People here talking about how they don't want YouTube to make a profile of their preferences, and here I am, wishing YouTube had a better profile of my preferences.
Lately, there is almost no new videos in my recommendation feed. It's mostly either the things I've already watched or new videos from the channels I'm already subscribed to. It really feels like I've exhausted the internet at some point. This can't possibly be true now, can it? :')
I love Freetube, and try to contribute to people directly if I'm going to use Freetube.
It'll truly become killer when I can save multiple playlists, like I can on Newpipe. Sadly right now you're stuck with one playlist of "Favourites", and then copy-pasting a playlist link from YouTube to queue things up.
I am looking for a Youtube Client or an API that takes me back to that time where you had an opportunity to go to the crazy side of Youtube. No, I am not looking for gore or conspiracy stuff - But you get the point.
You start looking at a video from vSauce and then some videos later you are seeing how zebras communicate and what we can learn from it (just an example)
Closest I have seen is an extension that adds an random button but I feel that also lacks what I feel I have been looking for.
Going through screenshots of this client, I couldnt find it (or maybe not listed on the page). Anyone has anything similar they have been using?
There was a website which would only display videos with close to zero views. It is endlessly fascinating what stuff tou get to see there. Stuff that you wouldn't be able to find on youtube if you actively searched for using their search bar.
I've been using FreeTube for quite a while now. It's great for subscribing to channels that you don't necessarily want to infect your regular YouTube feed and recommendations.
Why not just RSS? Don't get me wrong, I hate Google's monopoly as much as anyone else, but in this specific case I don't see the benefit of using some app for the subscriptions, vs rss
How is this any different than running youtube in a Firefox container? I feel like it's a lot of reinventing the wheel if you have to do things like Sponsorblock, Adblock, etc. all over again instead of just relying on your current browser setup.
You can route all traffic through community invidious instances so Google can not even track what content is consumed by your IP.
It also automatically skips all ads, even sponsor segments in videos.
You also avoid needing to have a Google account to keep up with subscriptions, and you avoid content suppression as the sponsor-prioritized advertiser-friendly algorithms are turned off.
I use Musi on iOS. Ability to play in the background, save playlists locally, no YouTube ads (just ads on screen in the app while music plays in the background, for non-paid versions), and no link to your YouTube account.
Can it limit video search to only the channels in my subscription list?
Youtube seems to have had this feature at one point but it was removed. The only option is to search each channel specifically (a tedious task if you hundreds of channel subscriptions).
If you can provide this incredibly useful but imposible-to-do-manually functionality (search all subscriptions), you'll have a UVP that will make people like me immediately switch.
Thought about that concept some time ago, glad to see someone else has made it!
I'd love to have plugins for various video services in there, to use the same client for other video services (such as Rumble).
This concept could also be used for creating a Twitter client, where it would follow people by scraping their feeds, support alternative platforms like Gettr, and send nothing but the bare minimum to the server.
While I applaud this endeavor, I don't watch YouTube on a computer that much. It's mainly via my TV...either on streaming box like AppleTV or others. I have this nice big 4K, 65" TV that can show those 4K YouTube videos in all their glory from the comfort of my couch.
I've also carefully cultivated my YouTube watching habits that it shows exactly what I want to see. No toxic or political things get through. I watch positive, uplifting, informative channels and creators.
I have had a love-hate relationship with YouTube for a long time. On the one hand, many channels put out great content that I want to watch. But the recommended videos feature is exceptional at hooking into my reptilian brain and getting me to waste a lot of time on junk that I later regret as a big waste of time.
I looked into a lot of alternative clients, including FreeTube, in an attempt to solve this. I use Tube Archivist[1], an open-source project that allows you to subscribe to and auto-download YouTube channels and playlists or download individual videos and watch them in a minimal web interface. It works fine on iOS as long as you set it up to download in an iOS-compatible format. I currently have it running in a Docker container on my Synology NAS.
Darnit, I already wrote the rest of the comment below before noticing the "iOS" part of your comment. These are all Firefox add-ons for the desktop. Still, I'll post them in case they're useful to anyone else.
I use the unhook add-on for that, it removes all recommended videos:
youtube-audio lets you disable the video-feed. Nice when you're using it to listen to what are basically podcasts and you don't want to waste bandwidth:
I think as developers we have to be careful that we don't overstep logical boundaries. Youtube provides a free service that hosts immense volumes of video and creates an ecosystem allowing creators to earn a living. It's selfish to use the services of YouTube while removing their main source of revenue. If you have a problem with YouTube's tracking, simply don't use it
This arguments stands in a fully rational market with fair competition guaranteed by a controlling entity.
