youtube on modern phones sucks
Not even speaking about all the ads in the default YouTube app without a subscription.
The app is basically useless in my opinion. It defaults to freaking 240p for every video. My phone is definitively not the problem, also not the Internet connection. Watching in Firefox on the same connection gives me normal expected quality.
This was better on some "feature phones" without touchscreen!!! YouTube app works and playback is in 720p / 1080p
One word, Revanced.
Several words: mobile Firefox, ad block, disable youtube app, disable known links to youtube.
Several more words:
Obtuse, rubber goose, green moose, guava juice Giant snake, birthday cake, large fries, chocolate shake!
We didn't start the fire!
Thank you.
It's always so refreshing to see someone do the thing you were expecting would happen!
I'm wondering how to get "shiny teeth and me" into a comment somewhere...
And what would be the benefit over Revanced?
Nothing,
Ithis person I know of just had FF and adblock set up already for other reasons, so allIthey had to do was stop the youtube app hijacking its own links.No sponsor block in ff though?
Works fine for me.
It works with the addon enabled, just like desktop firefox. But right now it's a bitch to manually install addons on the android version, so it's a lot of work. I just use newpipe-sponserblock. Or also LibreTube is also nice while also having sponserblock built in.
TIL I'll have to check on those other clients too, thanks p
how do you install addons on firefox android? I use iceraven now.
To install desktop add-ons you need to use nightly and create an add-on collection to sync. But sponsor block might have a mobile version that you can install from the settings section of the normal app.
No need for side loading apps. So works on all phones. Phones that are remotely admin have this feature off.
Firefox can't load plugins on iPhones anyway. If you're on Android, and it's a personal device, ReVanced is a better experience.
I searched for Revanced and the top 3 results were malware, with the 4th being the real website lol. Thank God for uBlock saving my ass.
Yes, always search it on github and tell people to find it on github if you can't provide a link for them.
They should really just host their own fdroid repo with binaries of pre-patched apps at their default enabled patches.
They do not distribute any binaries to avoid copyright issues I believe. There are some telegram channels doing what you described, but I wouldn't trust it enough to use it.
https://revanced.app is the real one.
OBS was victim to this a while back. it was almost indistinguishable from the real sites so pretty dangerous
Mostly a windows issue there though, Linux and OSX have app stores to install that. Revanced is able to, and just doesn't for some reason. It's a massive security issue for many reasons, and this is a prime example of it. Especially given the app needs a ton of access on your device to operate. It's mind-blowing to me that people recommend this at all, and why there's no repo for it.
Revanced can't exist as a standalone app to be installed like from a store. Google would nuke it. It has to be a patcher. Original Vanced was a standalone app and that is what allowed Google to nuke it from orbit. It's arguable that Google ignored Vanced until the developers got money grubby and tried making NFTs, but the method they used for takedown was DMCA since it was their app just modified.
This is the same thing as ROM hacks, randomizers, etc and why they include a place to upload your own copy of the ROM rather than providing their own. Reverse engineering and modifying are legal, distributing copyright source, binaries, or blobs without the rightsholder permissions is not.
They also do have a repo for it, as well as the offshoot apps like Revanced manager, other app patches, etc. The fact it's not at the top of Google results is a Google-and-SEO problem, not a Revanced problem.
If you want a one and done app install then something like Newpipe is what you want, which is built completely on its own. Revanced is explicitly not that, it's the stock app hacked up. IMHO, Revanced is a nicer experience, but they are two very different experiences and approaches.
And use the patch that saves the resolution you select and it then forces it
Which patch is that? I would love to have that in my FF.
Ah, it's for revanced
extended revanced
FTFY
You default to 240 because your internet sucks or you need to change the default setting. I get 720 all the time and could go higher if I wanted. I never see 240.
This is a you issue and not an app issue.
Tbf my official YouTube also defaults to some shitty quality even on wifi, on my desktop and tv it always goes to 4k. I've also configured it to high picture quality or whatever.
If you go to settings>advanced>you can straight up choose the quality video will play at.
My settings are set to the highest quality.
I'm using revamped now anyway, and it works flawlessly.
There are so many of these threads that just boil down to "I am the problem I just can't admit it"
But this is a real issue. Video playback on my phone usually starts at 480p but on my laptop it starts at 1080p. Both are connected to the same network.
And how many pixels wide is your phone in the direction you watch videos?
Its a full HD screen same as my laptop (similar number of pixels but much higher pixel density for the phone)
Yeah, Newpipe is a lot better option.
Can you link? This is what I'm looking at
Get it from F-Droid, I'm personally using Newpipe with Sponsorblock and it's great.
