22 ms·

Vanced: YouTube adblocker for Android

290 points by montenegrohugo 5y ago

tmh88j 5y ago
I'm surprised this is posted here. I don't even have an Android but I thought it was so well known that this feels just like a blatant ad. You can't go to a single post on reddit about youtube, adblockers or pihole and not find Vanced mentioned dozens of times.
- distances 5y ago
  For what it's worth, I hadn't heard of this before. And I develop Android apps, use F-Droid and NewPipe, and have been avoiding ads since forever. Edit: after having a look I prefer NewPipe still.
  - tmh88j 5y ago
    >For what it's worth, I hadn't heard of this before....and have been avoiding ads since forever. I don't what other sites you browse, but like I said, you can't avoid it on reddit. Here's a highly upvoted post [1] currently on the front page of /r/pcmasterrace https://old.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/szcq7m/browsing_in_2022/ https://old.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/szcq7m/browsi...
smoldesu 5y ago
What's up with the Brave advertisement? As a happy NewPipe user, that doesn't really inspire me to give Vanced a try...
- jsnell 5y ago
  It seems clear that the Brave and AdGuard links are ads, except not marked as such (the links have tracking codes).
  - yjftsjthsd-h 5y ago
    > ads, except not marked as such I'm not sure which way you meant it, but to be unambiguous: That's way worse.
- Nathanael_M 5y ago
  I've seen Vanced/Brave all over today. It has not improved my feelings towards either product.
ncann 5y ago
Vanced is awesome, except for the fact that they broke casting to my TV a while ago so I had to downgrade to an older version and hasn't updated for a while. Not sure if they fixed it now. Also I tried to find something similar to put on my iPad and my god it's annoying. iOS allows you to sideload app if you have a dev cert (not too sure on the details) but you have to renew the cert every 7 days or so, so you need to keep a server app running in the network to automatically renew the cert for you.
- luke2m 5y ago
  https://github.com/akemin-dayo/AppSync https://github.com/akemin-dayo/AppSync
lenova 5y ago
I love Vanced! The only downside is that it's not able to avoid ads when casting to Chromecast. SkyTube is a minimalistic Youtube Android client that can avoid ads when casting: https://github.com/SkyTubeTeam/SkyTube https://github.com/SkyTubeTeam/SkyTube For those of you using Android TV, I highly recommend SmartTubeNext, a Youtube client with no ads, and includes SponsorBlock[1]: https://github.com/yuliskov/SmartTubeNext https://github.com/yuliskov/SmartTubeNext [1] https://sponsor.ajay.app https://sponsor.ajay.app
- koshergweilo 5y ago
  Thanks for the link! I was about to ask.
- abracadaniel 5y ago
  I was just looking at this project, and I'm surprised by the lack of homebrew streaming boxes. I find it pretty amazing that the only way to block ads on a streaming box is to use a google product. There doesn't seem to be any attempts to root a Roku or create an open ecosystem for streaming apps.
  - beepbooptheory 5y ago
    Ive thought about this too but I think its just because it's so trivial with raspberry Pi's. When I think about it, I can't imagine what a homebrew box could offer to someone whose already decided they don't want a Chromecast or Roku. Maybe a remote? I know there are some minimally sketchy kodi like distro images out there, I forgot their names at the moment..
luke2m 5y ago
> allows you to play videos in the background This feature is why I use Vanced
- okl 5y ago
  NewPipe can do that as well.
- bdlowery 5y ago
  Me too. That’s why I pay $12 for YouTube premium. That’s like, what, 30 cents a day per month? Paying for things is not hard.
  - oschvr 5y ago
    > paying for things is not hard Except when you don't have a money allocation for a premium service
    - bdlowery 5y ago
      The vast majority of people browsing hacker news are in the tech industry, not high school kids with no money.
      - luke2m 5y ago
        I unfortunately am actually a high school kid with no money.
  - Nextgrid 5y ago
    I have a problem with paying for something that has been a basic capability of every computer made in the last 20 years. Not to mention, the obvious issue that paying for YT Premium requires you to provide valid personal details to Google (for payment processing) and remain logged in. That's way more tracking potential compared to Vanced/NewPipe/Invidious/etc.
    - bdlowery 5y ago
xwx 5y ago
Vanced is pretty good. It seems like it's just the official YouTube app but with premium for free. Newpipe is another ad-free YouTube app. https://newpipe.net/ https://newpipe.net/ It's FOSS and doesn't use your Google account, or any of the YouTube APIs. You can still manage subscriptions but you have to import them manually.
- kyriakos 5y ago
  Unfortunately it's very buggy and still not ready for full time use. Crashes all the time, importing subscriptions is hard. But it's FOSS and I still use it regardless cause vanced concerns me because it needs access to my account