Youtube doesn't have any competition at its scale, not using it isn't a rational choice. Even school assignments will have YouTube links to watch. I think we're at the point where your statement sounds like a "if you don't like the Standard Oil company just don't buy their oil" rehash.
The problem here is "network effect" leverage on society.
When you choose not to use Youtube, you are choosing to not be a part of a large part of society. This is isolating. Whether that isolation matters to the individual in question is highly variable.
You might be able to easily forego it. But a kid - ostensibly uninformed, not able to reason well enough and "not able to consent" - who's teacher sets an assignment to write about a youtube video has an overwhelming influence to "simply do it".
Should large parts of society including institutions know better and do better? Sure. But in practice they don't.
Today I think it's morally acceptable to circumvent tracking, advertising, etc. for behemoths like YouTube, Google, etc. They are simply too powerful, and have too much mindshare. There's nothing close to YouTube in terms of ubiquity. I don't have any sympathy for a monopoly, and I hope that YouTube's days are numbered so that a more open alternative like PeerTube can take its place.
My only real concern is channel owners. I want them to be able to be reasonably compensated for their work today.
YouTube provides many ways to access its content and clients such as this one utilize some of the lesser used methods to access the videos. But after all, YouTube allows this to happen and they are probably well aware of how their API is used. My guess is that people using alternative clients are a drop in the ocean and their impact on ads is completely negligible. You'll know this is no longer the case when YouTube cracks down on alternative clients.
If there was a pay to anonymously support Youtube creators directly with micropayments using only open source privacy respecting software like LBRY does, I would use it.
Sadly YouTube has monopolized a lot of content, has mandatory tracking, and also censors and suppresses things and uses algorithms to put people in maximally profitable filter bubbles regardless of mental health.
Ideally more creators will realize they can put censorship-free tracking-free content on alternative services that give them direct profits.
Until then I use Freetube and Invidious exclusively to opt out of tracking nonsense and avoid wasting my valuable time watching ads.
We should all starve adtech companies of revenue so creators are incentivized to learn how to monetize in a way that respects users rights and privacy.
This sounds plausible enough until you examine it and realize you're turning viewing ads into some kind of moral duty.
"Have you witnessed the requisite quantity of behavior-modifying media today, Citizen? Remember, we all have to do our part. I see you only internalized five minutes' worth yesterday. This is below target. Your beliefs and desires have not been sufficiently altered to meet corporate goals. We require greater acquiescence."
If a company wants to paywall something then they can do that. Maybe I'll pay for it. Advertising shits in your head. I don't accept the modification of my mind as an acceptable form of payment.
"So don't use it"
No. What are you going to do about it? Tell me I'm immoral?
> It's selfish to use the services of YouTube while removing their main source of revenue.
The entire edifice of Capitalism, which we celebrate, is built on
selfishness. And yet you use the word here as if it were a bad
thing. I am confused :)
> If you have a problem with YouTube's tracking, simply don't use it
Why "simply" avoid a problem when with some effort you can improve it?
In this case optimising the service to make it free from ads and
tracking appears to be an improvement.
> and creates an ecosystem allowing creators to earn a living.
Yes, round of applause for google please, for being the inventors of sustainability in the business of art. Without all their benevolent stewardship we would all be starving for food and shelter.
You realize you're buying right into their communication strategy? This is just another instance of the age old "do dirty stuff and extract boats of money; pick a handful of lucky people; make them kings; show it off for everyone to see; now you're a good guy". Yes, i'm sure they "give away" tons, perhaps hundreds of millions or even more. The fact is that the majority of what people experience is unpredictability, dependency, unchecked and arbitrary strikes unless you're constantly running after what they consider is click-bait enough to be worth. In fact what most people experience is no money at all (or pennies) but for sure the occasional strike because you were too critical of something or because your sense of humor or parody is not to the taste of some IP lawyer. Yes "it's not google", "they just respect the law". Point is they (and their lookalikes) practically monopolized something as basic as video hosting and marginalized any non-giant alternative and are more than happy to hand over the keys to shutdown channels to anybody well-connected who is wearing a suit.
