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So nice to see a YouTube client that makes sense on the platform it’s on. Compare to the official YT client for iPad, for example, which bizarrely uses the same

So nice to see a YouTube client that makes sense on the platform it’s on. Compare to the official YT client for iPad, for example, which bizarrely uses the same tiny Material touch targets as on phones.

Auracle 3y ago
The lack of attention for iPad apps is infuriating. Instagram, for instance, uses the damned phone app. That’s insane. I get it for small time apps, but Meta is clearly big enough to give it the little amount of attention it needs.
MengerSponge 3y ago
FYI, Vinegar is well worth a couple of bucks. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/vinegar-tube-cleaner/id1591303229 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/vinegar-tube-cleaner/id1591303... Install it, and delete the janky "native" app. Now Youtube is a webpage that does everything it does on a regular browser. PiP? Audio with the screen locked or in the background? Yes and yes.
- rjzzleep 3y ago
  I've been using vinegar forever(Orion browser supports PiP without extension by the way) But it's bizarre to me how bad the PiP experience on iOS is. When you press play on your bluetooth headset it will pause the video you're playing instead play whatever was on your Music app. If you lock your screen, it will stop playing the youtube video and then you have press play again on the lock screen to resume. Contrast that to either third party youtube clients on Android or (Re)vanced, and it's not even close. And it seems every app has its own PiP issues. Every iOS I'm secretly hoping that Apple will address this issue, but it never happens ...
  - callalex 3y ago
    The first problem you describe (wanting to play both music and a video?) is just weird, and I’m glad the default pehavior doesn’t do that. Your second problem is jank intentionally introduced by YouTube.
- isametry 3y ago
  Does it still block ads? I happily used Vinegar before, but it lost that functionality when YouTube’s crusade against ad blockers began (I don’t recall if it just let the ads through, or if it triggered the “Ad Blocker Detected” pop-up). With that, YouTube single-handedly forced me to move browsers on all my devices – from Safari to Orion, where I get to use uBlock Origin. uBlock seems to have stayed a step ahead of YT since.
  - MengerSponge 3y ago
    I don't see ads on YouTube, but I use both Vinegar and Wipr.
  - lancesells 3y ago
    I've had some issues with it but it seems to be back working as of the last two or three weeks.
  - moi2388 3y ago
    Set your vpn to India and buy YouTube premium there for like 1 dollar a month. Cheaper than adblockers and works everywhere
    - shiroiuma 3y ago
      In what universe is 1 less than 0? I haven't paid one red cent for uBlock Origin.
      - thaumasiotes 3y ago
        Yeah, but does that work everyw-
      - oliwarner 3y ago
        Universes where your time isn't worthless? A low cost, fire-and-forget solution might easily out-value free.
        3y ago
thrdbndndn 3y ago
> which bizarrely uses the same tiny Material touch targets as on phones I personally think iPad YouTube app's touch is not too bad; but in general (not limited to YouTube), I think the UI design of web video players are all too fixated on the existing design. For example, when not in fullscreen mode, I don't see why all the controls need to be confined to the video frame and disappear when not hovering. While this design choice has its benefits, it also presents significant drawbacks: it obscures the actual content when you're interacting with the controls (a problem that's particularly acute on smaller screens), and performing quick, repetitive actions becomes difficult because the controls aren't visible until you hover over them, among other issues. This approach to web video player UI has been a pet peeve of mine for some time.
- eurekin 3y ago
  Another one with a same pet peeve here. It's especially "interesting", when the slider allows to navigate to the exact frame you want (that happens very rarely) and the information you want to see is in the subtitles burned into the video - the ones not shifting with UI controls. The UI obscures that and I have to make tens of attempts with increased sloppiness due to frustration to take it all in. Most often it's something I keep mishearing and need subtitles to actually understand what's being talked about. For example, I keep hearing "Hello awful person" in Anton Petrov's videos. https://youtu.be/PyRf7B1Ji4A?si=bIA7S8qB_WLdLgVs&t=45 https://youtu.be/PyRf7B1Ji4A?si=bIA7S8qB_WLdLgVs&t=45
- andrepd 3y ago
  You just need to accept that "user interface design" has stopped being a thing in everything but niche/pro applications for at least the past 10 years. You have "follow the trend", yes, or "design it so it looks good on screenshots", but not "user interface design". Accept it and you will be less frustrated.
  - brookst 3y ago
    Acceptance can be wise, but this is not a 10 year old problem. Look at your oven; unless you are very lucky (or picky, if you bought it yourself), it has terrible UX. Most people don’t care enough about UX to make purchasing decisions based on it. Therefore, most companies don’t prioritize it. Therefore, most product designers have no incentive to care about UX. This has always been true.