  - MisterSandman 5y ago
    I personally use a different, fame account for Vanced. Most people should be doing that anyway because who knows when Google will crackdown on it and start blocking any account using Vanced.
  - yellowapple 5y ago
    It's a lot less crashy nowadays (at least from what I can tell from using it daily).
    - jthrowsitaway 5y ago
      I want to like NewPipe but I've always had problems with resuming videos after pausing them in the background. Most of the time my progress is just completely lost. Also, full screen and popover mode have been broken since Android 12. I use Vanced at this point.
      - WickyNilliams 5y ago
        Resuming issues were bug in the last few versions, but has been fixed in the latest release.
okl 5y ago
Not open source?
- danuker 5y ago
  Nope. I use NewPipe. https://newpipe.net/ https://newpipe.net/
- babyshake 5y ago
  I'm a bit concerned about malware with APKs. Is it safe to use this app?
  - MisterSandman 5y ago
    It's about as safe a non-FOSS unofficial app can be.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - 2OEH8eoCRo0 5y ago
    https://github.com/TeamNewPipe/NewPipe https://github.com/TeamNewPipe/NewPipe
- agilob 5y ago
  https://github.com/orgs/YTVanced/repositories?type=all https://github.com/orgs/YTVanced/repositories?type=all
  - okl 5y ago
    No app code there :-/
- kangalioo 5y ago
  If I recall correctly, they're not open-sourcing because YouTube Vanced is a collection of patches on reverse-engineered YouTube source code, which would be illegal to publish
arsome 5y ago
With the integration of SponsorBlock and ReturnYoutubeDislike Vanced is truly better than ever.
- bubu-bln 5y ago
  There is a version of NewPipe both integrates SponsorBlock and can optionally does dislike count, as well. Works great, it's FOSS and 100% nag-free: https://f-droid.org/packages/org.polymorphicshade.newpipe https://f-droid.org/packages/org.polymorphicshade.newpipe
jdubb 5y ago
Using YouTube only via Firefox with the uBlock Origin plugin works pretty well too. The simple solution without requiring any additional apps. Firefox has its own quirks which are discussed on Hacker News at length, but it's good enough. Actually, I've considered installing an older version of Firefox and disabling updates. But I feel that might pose security risks, and if at some point there's a novel virus requiring updating, I'm afraid the shock might be too big, as compared to a little shock every few months. Still considering what's wise here...
- kache_ 5y ago
  Definitely don't run an unpatched browser
- criley2 5y ago
  There's a major browser zero-day being used in the wild requiring immediate browser update basically every week it seems like. Stay up to date or use the browser in a very safe environment in a way which does not have access to or use any of your personal information including accounts/passwords/etc.
- mminer237 5y ago
  What is it about the new Firefox you don't like? I find Mozilla makes a lot of stupid anti-user changes, but at least most can be changed someone.
  - jdubb 5y ago
    Since a few months, firefox by default doesn't switch from incognito back to normal mode when I close the only remaining incognito tab. Can probably be attributed to increased privacy, I suppose, encouraging the use of incognito mode. But there's no setting to change that back. Over time, more of these minor annoyances appear which I'd need to dig in my memory for. Luckily, it's a relatively small price to pay, overall I'm just happy to have adblocking in the browser.
- scim-knox-twox 5y ago
  Check SponsorBlock extension
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
wbobeirne 5y ago
Asking this question in good faith and in the interest of a productive discussion: Can someone give me their reasoning for why to use this over just paying for YouTube premium? They're providing a service that you value and spend enough time on to warrant looking for a way to not have to view ads, and if everyone were to start using Vanced overnight, YouTube wouldn't be able to justify staying up indefinitely. It feels heavy on negative externalities.
- thetinguy 5y ago
  Also creators don’t get revenue from blocked ads but they do from premium.
- ohmanjjj 5y ago
  If someone can’t afford $15 for Premium, they likely shouldn’t be wasting their time watching videos to begin with, and instead focus their time and effort on making a living.
  - Bootvis 5y ago
    Yes, you can never learn something from a YouTube video /s
    - ohmanjjj 5y ago
      If one can’t afford $15 for unlimited access to uninterrupted education, they have their priorities elsewhere.
- monkeybutton 5y ago
  Personally, I rarely use YouTube so there's no way to justify paying for premium.
- AniseAbyss 5y ago
  Only use YT for about an hour a week for some background music while working out. I really do not give a shit about the service beyond that. Honestly if YT goes kaput I'll just use digital radio. No skin off my back.