> If you have a problem with YouTube's tracking, simply don't use it
Yes, why don't people live without a smartphone, without a car, without eating industrial food, without fossil fuel? Why do these people keep funding these pesky crooked pharma companies and buying drugs? Right, maybe they don't have a choice, they don't have enough money (because you always pay, in a way or another, to get out of these things, that's what monopoly means, in practice). Sure youtube might be on the "easier to do without" part of the spectrum, but (1) this is not true for everybody (what if you want to watch some internet TV?) and (2) arguing on this is just moving the goalpost since there are services like these which you need to do everyday things. More and more people cannot work without zoom, slack, github, gmail. Yes this is stupid, but i did not choose it. Should i quit my job? Perhaps. Will it make any difference in the big picture? Not at all.
Personally my opinion is that they just privatized de-facto public infrastructure. Which is to say they managed to raise a private tax which is almost mandatory to pay in practice. Which is pure and simple extortion. It may sound radical, but there's really nothing qualitatively different. They just managed to turn this particular form into something seemingly normal.
Evading the ads and tracking is an act of self-defence. Nobody is entitled to deploy their brainwashing machines on people's minds, just because it makes them money and they happen to be the gatekeepers to the world's videos.
Plausible deniability. People will use any excuse to free themselves from accountability.
Privacy, adverts, morality, monopoly and all the hand waving is just for show. They are valid concerns but you'll hear a lot of it as a veil for "me want free stuff".
This is how I feel about all the bold circumvention of paywalls. It’s a legally fuzzy area in some cases, but to me at least, it is basically people saying, “here, let me help you steal!”
I'm using a private [1] Invidious [2] instance on all platforms to gain access to Youtube content without feeding the beast more than needed. The advantage of something like Invidious is that it allows you to access subscriptions anywhere you can access the 'net instead of just on those platforms where you installed something like Freetube or Newpipe or any of the other alternative clients.
[1] private for now since my instance ended up being very popular in Japan for some reason, this being rather odd given that I live in Sweden. I'll keep it private for a few months and open it up again to see whether traffic remains within reasonable bounds.
Is there something similar built as Kodi addon? I made heavy use of its YT addon in the past, then a few years ago Google revoked their free API keys so that anyone wanting to watch YouTube videos had to login using their personal API key (which I don't have and don't plan to get) with all privacy implications.
I can watch videos on a PC, so why do I have to give my credentials to do the same on Kodi? In both early 2021 and early 2022 I spent hours in bed every day because of severe health issues and being able to watch my favorite channels would have helped a lot to kill that time.
I curate links to YouTube creators and keep them in a local html file. I visit YT only in private mode, usually through a vpn, use adblock, and never log in. I drop in on creators I haven't gone to in a wild to see what they are up to. I use recommendations only to find other creators, since the actual video recommendations are usually garbage.
What I really wish YT had was a creator recommendation system. A way to find creators with content similar to the creator of the video I'm currently watching would be much more helpful to me.
My biggest gripe with Youtube right now is how they've left channel subscription just as a long list. I have hundreds of subscriptions, and they are clearly around a few of my interests...
this is one feature i wish more 3rd party clients had, instead of just sorting channels into categories, only do new videos in playlists which is easier to manage.
They used to let you sort subscriptions into "Collections", but they removed this feature in 2015. I remember they teased they might bring it back in 2021, but I haven't seen much come of it. [1]
[+] [-] n4bz0r|3 years ago|reply
Lately, there is almost no new videos in my recommendation feed. It's mostly either the things I've already watched or new videos from the channels I'm already subscribed to. It really feels like I've exhausted the internet at some point. This can't possibly be true now, can it? :')
Where do I opt-in for more tracking?
[+] [-] MattDemers|3 years ago|reply
It'll truly become killer when I can save multiple playlists, like I can on Newpipe. Sadly right now you're stuck with one playlist of "Favourites", and then copy-pasting a playlist link from YouTube to queue things up.
[+] [-] BurungHantu|3 years ago|reply
- https://www.privacytools.io/youtube-alternatives/
- https://www.privacytools.io/privacy-frontends/
[+] [-] iKevinShah|3 years ago|reply
You start looking at a video from vSauce and then some videos later you are seeing how zebras communicate and what we can learn from it (just an example)
Closest I have seen is an extension that adds an random button but I feel that also lacks what I feel I have been looking for.
Going through screenshots of this client, I couldnt find it (or maybe not listed on the page). Anyone has anything similar they have been using?
