Hello fellow, ~~lemmings~~, lemmur !
If you are like me, you probably spend a lot of time on YouTube, more than you want to admit.
I remember the days when videos had stars instead of thumbs up or down, and when YouTube had, let's say, more mature content on it.
Now the site has a lot of functionalitys that are great for Google, but that I don't need nor want.
So, to improve the enjoyment of the platform, I present to you the ultimate extension survival kit for YouTube:
- uBlock Origin: (or your favorite ad-blocker) This is an absolute must-have. It's a good ad-blocker that not only blocks YouTube ads but also works across all websites. It's lightweight, efficient, and open-source. Say goodbye to ads.
- SponsorBlock: Skip over the sponsored segments of videos. It's a community-driven project, with users submitting the timestamps of sponsored content. You can even customize it to skip over different types of segments like intros, outros, and more.
- Return YouTube Dislike: Since YouTube removed the dislike count, it's been harder to gauge the quality of videos. This extension brings back the dislike count.
- DeArrow: Extension for crowdsourcing better titles and thumbnails. It removes click-bait titles and thumbnails providing a cleaner Youtube.
- YouTube Shorts Block: If you're not a fan of shorts, this extension is for you. It plays the Youtube shorts video as if it were a normal video and hides the "shorts" tab from the left menu. Firefox Link Chrome Link
- Enhancer for YouTube: Allows you to add theming options, auto-HD, keyboard shortcuts and more.
These are the extensions I use. Don't hesitate to suggest more. I will edit the post accordingly.
It's not lost on me that these extensions remove many things that were not initially a problem on YouTube but that either arose because of the monetary incentive of Google handling the website, Youtubers trying to make money, or as countermeasures to problems that were taken care of by a previous extension. This kind of feels like an arms race…
Edit 1: Changed the YouTube Shorts Block description and added Enhancer for YouTube
If you want some of these features on mobile Android TV, you've still got options!
For Android TV, there's SmartTubeNext: https://smarttubenext.com/ It includes ad blocking and SponsorBlock. I also think the UX is a bit better than the official YouTube app.
For Android, there's obviously ReVanced: https://revanced.app/
And for iOS there's uYou+ (hasn't been updated in a while): https://github.com/qnblackcat/uYouPlus or iVanced (https://github.com/TherionRO/YouTubeiVanced) they will need AltStore to be installed, and will need to be re-signed with a PC/Mac every week.
You can also use AdGuard on iOS though safari and the SponsorBlock extension in the App Store too, but video quality isn't great.
If you want to avoid resigning with AltStore or using Google services, there's also Yattee for iOS: https://apps.apple.com/app/id1595136629 and Invidious and Piped client!
I don't have an android device so if any of my info is wrong let me know!
The ReVanced url you gave is an impersonator, real one is https://revanced.app
edit: SmartTubeNext one most likely is too, doubt it has an actual website so just link to the repo https://github.com/yuliskov/SmartTubeNext
Fixed, thanks!