endisneigh 5y ago
Funny how people want content but don’t want to support content creators via ads or paying for YouTube Premium. The internet in a nutshell. Ironically if people weren’t so avoidant of paying for digital content, ads, and the subsequent tracking, would’ve never emerged.
- efdee 5y ago
  Is that so, though? I've often read (but sadly cannot reproduce links at this point) that ad revenue is a multiple of subscription revenue - meaning a paying subscriber is worth a lot less than a non-paying-but-ad-watching subscriber. Maybe if ads were somehow banned and services would only exist on a subscription driven basis, we'd have have more content worth buying and less clickbaity stuff.
  - endisneigh 5y ago
    > Maybe if ads were somehow banned and services would only exist on a subscription driven basis, we'd have have more content worth buying and less clickbaity stuff. Why ban ads though? Fundamentally after you encounter a site that has ads once you can simply choose not to go back if the content isn’t good enough to justify seeing the ads, right? Generally people like the content but don’t want the ads and aren’t willing to pay for subscription. News sites are the best examples of this.
- BipolarCapybara 5y ago
  Didn't the ads model emerge in part because in the early days it was really hard to pay for online services?
  - sdoering 5y ago
    That might have been a reason. But ads were a known way of monetization. Long before the internet. And in the early days, before it grew to become its own thing old models were just done in the new medium. Like newspapers. They had ads. So also had their digital versions. And hey. It was a fad. It would pass. A lot of execs did not take it seriously. Why invest in a payment system for these few strange people online.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
suketk 5y ago
Feature request: add an option to hide the feed. I can do this on desktop with browser extensions, but there's no equivalent solution on mobile.
- ajot 5y ago
  NewPipe let's you customize the UI, so you can have playlists, feed, channels, history or some other options when you open the app.
politelemon 5y ago
If it wasn't obvious to anyone (it wasn't to me for many years), the pun is in the byline. Advanced but without the ads = ~~ad~~vanced
- sergiomattei 5y ago
  Oh wow I never even noticed
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
cuteboy19 5y ago
Why doesn't this qualify as warez?
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
notatoad 5y ago
i'd love to know the crossover between vanced users and people who get outraged when their youtuber complains about getting demonetized.
holidayacct 5y ago
- meibo 5y ago
  I had to do a double take on this one, do you actually believe that? uBlock Origin has 10.000.000+ users on chrome web store.
- causi 5y ago
  What in the world are you talking about?
- drewg123 5y ago
  "ads in-person with GPS information. They literally bring people to you" Can you elaborate? I read this like you're saying somebody is going to be somebody showing up on my door forcing physical paper ads in my face. That can't be right..
- eatsyourtacos 5y ago
  When the Mormons came knocking on your door, I don't think a dark web advertising guru sent them to harass you.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
TeeMassive 5y ago
On Android I use Firefox with µBlock Origin and the extension that blocks the current focus API so I can listen to podcast while my phone is in my pocket.
branon 5y ago
This is nonfree, I've used it and found it a little ostentatious for my taste. NewPipe is open-source and the interface makes more sense to me. I think Vanced preserves Chromecast compatibility (correct me if I'm wrong) which NewPipe can't do.
- russdpale 5y ago
  Nah, no more casting in vance, which kind of killed its main use for me. It's not their fault, its the microG package maintainers that don't want to do it. I guess the new casting protocols aren't worth it.
- MisterSandman 5y ago
  Wait, what? Vanced's UI is virtually identical to YouTube.
  - branon 5y ago
    Maybe this is why I found it strange - I have not used the stock YouTube app in a few years.
causi 5y ago
Oh hell. I love Vanced but I hate when it gets picked up on outlet like HN. The higher profile it is the more likely Google will crack down on it. "Keep it secret, keep it safe"
stevomacdaddy 5y ago
Hot tip: use an Argentinian VPN and get YouTube Premium for ~$2 a month.
- Whatarethese 5y ago
  Also India. $1.27
johndevitooo 5y ago
unixhero 5y ago
Vanced is amazing.
2OEH8eoCRo0 5y ago
I prefer Newpipe since it's FOSS. https://github.com/TeamNewPipe/NewPipe/releases https://github.com/TeamNewPipe/NewPipe/releases Vanced appears to be a cracked/modified version of the official YouTube app.
BLKNSLVR 5y ago
My "killer use case" for Vanced or NewPipe isn't even the ad removal, it's being able to continue playing the audio while the app is minimised or the phone is locked. That is such a basic restriction that free YouTube places upon itself that ruins my main use case - listening to a couple of videos on my commute to and from work.