[+] [-] atoav|3 years ago|reply
Found it: http://astronaut.io/
[+] [-] illuminerdy|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] europeanguy|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sneak|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ekianjo|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] soheil|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lrvick|3 years ago|reply
It also automatically skips all ads, even sponsor segments in videos.
You also avoid needing to have a Google account to keep up with subscriptions, and you avoid content suppression as the sponsor-prioritized advertiser-friendly algorithms are turned off.
[+] [-] Operative0198|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] emaro|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] walrus01|3 years ago|reply
CLI tool to download and mirror YouTube videos and audio to local disk.
[+] [-] mirkules|3 years ago|reply
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/musi-simple-music-streaming/id...
[+] [-] elashri|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Zuiii|3 years ago|reply
Can it limit video search to only the channels in my subscription list?
Youtube seems to have had this feature at one point but it was removed. The only option is to search each channel specifically (a tedious task if you hundreds of channel subscriptions).
If you can provide this incredibly useful but imposible-to-do-manually functionality (search all subscriptions), you'll have a UVP that will make people like me immediately switch.
[+] [-] causi|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] snshn|3 years ago|reply
I'd love to have plugins for various video services in there, to use the same client for other video services (such as Rumble).
This concept could also be used for creating a Twitter client, where it would follow people by scraping their feeds, support alternative platforms like Gettr, and send nothing but the bare minimum to the server.
[+] [-] GoofballJones|3 years ago|reply
I've also carefully cultivated my YouTube watching habits that it shows exactly what I want to see. No toxic or political things get through. I watch positive, uplifting, informative channels and creators.
[+] [-] knife1nhead|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mattivc|3 years ago|reply
I looked into a lot of alternative clients, including FreeTube, in an attempt to solve this. I use Tube Archivist[1], an open-source project that allows you to subscribe to and auto-download YouTube channels and playlists or download individual videos and watch them in a minimal web interface. It works fine on iOS as long as you set it up to download in an iOS-compatible format. I currently have it running in a Docker container on my Synology NAS.
[1] https://www.tubearchivist.com/
[+] [-] vanderZwan|3 years ago|reply
I use the unhook add-on for that, it removes all recommended videos:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-recom...
There's also clickbait remover to get rid of those obnoxious thumbnails:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/clickbait-rem...
youtube-audio lets you disable the video-feed. Nice when you're using it to listen to what are basically podcasts and you don't want to waste bandwidth:
https://github.com/animeshkundu/youtube-audio
And while we're here, SponsorBlock skips sponsored segments:
https://sponsor.ajay.app/
[+] [-] ramonezy|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] makeitdouble|3 years ago|reply
Youtube doesn't have any competition at its scale, not using it isn't a rational choice. Even school assignments will have YouTube links to watch. I think we're at the point where your statement sounds like a "if you don't like the Standard Oil company just don't buy their oil" rehash.
[+] [-] _carbyau_|3 years ago|reply
When you choose not to use Youtube, you are choosing to not be a part of a large part of society. This is isolating. Whether that isolation matters to the individual in question is highly variable.
You might be able to easily forego it. But a kid - ostensibly uninformed, not able to reason well enough and "not able to consent" - who's teacher sets an assignment to write about a youtube video has an overwhelming influence to "simply do it".
Should large parts of society including institutions know better and do better? Sure. But in practice they don't.
[+] [-] shepherdjerred|3 years ago|reply
Today I think it's morally acceptable to circumvent tracking, advertising, etc. for behemoths like YouTube, Google, etc. They are simply too powerful, and have too much mindshare. There's nothing close to YouTube in terms of ubiquity. I don't have any sympathy for a monopoly, and I hope that YouTube's days are numbered so that a more open alternative like PeerTube can take its place.
My only real concern is channel owners. I want them to be able to be reasonably compensated for their work today.
[+] [-] magic_hamster|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lrvick|3 years ago|reply
Sadly YouTube has monopolized a lot of content, has mandatory tracking, and also censors and suppresses things and uses algorithms to put people in maximally profitable filter bubbles regardless of mental health.
Ideally more creators will realize they can put censorship-free tracking-free content on alternative services that give them direct profits.
Until then I use Freetube and Invidious exclusively to opt out of tracking nonsense and avoid wasting my valuable time watching ads.
We should all starve adtech companies of revenue so creators are incentivized to learn how to monetize in a way that respects users rights and privacy.