Its not on the play store. Get it from apkmirror.com, or fdroid as others are mentioning
I've been using YouTube Vanced for years, and now
, after Vanced got killed. it's a bit tedious to set up on non rooted phones, but even then, it's such a huge upgrade. no ads, let you pick your own quality, SponsorBlock built in, background play, lots of payout control options.
I pay for Premium but I still use Revanced just for the sponsorblock feature. It's great!
Recanced is even easier to set up imo. Just patch & install
I remember Vanced being simpler, only making you download the patched app, where ReVanced wants you to uninstall your YouTube updates, find the APK of a specific version, then patch it. not exactly hard for most enthusiasts but still out of reach for most. absolutely worth it though!
It's the only way it can exist.
yep, and I'd definitely rather have it this way than none!
So can google ban your account you use revanced. I'm just using newpipe since you don't have to log in at all due to that fear.
I think they technically could, but won't, and never have. using ReVanced isn't nearly as much of a legal problem as Vanced, because ReVanced isn't directly providing modified versions of the official app (which would be redistributing modified copyrighted material), and even then, only team Vanced themselves suffered the consequences, by being forced to shut down. Modifying whatever for your own personal use doesn't come with any copyright issues.
Banning people who use ReVanced would be like banning people who use adblockers on desktop. not only it's not sure if that is actually against their terms of services (they can probably make the argument that ad-less playback is supposed to be a paid feature, and getting it for free is bad), they would never realistically go out of their way to ban everyone who figured out a way to have YouTube without ads. how about browsers with built-in adblockers? how about people who set up adblockers at their router's level, impacting everyone else connected to it?
it's never impossible that they do it, but so far it has never happened. no website has ever banned its users for using adblockers; at most, they would display a popup forcing you to disable it to access the site (youtube actually does that, but said popup is just as easily blocked than ads themselves). considering the huge amount of "what if"s, I don't believe it will ever happen, especially not with no warnings.
#not legal advice
This is always my main fear.
the official website is revanced.app . in case of doubt, check https://github.com/revanced. fake websites are sadly always an issue with popular apps that aren't on the main stores
Ah, okay. Thanks!
Well, with Revanced you are supposed to patch the APK by yourself and not download a pre-patched one.
Should have been pointed out then.
Not to forget: the adds are high definition anyway...
This fucking infuriates me whenever i dont have an adblocker available. Since my connection speed is sub par, buffering is frequent unless it's at a low quality. So to watch a video without buffering, i gotta set the video to low quality (240-480p) only for A FUCKING 1080P UNSKIPPABLE AD TO JUST CUT IN AND PLAY PERFECTLY FOR 15 SECONDS before casually dropping me back down to 360p, only after buffering once more when the ad ends before the fucking video finally resumes
If you're on android I highly recommend ReVanced
I just use Ublock origin in firefox when im on android.
I would not be able to use YouTube without premium these days since there are so many ads . I find on my phone it usually plays 720 if I'm connected to wifi , there is an option in the settings to pick what quality it will play for wifi or data
Quite a few NewPipe mentions here π. Another option is NewPipe SponsorBlock, which has support for Return Youtube Dislike and of course SponsorBlock
SmartTube beta is meant for Android TV devices, but it just works fine on phones too, and it also has SponsorBlock AND account login.
they just added touch and mouse control
I suspected they had changed something recently; the UI was working better
YouTube
on modern phonessucks.Even when I select "higher quality" on WiFi, it still defaults to 480p.
And then I have to manually select 1080 every time.
So this is not some corner case problem for me... I honestly do not care, rarely watch on the phone. Maybe because it depresses me that technology is moving backwards in some sense π
Yeah, I switched to Invidious a long time ago. If you want an app, I'd also recommend NewPipe (for Android), and either Yattee (for iOS) or Piped (as a PWA).
That's why I only use Newpipe
Use the Firefox nightly build and you can bring your desktop experience to mobile.
Not only can you use sponsorblock but also ublock origin. Plus you can use picture in picture and play the videos with your phone locked by default
Its literal perfect fir my usage
But we have apps that do that. Clipious. Newpipe. Libretube.
Yes, but there are drawbacks to each one. For example, with new pipe, if I find a channel that I like I have to remember to like it on all of my devices individually.
I'd much rather use the mobile YouTube as it works perfectly and I can use any add-on I wish to modify the experience without issue.
I couldn't imagine signing into YouTube. Or really watching YouTube for any extended period
For me it's exclusively something I sit through while infuriatsd that I'm having to watch a fucking video instead of reading a writeup on it.
Seriously. Do you people actually enjoy having to hit the fucking pause button and clicking back 9000 times? What the fuck.
I listen to a lot of media, like Manhwa recaps, audiobooks, podcasts, true crime.