- datagram 5y ago
  You can easily get all of these features in the official YouTube app by subscribing to YouTube Premium, which also provides revenue to content creators.
  - BLKNSLVR 5y ago
    > all of these features I don't want "all of the these features", I want background play, like it used to have. I don't consume a lot, and a couple of the creators who are my "dailys" don't monetise with ads anyway. I also watch occasional YT on my TV via chromecast with the "full advertising experience" enabled. The thing that irks me is that background play used to be part of the standard Youtube app (as far as I recall anyway), and now it's been taken away in what feels like a strong shepherding hand towards subscription - which annoys me enough to look for alternatives. (eg. I'm working towards migrating off gmail having been on the grandfathered free custom domain thing long enough to take free for granted).
  - gaius_baltar 5y ago
    ... and giving more data points to Google to track (by linking it to your IRL identity). Also, you won't get rid of native ads.
  - coryfklein 5y ago
    But why, when YouTube has chosen to provide the content ad-free? If I see content I appreciate and then – for whatever reason – decide I'd like to support the creator, I'll probably just donate to their Patreon where they'll actually see most of the money I send their way. If I pay for YouTube Premium and then I watch a video that wastes my time, I definitely do not want to send money to that creator but Premium will unavoidably do just that.
oschvr 5y ago
I've been using Vanced for over a year now and all my friends with iPhones are extremely jealous
wanderingmind 5y ago
If people want to just see youtube videos without needing to see any comments or recommendations while removing adsd, there is SkyTube [1]. Its FOSS, minimal and very easy to use. [1] https://github.com/SkyTubeTeam/SkyTube https://github.com/SkyTubeTeam/SkyTube
TheNewAndy 5y ago
I use firefox + uBlock Origin + <some extension I can't remember the name of that lets videos play if it goes into the background>. Is there something I am missing out on?
Ecko123 5y ago
nonbirithm 5y ago
Two things about adblock that I've noticed: 1. Apps like Vanced are probably going to become necessary once first-party tracking and ads start being adopted. YouTube has proven that if there's enough incentive, DNS-based adblocking like pi-hole can be rendered useless. But the fact that Vanced is a reverse-engineered application means that the barrier to entry for contributing is significantly higher than if a runtime more open to extensibility were used, like the browser's. A hypothetical shift to WASM applications might end up becoming another step in such an arms race. 2. AdBlock is likely the only reason I've spent hundreds more hours on YouTube that I wouldn't have if I were forced to watch ads. I consider ads a waste of time like many people, but my degree of distaste for them has led me to reflexively back out of any service where adblock is not an option. An example of this is Twitch, where the ads are directly injected into the video stream. As a result, I don't use Twitch. I have to wonder how many hours of time this has saved me in the long run, because I have a susceptibility to some of the content their algorithm recommends me. If every known adblock method is ultimately defeated in some hypothetical timeline, I'm reasonably certain that my distaste for ads will win out against my addiction to browsing article headlines. I have to wonder where all my newly restored attention away from the Internet would go in that case, and if I would ultimately turn out to be a happier person.
holoduke 5y ago
Used vanced for years. Works nice. But doesn't work on my shield. Casting from my phone to the shield results into annoying ads. After thinking for a while I thought that the premium YouTube membership isn't that bad. I use it so often. I think it fair to pay a price for it.
vagab0nd 5y ago
These days I simply cannot use YouTube without Premium + SponsorBlock. The ad skipping works really well and pretty much makes the videos watchable for me. For a year now I have been using YT exclusively on desktop, until I learned about Vanced recently. It has be a godsend as I can finally watch videos on mobile.
visiblink 5y ago
Newpipe has been mentioned a lot in this thread. If you're looking for a Linux / Windows equivalent, try Freetube. To me, they're essentially the same app for different platforms.
nisegami 5y ago
While at university in the US, I subscribed to YouTube Premium. Once I graduated and moved back home, I was able to continue paying for YouTube Premium (and still do), but using any of the features such as background playback required me to use a VPN. So, I use Vanced. I like to think my Premium membership is going towards the creators I watch, but as far as I'm concerned, I did my part.