[+] [-] ahelwer|3 years ago|reply
"Have you witnessed the requisite quantity of behavior-modifying media today, Citizen? Remember, we all have to do our part. I see you only internalized five minutes' worth yesterday. This is below target. Your beliefs and desires have not been sufficiently altered to meet corporate goals. We require greater acquiescence."
If a company wants to paywall something then they can do that. Maybe I'll pay for it. Advertising shits in your head. I don't accept the modification of my mind as an acceptable form of payment.
"So don't use it"
No. What are you going to do about it? Tell me I'm immoral?
[+] [-] nonrandomstring|3 years ago|reply
The entire edifice of Capitalism, which we celebrate, is built on selfishness. And yet you use the word here as if it were a bad thing. I am confused :)
> If you have a problem with YouTube's tracking, simply don't use it
Why "simply" avoid a problem when with some effort you can improve it? In this case optimising the service to make it free from ads and tracking appears to be an improvement.
[+] [-] lapinot|3 years ago|reply
Yes, round of applause for google please, for being the inventors of sustainability in the business of art. Without all their benevolent stewardship we would all be starving for food and shelter.
You realize you're buying right into their communication strategy? This is just another instance of the age old "do dirty stuff and extract boats of money; pick a handful of lucky people; make them kings; show it off for everyone to see; now you're a good guy". Yes, i'm sure they "give away" tons, perhaps hundreds of millions or even more. The fact is that the majority of what people experience is unpredictability, dependency, unchecked and arbitrary strikes unless you're constantly running after what they consider is click-bait enough to be worth. In fact what most people experience is no money at all (or pennies) but for sure the occasional strike because you were too critical of something or because your sense of humor or parody is not to the taste of some IP lawyer. Yes "it's not google", "they just respect the law". Point is they (and their lookalikes) practically monopolized something as basic as video hosting and marginalized any non-giant alternative and are more than happy to hand over the keys to shutdown channels to anybody well-connected who is wearing a suit.
> If you have a problem with YouTube's tracking, simply don't use it
Yes, why don't people live without a smartphone, without a car, without eating industrial food, without fossil fuel? Why do these people keep funding these pesky crooked pharma companies and buying drugs? Right, maybe they don't have a choice, they don't have enough money (because you always pay, in a way or another, to get out of these things, that's what monopoly means, in practice). Sure youtube might be on the "easier to do without" part of the spectrum, but (1) this is not true for everybody (what if you want to watch some internet TV?) and (2) arguing on this is just moving the goalpost since there are services like these which you need to do everyday things. More and more people cannot work without zoom, slack, github, gmail. Yes this is stupid, but i did not choose it. Should i quit my job? Perhaps. Will it make any difference in the big picture? Not at all.
Personally my opinion is that they just privatized de-facto public infrastructure. Which is to say they managed to raise a private tax which is almost mandatory to pay in practice. Which is pure and simple extortion. It may sound radical, but there's really nothing qualitatively different. They just managed to turn this particular form into something seemingly normal.
[+] [-] kdhfkhhhhh|3 years ago|reply
I guess so.
>If you have a problem with YouTube's tracking, simply don't use it
You are yet to give me an actual incentive why I shouldn't. No, "it's immoral" doesn't work, because morals aren't real.
[+] [-] ls15|3 years ago|reply
> simply don't use it
This is not always an option.
[+] [-] throwaway0x7E6|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] democra|3 years ago|reply
Privacy, adverts, morality, monopoly and all the hand waving is just for show. They are valid concerns but you'll hear a lot of it as a veil for "me want free stuff".
[+] [-] Waterluvian|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] the_third_wave|3 years ago|reply
[1] private for now since my instance ended up being very popular in Japan for some reason, this being rather odd given that I live in Sweden. I'll keep it private for a few months and open it up again to see whether traffic remains within reasonable bounds.
[2] https://github.com/iv-org/invidious
[+] [-] lrvick|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] timbit42|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] femboy|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] squarefoot|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] godshatter|3 years ago|reply
What I really wish YT had was a creator recommendation system. A way to find creators with content similar to the creator of the video I'm currently watching would be much more helpful to me.
[+] [-] capex|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dirtyid|3 years ago|reply
i ended up using this script that adds new videos into predefined playlists
https://www.google.com/url?q=https://github.com/Elijas/auto-...
this is one feature i wish more 3rd party clients had, instead of just sorting channels into categories, only do new videos in playlists which is easier to manage.
[+] [-] empyrical|3 years ago|reply
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGSHPhR8k8g
[+] [-] thinkingemote|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|3 years ago|reply
[deleted]