I’m using this all the time myself. There is no login to YouTube required and it supports adding subscriptions and doing everything important you can do on YouTube.

And the best part is no ads whatsoever.

  • @[email protected]
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    1610 months ago

    The recommendation algorithm is the reason I use YouTube. Well over half of the videos I’m watching are from channels I’m not even subscribed to. Ads can be blocked as always.

    • @[email protected]
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      210 months ago

      The recommendation algorithm is the reason I use YouTube.

      This is an unpopular opinion on Lemmy (since it means Google has to track you) but I agree. I’ve discovered so many great channels, both small and large, through YouTube recommendations.

    • @[email protected]
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      2910 months ago

      Ive been using it for years now and holy shit. Even if it doesnt blocked ads and even youtubers own ads, the app itself is FAR superior than anything what this vanilla youtube app is supposed to be.

      • @[email protected]
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        1610 months ago

        Even if it doesnt blocked ads and even youtubers own ads

        You mean even if it didn’t? Because it definitely DOES and you’re absolutely right about the rest

        • @[email protected]
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          1110 months ago

          Yes thats what i mean. Even if it didnt then still the app is SUPERIOR IN EVERY WAY than vanilla youtube. But it does block everything. Its a godsend.

      • PopShark
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        210 months ago

        Even just having Sponsorblock built-in changed my life!!

    • paw
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      410 months ago

      Can it be used on a “normal” android phone or just android tv?

    • @[email protected]
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      10 months ago

      I love this app and would use it even if it didn’t block ads. The user experience is just so much better than the regular YouTube TV app. I’ve sent a few donations to the developer to thank them for their work.

    • @[email protected]
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      110 months ago

      Unfortunately it doesn’t work without a login. Also the search function stopped working entirely for me recently.

  • povario
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    4410 months ago

    The best part about FreeTube unlike other Third-Party clients is that it retains a better YouTube-like suggestions system for any videos you wanna watch next. Discoverability is still a very important thing for me

  • Moe
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    1810 months ago

    For some reason like recommendation algorithm, I still use youtube premium.

      • @[email protected]
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        10 months ago

        If you use premium, the creators still get paid by YouTube for your views. If you use an ad blocker, they don’t get any money from your views.

        When you see an ad on YouTube, the creator gets 55% of the revenue and YouTube gets the remaining 45%.

        • @[email protected]
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          110 months ago

          If I want to support the creator, I would rather donate directly or subscribe to the person’s Patreon. YT Premium just gives no extra features for Youtube itself so could not justify paying.

          • @[email protected]
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            10 months ago

            For some reason I doubt that’s a common practice with people hellbent on not seeing ads and not paying for the service.

            Color me surprised if I’m wrong about that.

            I use youtube music everyday as well as downloading videos on my phone to play without wifi. So maybe I do use some premium features, which may make me biased.

            • @[email protected]
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              10 months ago

              I don’t subscribe to anyone, but have donated to the authors I like, just as I did to the FOSS projects I use. One blogger even has a site where you can tie your donation to a specific video of his.

              And for Youtube Music - RiMusic does just what you described but does not require a Google account or a recurring payment.

  • @[email protected]
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    3610 months ago

    I prefer NewPipe/Tubular so much that I don’t even use my desktop for YouTube anymore.

    • @[email protected]
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      510 months ago

      NewPipe stopped working for me some time ago, switched over to rvx which seems to work fine.

      • lemmyvore
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        1610 months ago

        It stops working occasionally but they release fixed versions pretty fast.

      • bruhduh
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        210 months ago

        Try pipepipe, they update more often than OG newpipe/tubular

    • @[email protected]
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      110 months ago

      i would like to say I prefer Newpipe, but those guys have a pretty annoying bug that’s been going on for years now and it’s still not been fixed.

      If you watch a video and then go back to a list and scroll up to the top, the app crashes.

  • zkfcfbzr
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    10 months ago

    I would like Freetube 100x more if it had a web UI instead of a non-browser interface. A web UI with a companion extension to automatically redirect YT video links to it could be so seamless.