I'm surprised this is posted here. I don't even have an Android but I thought it was so well known that this feels just like a blatant ad. You can't go to a single post on reddit about youtube, adblockers or pihole and not find Vanced mentioned dozens of times.

distances 5y ago
For what it's worth, I hadn't heard of this before. And I develop Android apps, use F-Droid and NewPipe, and have been avoiding ads since forever. Edit: after having a look I prefer NewPipe still.
- tmh88j 5y ago
  >For what it's worth, I hadn't heard of this before....and have been avoiding ads since forever. I don't what other sites you browse, but like I said, you can't avoid it on reddit. Here's a highly upvoted post [1] currently on the front page of /r/pcmasterrace https://old.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/szcq7m/browsing_in_2022/ https://old.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/szcq7m/browsi...

smoldesu 5y ago

What's up with the Brave advertisement? As a happy NewPipe user, that doesn't really inspire me to give Vanced a try...

jsnell 5y ago
It seems clear that the Brave and AdGuard links are ads, except not marked as such (the links have tracking codes).
- yjftsjthsd-h 5y ago
  > ads, except not marked as such I'm not sure which way you meant it, but to be unambiguous: That's way worse.
Nathanael_M 5y ago
I've seen Vanced/Brave all over today. It has not improved my feelings towards either product.

ncann 5y ago

Vanced is awesome, except for the fact that they broke casting to my TV a while ago so I had to downgrade to an older version and hasn't updated for a while. Not sure if they fixed it now. Also I tried to find something similar to put on my iPad and my god it's annoying. iOS allows you to sideload app if you have a dev cert (not too sure on the details) but you have to renew the cert every 7 days or so, so you need to keep a server app running in the network to automatically renew the cert for you.

luke2m 5y ago
https://github.com/akemin-dayo/AppSync https://github.com/akemin-dayo/AppSync

lenova 5y ago

I love Vanced! The only downside is that it's not able to avoid ads when casting to Chromecast. SkyTube is a minimalistic Youtube Android client that can avoid ads when casting: https://github.com/SkyTubeTeam/SkyTube https://github.com/SkyTubeTeam/SkyTube For those of you using Android TV, I highly recommend SmartTubeNext, a Youtube client with no ads, and includes SponsorBlock[1]: https://github.com/yuliskov/SmartTubeNext https://github.com/yuliskov/SmartTubeNext [1] https://sponsor.ajay.app https://sponsor.ajay.app

koshergweilo 5y ago
Thanks for the link! I was about to ask.
abracadaniel 5y ago
I was just looking at this project, and I'm surprised by the lack of homebrew streaming boxes. I find it pretty amazing that the only way to block ads on a streaming box is to use a google product. There doesn't seem to be any attempts to root a Roku or create an open ecosystem for streaming apps.
- beepbooptheory 5y ago
  Ive thought about this too but I think its just because it's so trivial with raspberry Pi's. When I think about it, I can't imagine what a homebrew box could offer to someone whose already decided they don't want a Chromecast or Roku. Maybe a remote? I know there are some minimally sketchy kodi like distro images out there, I forgot their names at the moment..

luke2m 5y ago

> allows you to play videos in the background This feature is why I use Vanced

okl 5y ago
NewPipe can do that as well.
bdlowery 5y ago
Me too. That’s why I pay $12 for YouTube premium. That’s like, what, 30 cents a day per month? Paying for things is not hard.
- oschvr 5y ago
  > paying for things is not hard Except when you don't have a money allocation for a premium service
  - bdlowery 5y ago
    The vast majority of people browsing hacker news are in the tech industry, not high school kids with no money.
    - luke2m 5y ago
      I unfortunately am actually a high school kid with no money.
- Nextgrid 5y ago
  I have a problem with paying for something that has been a basic capability of every computer made in the last 20 years. Not to mention, the obvious issue that paying for YT Premium requires you to provide valid personal details to Google (for payment processing) and remain logged in. That's way more tracking potential compared to Vanced/NewPipe/Invidious/etc.
  - bdlowery 5y ago

xwx 5y ago

Vanced is pretty good. It seems like it's just the official YouTube app but with premium for free. Newpipe is another ad-free YouTube app. https://newpipe.net/ https://newpipe.net/ It's FOSS and doesn't use your Google account, or any of the YouTube APIs. You can still manage subscriptions but you have to import them manually.

