Top Extensions to Make YouTube Bearable

oct_opus@lemmy.world to Technology@lemmy.world – 1463 points –

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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. DeArrow: Extension for crowdsourcing better titles and thumbnails. It removes click-bait titles and thumbnails providing a cleaner Youtube.
  5. 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
  6. 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

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All I'm wishing for on Android is for NewPipe or LibreTube to let me login to get my suggested front page. On desktop, Sponserblock is awesome, and I've been liking DeArrow.

uBlock Origin is simply a requirement on every single browser and should always be installed. I'd recommend going into the settings and enabling all the extra filters as well.

Use revanced on Android

Is Revanced better now? I remember trying it a year or two ago and it was garbage.

Edit: my issue was that I had downloaded a pre-compiled Revanced YouTube APK which was a pile of shit.

What do you mean? Last year, I effectively had to stop using it because Google was testing a new blocking method in the UK - this resulted in constant buffering.

A recent update has resolved this issue, and the app is back to being the best version of YouTube available.

There's never really been an issue with it. Just a little complicated to set up in the beginning.

Now it's easy to install and it works with MicroG.

What's the issue you were having with it?

The your I was having with it was that I downloaded a pre-compiled APK. Just compiled my own just now and it works great!

Sounds to me like the older version had issues. Pre-compiled or self probably had nothing to do with it. Now you just have the newer better version that you happened to compile yourself

Works well for me, and I've been using it basically since the beginning.

I’d recommend going into the settings and enabling all the extra filters as well.

I'd recommend sticking with the defaults unless you have a specific use case where extra filters are needed. More filters = higher chance of breakage.

Have you tried Clipious. It uses invidious servers and has all these sponsorblock stuff.

I'll give it a try, will it let me access my already existing youtube login with my subscriptions and reccomendations? That's really the only thing im missing

edit: weird, I installed it and choose a public server. I never logged into my YouTube yet it seems to be getting my YouTube recommendations somewhat? Nvm they just seem to be similar stuff to what I watch.

Since it is invidious, there is no chance to log in to your yt account.