At this point, I download all videos (Downie.app on Mac; it's awesome) and play them locally. The day I no longer have a workaround I will stop watching. I have enough other content to keep me going. Too much, really.
Seconding NewPipe. Though recently it's been unable to load comments and the error banner keeps popping up as a result (no comments may actually be a plus?)
I still use the regular Youtube app for shorts but NewPipe is definitely a better experience overall. My main gripes with the official Android Youtube client:
- They made it so annoying to choose your video resolution (Seriously, who tested this and found it better than the old method?)
- I can accept not being able to play in the background, but if you lock your screen while in fullscreen mode and then unlock it, there is a very noticeable lag before the app exits fullscreen mode, and in this period you cannot resume playback.
Youtube seems to be doing some A/B testing with the comment system which has made proxies like Invidious and yt-dlp/Newpipe unable to load comments. There is a patch for Invidious [1] which solves this problem but it is not in master yet. I tested it on my own instance and it does solve the problem.
For me, the less-complicated client called "DVD" is more reliable for downloading than the client called "Newpipe"; the later stops working intermittently. YMMV.
Neither are as reliable as using own custom command line programs on desktop, or mobile via Termux. If Google makes a change I can fix/workaround immediately. No waiting for app developers.
For me, Newpipe works well as a Soundcloud client.
From the Kotlin source for "dvd":
Video downloader app powered by yt-dlp (formerly youtube-dl).
Features
Download video/audio from 1000+ sites supported by yt-dlp.
I tried using it for a while, but it always took forever to start loading the videos. It was significantly slower to the point of being annoying. I gave up.
Though in some cases it may take little longer time, it is very rare that the video never loads.If an issue like that happens, you can submit a proper bug report in GitHub with details, or from their in-app bug reporting process.
I remember once that the video never loaded.I went to their gh repo to find that the issue is already known, there were some api changes from google side.
> In October, YouTube made it nearly impossible to watch its website while using an ad blocker.
Did they revert that? I saw those for maybe a week. After that, I assume uBlock Origin had already worked around that. Probably the same will happen with mobile clients.
I've never seen ads either, though I did see a total of one message saying I wasn't allowed to watch a video because I had an ad blocker.
Lately I've been seeing videos suddenly skip four or five seconds forward occasionally; it's possible that's related to an anti-adblocking effort of some kind.
Don't use Youtube without going through a proxy like Invidious [1] or Newpipe
Don't use {site} Search without going through a proxy like SearxNG [2]
Don't use TwiXXer without going through a proxy like Nitter - this has gotten more difficult lately but it still works as long as you feed the daemon some registered accounts. Video does not work at the moment but that seems to be fixable.
Don't use Reddit without going through a proxy like libreddit [4]
Start noticing the pattern? Maybe it is time to start producing promotional posters:
The only thing to come between you and ADS could be a proxy / ADS. I'ts just not worth the risk
ADS / New rules for a sane net / Sane net protects you, your partner and your community
A proxy here and a filter there, ADS nowhere
The more you tighten your grip, ${site}, the more viewers will slip through your fingers
Extremely misleading title, made worse with the HN autotrim. This is simply about YouTube de jure telling that ad-blocking is forbidden, which is just putting this previously-de facto policy in the legal realm. It's not even specifically for mobile devices: I'm not sure why the author of this article have linked it with mobile devices.
MONOPOLY. If Youtube officially offers no public service anymore, it's time to vigorously prosecute them for this and their insane number of copyright violations.
Readit News
At the end of the day, both parties benefit: Youtube won't have to serve me videos for free and I'll gain back a bunch of free time.
https://newpipe.net/
I still use the regular Youtube app for shorts but NewPipe is definitely a better experience overall. My main gripes with the official Android Youtube client: - They made it so annoying to choose your video resolution (Seriously, who tested this and found it better than the old method?) - I can accept not being able to play in the background, but if you lock your screen while in fullscreen mode and then unlock it, there is a very noticeable lag before the app exits fullscreen mode, and in this period you cannot resume playback.
[1] https://github.com/iv-org/invidious/pull/4576
Neither are as reliable as using own custom command line programs on desktop, or mobile via Termux. If Google makes a change I can fix/workaround immediately. No waiting for app developers.
For me, Newpipe works well as a Soundcloud client.
From the Kotlin source for "dvd":
Video downloader app powered by yt-dlp (formerly youtube-dl).
Features
Download video/audio from 1000+ sites supported by yt-dlp.
Run custom yt-dlp commands.
Update yt-dlp version from settings.
Share link via other apps.
References
dvd - https://github.com/yausername/dvd
youtubedl-android - https://github.com/yausername/youtubedl-android
yt-dlp - https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp (formerly youtube-dl - https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl)
Just hoping I’ll be able to use ublock origin on Firefox once it’s available on an I dependent App Store…
Try Yattee [1]
[1] https://github.com/yattee/yattee
I remember once that the video never loaded.I went to their gh repo to find that the issue is already known, there were some api changes from google side.
It freezes about 1/3 of the way into every video
It fails to display comments.
It crashes constantly.
Did they revert that? I saw those for maybe a week. After that, I assume uBlock Origin had already worked around that. Probably the same will happen with mobile clients.
Lately I've been seeing videos suddenly skip four or five seconds forward occasionally; it's possible that's related to an anti-adblocking effort of some kind.
Don't use {site} Search without going through a proxy like SearxNG [2]
Don't use TwiXXer without going through a proxy like Nitter - this has gotten more difficult lately but it still works as long as you feed the daemon some registered accounts. Video does not work at the moment but that seems to be fixable.
Don't use Reddit without going through a proxy like libreddit [4]
Start noticing the pattern? Maybe it is time to start producing promotional posters:
The only thing to come between you and ADS could be a proxy / ADS. I'ts just not worth the risk
ADS / New rules for a sane net / Sane net protects you, your partner and your community
A proxy here and a filter there, ADS nowhere
The more you tighten your grip, ${site}, the more viewers will slip through your fingers
[1] https://github.com/iv-org/invidious
[2] https://github.com/searxng/searxng
[3] https://github.com/zedeus/nitter
[4] https://github.com/libreddit/libreddit
They're cracking down pretty hard.
The companion app Baking Soda² does the same for non-YouTube sites.
1. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/vinegar-tube-cleaner/id1591303...
2. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/baking-soda-tube-cleaner/id160...