kyriakos 5y ago
Unfortunately it's very buggy and still not ready for full time use. Crashes all the time, importing subscriptions is hard. But it's FOSS and I still use it regardless cause vanced concerns me because it needs access to my account
- MisterSandman 5y ago
  I personally use a different, fame account for Vanced. Most people should be doing that anyway because who knows when Google will crackdown on it and start blocking any account using Vanced.
- yellowapple 5y ago
  It's a lot less crashy nowadays (at least from what I can tell from using it daily).
  - jthrowsitaway 5y ago
    I want to like NewPipe but I've always had problems with resuming videos after pausing them in the background. Most of the time my progress is just completely lost. Also, full screen and popover mode have been broken since Android 12. I use Vanced at this point.
    - WickyNilliams 5y ago
      Resuming issues were bug in the last few versions, but has been fixed in the latest release.

okl 5y ago

Not open source?

danuker 5y ago
Nope. I use NewPipe. https://newpipe.net/ https://newpipe.net/
babyshake 5y ago
I'm a bit concerned about malware with APKs. Is it safe to use this app?
- MisterSandman 5y ago
  It's about as safe a non-FOSS unofficial app can be.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 5y ago
  https://github.com/TeamNewPipe/NewPipe https://github.com/TeamNewPipe/NewPipe
agilob 5y ago
https://github.com/orgs/YTVanced/repositories?type=all https://github.com/orgs/YTVanced/repositories?type=all
- okl 5y ago
  No app code there :-/
kangalioo 5y ago
If I recall correctly, they're not open-sourcing because YouTube Vanced is a collection of patches on reverse-engineered YouTube source code, which would be illegal to publish

arsome 5y ago

With the integration of SponsorBlock and ReturnYoutubeDislike Vanced is truly better than ever.

bubu-bln 5y ago
There is a version of NewPipe both integrates SponsorBlock and can optionally does dislike count, as well. Works great, it's FOSS and 100% nag-free: https://f-droid.org/packages/org.polymorphicshade.newpipe https://f-droid.org/packages/org.polymorphicshade.newpipe

jdubb 5y ago

Using YouTube only via Firefox with the uBlock Origin plugin works pretty well too. The simple solution without requiring any additional apps. Firefox has its own quirks which are discussed on Hacker News at length, but it's good enough. Actually, I've considered installing an older version of Firefox and disabling updates. But I feel that might pose security risks, and if at some point there's a novel virus requiring updating, I'm afraid the shock might be too big, as compared to a little shock every few months. Still considering what's wise here...

kache_ 5y ago
Definitely don't run an unpatched browser
criley2 5y ago
There's a major browser zero-day being used in the wild requiring immediate browser update basically every week it seems like. Stay up to date or use the browser in a very safe environment in a way which does not have access to or use any of your personal information including accounts/passwords/etc.
mminer237 5y ago
What is it about the new Firefox you don't like? I find Mozilla makes a lot of stupid anti-user changes, but at least most can be changed someone.
- jdubb 5y ago
  Since a few months, firefox by default doesn't switch from incognito back to normal mode when I close the only remaining incognito tab. Can probably be attributed to increased privacy, I suppose, encouraging the use of incognito mode. But there's no setting to change that back. Over time, more of these minor annoyances appear which I'd need to dig in my memory for. Luckily, it's a relatively small price to pay, overall I'm just happy to have adblocking in the browser.
scim-knox-twox 5y ago
Check SponsorBlock extension

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

wbobeirne 5y ago

Asking this question in good faith and in the interest of a productive discussion: Can someone give me their reasoning for why to use this over just paying for YouTube premium? They're providing a service that you value and spend enough time on to warrant looking for a way to not have to view ads, and if everyone were to start using Vanced overnight, YouTube wouldn't be able to justify staying up indefinitely. It feels heavy on negative externalities.

thetinguy 5y ago
Also creators don’t get revenue from blocked ads but they do from premium.
ohmanjjj 5y ago
If someone can’t afford $15 for Premium, they likely shouldn’t be wasting their time watching videos to begin with, and instead focus their time and effort on making a living.
- Bootvis 5y ago
  Yes, you can never learn something from a YouTube video /s
  - ohmanjjj 5y ago
    If one can’t afford $15 for unlimited access to uninterrupted education, they have their priorities elsewhere.
monkeybutton 5y ago
Personally, I rarely use YouTube so there's no way to justify paying for premium.
AniseAbyss 5y ago
Only use YT for about an hour a week for some background music while working out. I really do not give a shit about the service beyond that. Honestly if YT goes kaput I'll just use digital radio. No skin off my back.

