I’m a peasant. I use Firefox for YouTube with Ublock
Quick LPT from someone who listens to a ton of audio books and podcasts at work: If you access YouTube via Firefox and tap “request desktop site” in the three dots menu and then play your video from there you can listen to the audio with your screen off, or in the background while you use a different app.
I USED to be able to do that with the YouTube app until they started the shittification
Tubular
If you like having Sponsor Block and being able to dislike videos.
Also let’s you set to whatever default resolution you want.
Finally on my Pixel 8 Pro, I can set it to 1440p self rejoice.
Revanced works for me and my family (mobile and tablet).
I’m using smartube on android TV and its functional but I would like to hear about alternatives if anyone has a recommendation.
Regular smartube or Beta, because the beta version works better.
NewPipe also works on Android TV
I use NewPipe ; I appreciate that the YT ads are removed but not the content creator sponsor segment - I respect the right of a creator to choose to have their channel supported through advertisement.
I also like that my “feed” is only the channels I subscribe to, not the terrible crap yt thinks is going to “engage” me, and this without having a logged account.
Add in the many customizable defaults, the tab organization, and NewPipe on my phone is the only way I ever watch yt, ever.
Grayjay.
Libretube has better theming for oled, I like the audio only feature, sponsor block. New pipe was okay but CBA to ad api keys for sponsor block and theming looks jank
Here’s a dumb question:
What are the benefits of a YouTube front end?
No yt ads, no tracking, no algorithmic shit suggestion feed pushed down your throat (NewPipe)
Having control over the UI helps. I never want to see “shorts” on start-up but its also nice to have control over share/cast buttons, do I care about up/down votes? Auto play or next video recommendations?
Then there are options to skips youtube ads (by just not loading them) and sponsor segments (by using sponsor block).
Continued playback with a locked screen can be handy sometimes too.
A lot of the UI is designed to encourage user engagement and monetize that engagement. My priorities differ.
Some of these features are available with YouTube Premium but that’s comically over priced (and still doesn’t offer as much control). The Family plan is currently around 150% the price of Netflix Premium :/
ReVanced is still the best for me, but NewPipe and LibreTube are both solid options. It’s so important that we have choices.
I dont know if its better but Newpipe because it can do more than just YouTube.
If newpipe/tubular had the option to sync your piped or invidious account to sync the subscription and watch history automatically it would be by far the best.
I personally use the fork of NewPipe that adds sponsorblock Does exactly what I need it to
