be encoded into the video so there is no way for your computer to tell the difference between the ad and the video)

Its also bad news for archiving, since if you used a YouTube downloader, it would include the ad in the video you were trying to archive and you have to manually edit it out 

Well, corporations have never been good at archiving anything in the first place, so I'm not surprised. Server-side ads absolutely will suck, but at least you could theoretically get around it by downloading it multiple times and saving the shortest file??

the web has turned to a corporatized pile of shit. i moved away from Chromium-based browsers entirely so i can at least still keep using uBlock Origin safely, which thankfully hasn't failed me at all. i'm also a huge fan of Youtube ReVanced on Android. it makes me wonder why people are paying for Youtube Premium at all.

i have a lot of feelings about the web in 2024.

"The internet now feels like a shopping mall."
I agree, so much of it feels like corporate bull. That's kinda what got me into webdev in the first place!


Throwing my two cents in, ads wouldn't be so bad if Google didn't have a reputation for accepting ACTUALLY ILLEGAL AND SCAM ADS. Also, the platform has so many issues with bots and copyright abuse and stuff that they haven't bothered with, but are willing to go this far to make more money.. as if they aren't one of the richest companies ever.

[Box Prophet]

For Android users, ReVanced is the entire YouTube app with all functionality and a bunch of ad block add-ons, including sponsor block, which automatically skips in-video sponsorship sections. It's the only thing I use now.

[DiffydaDude]

Something I learned that I think should be shared around: Manifest v3 isnt going to universally destroy Adblock on every browser. The stuff that makes it so adblock doesnt work so well on there is only on Google's implementation of Mv3 in Chrome.