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sherman89 | 3 years ago

Firefox + uBlock Origin = no ads. Also on mobile :)

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the_third_wave|3 years ago

Invidious [1] running on your own - or someone else's - server, no ads. Everywhere. You can also 'subscribe' to channels without telling Alphabet about your preferences and without giving them the possibility to 'accidentally' unsubscribe you which seems to be prevalent among some channels [2]. The interface is far lighter than the Youtube uses which makes it possible to watch videos on hardware which chokes out on the rich bouquet of Javascript found in the latter.

While you're at it you may as well add Nitter [3] to make (a read-only version but who wants to write on) Twitter more palatable and, again, light enough to not choke out less endowed hardware. For Reddit there is libreddit [4], again read-only.

These three are written in newish trendy languages and as such can also be used to evaluate their pro's and con's. Invidious is written in Crystal ("compiled Ruby", sort-of), Nitter in Nim (Python-like syntax, compiles/transpiles to C/C++/Javascript), libreddit in Rust (no introduction needed...).

[1] https://github.com/iv-org/invidious

[2] Since I do not have a Youtube/Google/Alphabet account and as such never tried to subscribe to anything I can't prove the veracity of this practice but I keep on hearing people complaining about their subscriptions disappearing

[3] https://github.com/zedeus/nitter

[4] https://github.com/spikecodes/libreddit

anhner|3 years ago

Also on Android*, unfortunately.

If you want adblocking youtube on iOS I recommend using Safari with the vinegar (paid) extension. (And wipr for general adblocking)

ETA: If I remember correctly, Brave Browser also has ad blocking built in. For youtube as well.

Sohcahtoa82|3 years ago

Does iOS allow VPNs? I imagine it does.

I set up a PiHole in the cloud and set it up so it requires VPN access so that nothing between my phone and the PiHole can fuck with the DNS packets. I VPN into it on my Android and get ad blocking almost* everwhere. I've also configured it to only tunnel DNS lookups, so I don't get charge egress fees for all my phone's traffic, which, granted isn't a lot, but whatever.

* Sadly, it doesn't block YouTube ads, but I rarely access YouTube on my phone anyways.

waihtis|3 years ago

A free alternative is Firefox Focus browser which adblocks by default. Problem is it nukes each session after you close it, so not very persistent

martindbp|3 years ago

Or just pay for YouTube Premium. I'd say it's worth it given how much value I get out of it. Take away Youtube, sure I'm sure there would be good alternatives eventually (with the same ads anyway), but it would leave quite a large hole in my life.

rchaud|3 years ago

No thanks. I've been on Youtube since 2006, so I intend to watch videos at the same cost as I did then. I'm calling it the "Youtube Legacy" subscription.

widerporst|3 years ago

I simply cannot reconcile it with my conscience to not only indirectly but also directly pay a company that now practically operates according to the motto "be evil".

thatguyagain|3 years ago

I already pay with my data. Why would I also pay them money?

hackernewds|3 years ago

Or you could pay for YouTube Premium to support the creators :)

rchaud|3 years ago

Creators have their own e-stores, I've supported those.

Your suggestion is like buying a record from Walmart to support the artist, instead of buying it directly at a show.