Some days I click on YouTube once at 10am when I wake up and sit down in front of the computer and once again after my day is over and I go to bed.
YouTube is more than educational videos or prank videos.
You should look into "YouTube Longform content"
This is content, usually over 2 hours, that's highly entertaining and comprehensive.
Consider PatricianTV
They made a Skyrim retrospective that was 20 hours long Part 1 Part 2
It's not a let's play or anything of the like. It's an actual factual longform review
Not only is it a masterpiece, but it's a comprehensive masterpiece.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
PatricianTV
Part 1
Part 2
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.
This guy has lots of devices. 1st world problems, so sad. (Just kidding though) What if you dedicate one device to watching YouTube? Or is your approach to devices truly this chaotic that you have to have every app on every device? Why even have more than one device then?
God forbid you watch videos in your tv, computer and phone depending on what you're doing during the day
Yeah valid point. My computer is my TV, so I only have 2 devices to switch between.
I like the ability to move around to different devices and be able to keep the same video.
I love Manhwa recaps, audiobooks, etc. There are like 12 hours long sometimes. So it's so much more convent to walk away from my computer and go to the bathroom or lay down and It just picks right up from the same part in the story.
90% of the time YouTube is running on monitor #2, but the convenience factor of the last 10% can make life worth living sometimes.
That's awesome if that works for you. By all means, sacrifice privacy for comfort. It's not affecting you in the immediate short term, so why not? We're all different and it doesn't help trying to prescribe approaches to intetnet strangers. But yeah, I still get your frustration. A short while ago these weren't such consistent issues. We're at a crossroads, Twitter, Google, Apple, Microsoft, shit's changing y'all.
The choice, as always, is up to you. And the all too familiar factor of comfort is always threatening to lull you into capitalist oblivion. You are a number, you are a statistic, a means to an end... But not necessarily. Choose your battles. Set those boundaries. Protect yourself and be awake. Yo bro, you woke? I'd rather be woke than aslope.
Does not work will use the same 240p shit quality.
Use Newpipe or libretube
My phone always defaults to 4K, it's definitely something up with your phone/the app settings.
On mobile, it usually manages to set itself to my desired resolution, on a modded client, but sometimes youtube just does unexplainable things. I have an addon on desktop that forces playback at a specific res, and even then it would casually decide to play 360p
YouTube will randomly enable closed captions for me, even though I literally never have them on.
revanced is the only thing I can use. it patches the legacy quality menu back in and a bunch of things that make it usable again
Also wtf, even with vanced, it makes me subscribe to hit play next? Thats such a basic function.
I just use newpipe on my phone, freetube on linux. I appreciate that you don't need an account to "subscribe" to channels.
Same but there are times when I block YouTube on my DNS , newpipe stops to work. Is newpipe using YouTube's API?
Obviously yes. Newpipe loads youtube website and parses the video info and files
You could teach a CLASS on how terrible the YouTube mobile app UX is.
YouTube sucks, period. The best innovation they had recently was copying a Chinese company douyin and making shorts while for years they were pushing long form videos to creators and punishing short form videos π dead brains in YouTube executives
Youtube sucked a lot less before this cancerous tiktok clone format was introduced.
Lol that's when you know YouTube has sold out to business managers who have nothing in their brains except chase money
I installed both Vinegar and Baking Soda and have never looked back. And FWIW, all of Google is rotten.
What is vinegar and baking soda?
Both are excellent household cleaners, but despite common belief, they aren't good cleaners when mixed together.
I feel like we need a bot to field these kind of questions completely out or context
Safari extensions.
You should take a look at ReVanced, it's like youtube vanced but yk, not banned by google
Try using it on firefox with ublock installed, works great.
I've given up YouTube almost entirely for PeerTube at this point. If I wasn't to watch a video, I use the *built in grabber and it grabs the video. Then, I can always refer back to PT instead of YT.
Go with Invidious. inv.tux.pizza works for me when I'm on a browser. (I swear I'm not affiliated with them π .) On my desktop and laptop, I use FreeTube because it allows me to track my watch history and subscriptions locally, and it has Sponsorblock and DeArrow optionally integrated. Plus, it's just nice to separate YouTube, which I often watch like TV, from active browsing tasks. On mobile I typically just use Invidious in Firefox.
I don't really consume s lot of visual media these days. But PBS spacetime is tits.
I use Vivaldi Mobile Browser that makes it a lot more usable.
I use ymusic and deleted the YouTube app
So use firefox? Add an adblocker and that's also dealt with.
This just sounds like a PEBCAK error.
Both your problems can be fixed with subscribing. If you don't check out alternative clients for android like LibreTube or NewPipe
pay us money to fix the shit features that we purposely implemented to make you pay money