endisneigh 5y ago

Funny how people want content but don’t want to support content creators via ads or paying for YouTube Premium. The internet in a nutshell. Ironically if people weren’t so avoidant of paying for digital content, ads, and the subsequent tracking, would’ve never emerged.

efdee 5y ago
Is that so, though? I've often read (but sadly cannot reproduce links at this point) that ad revenue is a multiple of subscription revenue - meaning a paying subscriber is worth a lot less than a non-paying-but-ad-watching subscriber. Maybe if ads were somehow banned and services would only exist on a subscription driven basis, we'd have have more content worth buying and less clickbaity stuff.
- endisneigh 5y ago
  > Maybe if ads were somehow banned and services would only exist on a subscription driven basis, we'd have have more content worth buying and less clickbaity stuff. Why ban ads though? Fundamentally after you encounter a site that has ads once you can simply choose not to go back if the content isn’t good enough to justify seeing the ads, right? Generally people like the content but don’t want the ads and aren’t willing to pay for subscription. News sites are the best examples of this.
BipolarCapybara 5y ago
Didn't the ads model emerge in part because in the early days it was really hard to pay for online services?
- sdoering 5y ago
  That might have been a reason. But ads were a known way of monetization. Long before the internet. And in the early days, before it grew to become its own thing old models were just done in the new medium. Like newspapers. They had ads. So also had their digital versions. And hey. It was a fad. It would pass. A lot of execs did not take it seriously. Why invest in a payment system for these few strange people online.

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suketk 5y ago

Feature request: add an option to hide the feed. I can do this on desktop with browser extensions, but there's no equivalent solution on mobile.

ajot 5y ago
NewPipe let's you customize the UI, so you can have playlists, feed, channels, history or some other options when you open the app.

politelemon 5y ago

If it wasn't obvious to anyone (it wasn't to me for many years), the pun is in the byline. Advanced but without the ads = ~~ad~~vanced

sergiomattei 5y ago
Oh wow I never even noticed
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cuteboy19 5y ago

Why doesn't this qualify as warez?

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notatoad 5y ago

i'd love to know the crossover between vanced users and people who get outraged when their youtuber complains about getting demonetized.

holidayacct 5y ago

meibo 5y ago
I had to do a double take on this one, do you actually believe that? uBlock Origin has 10.000.000+ users on chrome web store.
causi 5y ago
What in the world are you talking about?
drewg123 5y ago
"ads in-person with GPS information. They literally bring people to you" Can you elaborate? I read this like you're saying somebody is going to be somebody showing up on my door forcing physical paper ads in my face. That can't be right..
eatsyourtacos 5y ago
When the Mormons came knocking on your door, I don't think a dark web advertising guru sent them to harass you.
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TeeMassive 5y ago

On Android I use Firefox with µBlock Origin and the extension that blocks the current focus API so I can listen to podcast while my phone is in my pocket.

branon 5y ago

This is nonfree, I've used it and found it a little ostentatious for my taste. NewPipe is open-source and the interface makes more sense to me. I think Vanced preserves Chromecast compatibility (correct me if I'm wrong) which NewPipe can't do.

russdpale 5y ago
Nah, no more casting in vance, which kind of killed its main use for me. It's not their fault, its the microG package maintainers that don't want to do it. I guess the new casting protocols aren't worth it.
MisterSandman 5y ago
Wait, what? Vanced's UI is virtually identical to YouTube.
- branon 5y ago
  Maybe this is why I found it strange - I have not used the stock YouTube app in a few years.

causi 5y ago

Oh hell. I love Vanced but I hate when it gets picked up on outlet like HN. The higher profile it is the more likely Google will crack down on it. "Keep it secret, keep it safe"

stevomacdaddy 5y ago

Hot tip: use an Argentinian VPN and get YouTube Premium for ~$2 a month.

Whatarethese 5y ago
Also India. $1.27

johndevitooo 5y ago

unixhero 5y ago

Vanced is amazing.

2OEH8eoCRo0 5y ago

I prefer Newpipe since it's FOSS. https://github.com/TeamNewPipe/NewPipe/releases https://github.com/TeamNewPipe/NewPipe/releases Vanced appears to be a cracked/modified version of the official YouTube app.