    If it’s hosting a server on the local network that would also provide a perfect solution to not having any way for view history or settings to automatically sync between different devices.

  • @[email protected]
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    11310 months ago

    i constantly gotta swap invidious instances because youtube is being relentless in their war against invidious.

    but the ui is awesome and I use it every day.

    • @[email protected]
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      610 months ago

      Invidious is awesome, if possible, self hosting one in docker is great and keeps it up to date

    • @[email protected]
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      310 months ago

      How do I go about doing that (finding a good one and setting it up)? Its been a month that either the video loads or it doesn’t and when it does work it is extremely slow to the point I can’t watch on 1080p.

      • @[email protected]
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        210 months ago

        honestly I keep a tab open with the list of invidious instances open. because every day I usually have to change the instance. or swap it around.

        invidious is fighting youtube very hard, but youtube is fighting back. so its difficult to keep up with.

        i would keep an eye on the invidious instances list. and change to a different one if need be.

    • @[email protected]
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      4510 months ago

      apparently freetube automatically uses a new invidious instance every time it starts up.

      • Dr. Wesker
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        10 months ago

        It seems to be at random, and many of the instances don’t work correctly. You’re better off finding one that does, and setting it as default.

    • @[email protected]
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      3810 months ago

      As someone who’s survived ACTUAL cancer, and spent a year of my life dealing with this shit, and dealing with the aftermath of it now, having to get a colonoscopy this friday as part of my checkups, you can fuck right off with your casual usage of that word.

      Lets slice open your chest, put a medical port in a surgury where you’re still awake, and still somewhat feel whats happening because thats how they do it with todays medical insurance. Thats what we get in America. Lets have you on chemotherapy for a year so you’re so out of it and so physically weak that you can’t wash your own dishes. You have to ask a friend to pull the suction cup drain so the water in the sink can drain so you’re able to individually lift dish.

      Lets have the government tell you that cancer doesn’t qualify you for disability, so you end up with $0 income for 9 months, and expected to pay rent.

      Lets have bus drivers roll their eyes at you for being 40 years old, and not able to lift groceries that aren’t that heavy. Made to feel like an elderly person, but people treat you like an asshole for wasting their time.

      Lets have you go through that, and tell me again how youtube is cancer.

      • @[email protected]
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        10 months ago

        I’m sorry to read you were treated so poorly during your treatment. I hope you are in a better situation, if not now then in the near future.

        • @[email protected]
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          710 months ago

          Well, I brought up the worst parts because it emphasises the harsh realities yoj go through with that.

          But you’ll notice I didn’t speak ill of the actual treatment plan. The people I would see every 2 weeks. I’d be brought into this room, and hooked up to this machine, and the thing would take 6 hours every time. But the nurses were nice. They took care of anything they could. The one time my body rejected the chemo, the head nurse fixed things before I knew what was happening. My skin had turned lobster red, and was in the process of poisoning itself to shut down the foreign chemo drugs. This being after 3 months of treatment. I just felt my skin a little warm, and I felt dizzy. But unrelated to the cancer, I grew up being told never to ask for help. Always tough it out. Which is TERRIBLE advice. If there are any new dads out there, don’t teach your kids they shouldn’t get help when they need it.

          So I’m sitting in the chair, knowing I’m burning, knowing I feel dizzy, and not sure if that’s bad enough to warrant asking for help. I’m looking at the floor, thinking “It’ll pass…just let it pass”.

          And the head nurse sees me, rushes over, and starts adjusting the chemo pump. She says (not asks, says), “You’re feeling hot right now, and you shouldn’t stand. You’re dizzy, and you have no leg strength. You will fall on your face if you try. You’re having a chemical reaction, and this dosage has become too strong. We’ll lower the dosage.”

          All of this, without me trying to bring attention to myself. I didn’t want to worry her, when so many others in that room are elderly. I figured I’ll be fine.

          What I didn’t know is that if left untreated like that, your body will eventually go into shock. From there you could pass out. You could have a heart issue. You could have a seizure. It all depends on how your body tries to react. And she told me, in no uncertain terms, that if I ever feel somethkng is odd, to ALWAYS speak up. They’d rather have 100 false alarms than 1 ignored real issue. Which was total culture shock for me. I’m used to being ignored.