BLKNSLVR 5y ago

My "killer use case" for Vanced or NewPipe isn't even the ad removal, it's being able to continue playing the audio while the app is minimised or the phone is locked. That is such a basic restriction that free YouTube places upon itself that ruins my main use case - listening to a couple of videos on my commute to and from work.

datagram 5y ago
You can easily get all of these features in the official YouTube app by subscribing to YouTube Premium, which also provides revenue to content creators.
- BLKNSLVR 5y ago
  > all of these features I don't want "all of the these features", I want background play, like it used to have. I don't consume a lot, and a couple of the creators who are my "dailys" don't monetise with ads anyway. I also watch occasional YT on my TV via chromecast with the "full advertising experience" enabled. The thing that irks me is that background play used to be part of the standard Youtube app (as far as I recall anyway), and now it's been taken away in what feels like a strong shepherding hand towards subscription - which annoys me enough to look for alternatives. (eg. I'm working towards migrating off gmail having been on the grandfathered free custom domain thing long enough to take free for granted).
- gaius_baltar 5y ago
  ... and giving more data points to Google to track (by linking it to your IRL identity). Also, you won't get rid of native ads.
- coryfklein 5y ago
  But why, when YouTube has chosen to provide the content ad-free? If I see content I appreciate and then – for whatever reason – decide I'd like to support the creator, I'll probably just donate to their Patreon where they'll actually see most of the money I send their way. If I pay for YouTube Premium and then I watch a video that wastes my time, I definitely do not want to send money to that creator but Premium will unavoidably do just that.

oschvr 5y ago

I've been using Vanced for over a year now and all my friends with iPhones are extremely jealous

wanderingmind 5y ago

If people want to just see youtube videos without needing to see any comments or recommendations while removing adsd, there is SkyTube [1]. Its FOSS, minimal and very easy to use. [1] https://github.com/SkyTubeTeam/SkyTube https://github.com/SkyTubeTeam/SkyTube

TheNewAndy 5y ago

I use firefox + uBlock Origin + <some extension I can't remember the name of that lets videos play if it goes into the background>. Is there something I am missing out on?

Ecko123 5y ago

nonbirithm 5y ago

Two things about adblock that I've noticed: 1. Apps like Vanced are probably going to become necessary once first-party tracking and ads start being adopted. YouTube has proven that if there's enough incentive, DNS-based adblocking like pi-hole can be rendered useless. But the fact that Vanced is a reverse-engineered application means that the barrier to entry for contributing is significantly higher than if a runtime more open to extensibility were used, like the browser's. A hypothetical shift to WASM applications might end up becoming another step in such an arms race. 2. AdBlock is likely the only reason I've spent hundreds more hours on YouTube that I wouldn't have if I were forced to watch ads. I consider ads a waste of time like many people, but my degree of distaste for them has led me to reflexively back out of any service where adblock is not an option. An example of this is Twitch, where the ads are directly injected into the video stream. As a result, I don't use Twitch. I have to wonder how many hours of time this has saved me in the long run, because I have a susceptibility to some of the content their algorithm recommends me. If every known adblock method is ultimately defeated in some hypothetical timeline, I'm reasonably certain that my distaste for ads will win out against my addiction to browsing article headlines. I have to wonder where all my newly restored attention away from the Internet would go in that case, and if I would ultimately turn out to be a happier person.

holoduke 5y ago

Used vanced for years. Works nice. But doesn't work on my shield. Casting from my phone to the shield results into annoying ads. After thinking for a while I thought that the premium YouTube membership isn't that bad. I use it so often. I think it fair to pay a price for it.

vagab0nd 5y ago

These days I simply cannot use YouTube without Premium + SponsorBlock. The ad skipping works really well and pretty much makes the videos watchable for me. For a year now I have been using YT exclusively on desktop, until I learned about Vanced recently. It has be a godsend as I can finally watch videos on mobile.

visiblink 5y ago

Newpipe has been mentioned a lot in this thread. If you're looking for a Linux / Windows equivalent, try Freetube. To me, they're essentially the same app for different platforms.

nisegami 5y ago

While at university in the US, I subscribed to YouTube Premium. Once I graduated and moved back home, I was able to continue paying for YouTube Premium (and still do), but using any of the features such as background playback required me to use a VPN. So, I use Vanced. I like to think my Premium membership is going towards the creators I watch, but as far as I'm concerned, I did my part.