          And my family were there for me too. Financially especially. I had no income. So they paid my rent. For a year. I tried to pay my sister back for a portion of what she paid in rent, and she wouldn’t take it.

          So, yeah, my message highlighted the worst parts of the experience. But I had some people looking out for me too.

          • @[email protected]
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            310 months ago

            You’ve been through a fair bit! Sounds like you have built a strong perspective. Your family sounds rather loving.

      • southsamurai
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        1210 months ago

        Damn. That’s brutal.

        I’ve used that phrase myself in the past, and never thought of this, despite having done hospice care. Thanks for the perspective. That’s serious, you made me rethink things.

      • @[email protected]
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        810 months ago

        “X is cancer”, “X spreads like cancer”, “X is cancerous” are so incredibly common phrases. Are they generally considered inappropriate?

        • @[email protected]
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          410 months ago

          “Spreads like cancer” not so much to me. “Is cancerous” I would say to avoid saying, unless it legitimately IS a risk for cancer.

          I was told that being in a brick building, is not a threat for cancer. However, living in a brick home after say 40 years, actually CAN be a risk for cancer. Which not a lot of people would know. So I think keeping “is cancerous” to an actual legitimate basis is a good idea to spread actual good information. Because if I said “brick houses are cancerous”, that sounds like an exaggeration, but in the long run it’s true.

          “Is cancer” really just depends on how casually its being used. Something that causes you a mild inconvienence? Yeah, I’d find that offensive. But using it towards something that may not be literal cancer, but still poses a physical harm, I find less offensive. Like saying “Nestle is a cancer on this planet”. I wouldn’t find that offensive, because Nestle uses literal slavery, while draining the planet of natural resources, and giving the middle finger to everyone else. Yeah, THAT can be called a cancer. But youtube? Put on an adblock, move on with your day.

    • @[email protected]OP
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      510 months ago

      Since they are integrating a web browser in the app, it kind of make sense here actually. For code editors though, not great…

      • @[email protected]
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        210 months ago

        Since they are integrating a web browser in the app,

        You can do this in a better way by using something like Photino or Tauri that uses the OS’ native browser engine. There’s no need to bundle a browser with every app (like Electron does).

      • noodle (he/him)
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        1110 months ago

        Since they are integrating a web browser in the app

        are they, though? I thought they just grab whatever data Invidious API fetches and display it with their method of choice, similar to how mobile clients for Invidious and Piped work. PlasmaTube manages to do similar thing without becoming a single purpose web browser.

  • Communist
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    410 months ago

    I just wish it supported tabs, I’d switch immediately if it did

  • Elven_Mithril
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    710 months ago

    yeah I agree! My wife would hear bitchin me if we would watch something on her iphone as i would constantly point out the fucking ads… I use in on my Fedora but sometimes (like once a month) I have a problem with the invidous instances. I wish there would be something similar to use on android, bu fortunately with Firefox& SponsorBlock it seems to block most of them…

    • jay
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      410 months ago

      as i would constantly point out the fucking ads.

      Why would you do this?

      Also, there are apps for invidious on Android.

      • Optional
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        210 months ago

        Because they seem to be insufficiently annoyed by them. So I’m helping. By pointing out the invasive garbage being spewed at us.

        At least that’s how it seems to me.

  • Teknikal
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    510 months ago

    I tried it there but my browser works better is my first impression, I’m using thorium with Ublock, YouTube enhanced and some other addons.

    Did honestly just give this a test but I kept getting videos just freezing up for no reason.

    • @[email protected]
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      610 months ago

      YouTube recently rolled out changes that break these third party apps causing a 503 error. Other apps have patched this issue.

      • Teknikal
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        10 months ago

        Yeah I’ve removed it already and know all the antics YouTube has been doing as I use Smarttube on my Firetv.

        But yeah not very impressed with Freetube in comparison to even a browser and the more I read about it not being able to view age restricted and other content it’s not for me especially with the constant freezes.