yard2010 3y ago
It's on purpose though, YouTube app is designed to maximize time spent on app, not UX
danpalmer 3y ago
This strategy has changed now as far as I can remember. Google used to have a strategy of using material on iOS, but has decided to switch to a more native UIKit feel. I imagine that will be a long transition, but it's promising.
cbovis 3y ago
The YouTube app on our Sony TV kills me. Out of a variety of apps installed (Netflix, HBO, Disney, Apple, Prime) it's the only one that we need to adjust volume for EVERY SINGLE TIME because they decided 15 should be loud vs 30 on all the other apps. Especially frustrating when a lot of the time the first play experience in YouTube is being blasted with some kind of rapid-fire ad sequence.
- bj-rn 3y ago
  Don't know about the volume difference. But haven't seen any yt ads in a long time thanks to SmartTube: https://github.com/yuliskov/SmartTube https://github.com/yuliskov/SmartTube
  - datpiff 3y ago
    The volume issue persists on SmartTube
- badgersnake 3y ago
  Same on AppleTV, YouTube is louder than everything else except for Spotify which is even louder.
  - cbovis 3y ago
    I've been resisting the urge to splurge on an Apple TV to try and solve this particular problem. Useful to know!
hapticmonkey 3y ago
The AppleTV YouTube app is so bad that I’m convinced nobody responsible for it owns a TV. It even forces its own built in screensavers to run instead of the OS one if the app is left paused. Who approves that?! What Steve Jobs said about Microsoft in the 90s applies to Google today: They have no taste.
- deergomoo 3y ago
  > It even forces its own built in screensavers to run instead of the OS one if the app is left paused Eh? YouTube is my most-used app on Apple TV by a country mile and I’ve never seen this, I get the tvOS screensavers. Is it because I have YouTube Premium maybe? I agree though, it is a garbage app. Everything on a TV, from the built-in apps to Roku boxes to Apple TV use basically the same app (certainly the same layout) and it’s really quite bad.
- heapoverflow 3y ago
  This is because of YouTube‘s obsession to build cross-platform, lowest-common-denominator apps, resulting in mediocre experiences across all the platforms they support, and rarely excellent on any single platform. Their Apple TV app is basically a web view which doesn’t conform to any of AppleTV’s UI principles. Same as their YouTube TV app. It’s sad.
- isatty 3y ago
  N=1 obviously but I use the YouTube app a lot on my Apple tv and think it works fine? I don’t get anything besides the native screensaver and they even added the option to browse comments natively. Only bug seems to be a black screen for a second when I close the app (maybe a bug with suspend?).
  - just2043 3y ago
    Are you running with your AppleTV set to Dolby by default? The black screen is switching between SDR (maybe HDR) YouTube and Dolby Vision Home Screen.
rob74 3y ago
Don't get me started on the official YT app on ChromeOS... it's so bad (one example: the seek bar was barely usable with a touchscreen) that I eventually disabled it, using the website is much better.
- freedomben 3y ago
  Same, with the added benefit that in the browser I have lots of knobs and dials I can turn with uMatrix and other Dev tools. Oh and of course, sponsor block. Youtube should be insanely grateful for sponsor block, because if not for that tool I would have canceled my premium membership because I hate seeing ads. I will simply find something else to watch if I have to watch ads.
LegitShady 3y ago
all the youtube apps suck. I can't tell you how many times I've accidentally clicked on another video while watching the one I actually am trying to watch. If you aren't full screen they fill up half the space with giant links to other videos and there's no confirmation or option for confirmation. I'm not sure anyone who works on them actually uses them in real life situations.

Auracle 3y ago

The lack of attention for iPad apps is infuriating. Instagram, for instance, uses the damned phone app. That’s insane. I get it for small time apps, but Meta is clearly big enough to give it the little amount of attention it needs.

MengerSponge 3y ago

FYI, Vinegar is well worth a couple of bucks. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/vinegar-tube-cleaner/id1591303229 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/vinegar-tube-cleaner/id1591303... Install it, and delete the janky "native" app. Now Youtube is a webpage that does everything it does on a regular browser. PiP? Audio with the screen locked or in the background? Yes and yes.

rjzzleep 3y ago
I've been using vinegar forever(Orion browser supports PiP without extension by the way) But it's bizarre to me how bad the PiP experience on iOS is. When you press play on your bluetooth headset it will pause the video you're playing instead play whatever was on your Music app. If you lock your screen, it will stop playing the youtube video and then you have press play again on the lock screen to resume. Contrast that to either third party youtube clients on Android or (Re)vanced, and it's not even close. And it seems every app has its own PiP issues. Every iOS I'm secretly hoping that Apple will address this issue, but it never happens ...
- callalex 3y ago
  The first problem you describe (wanting to play both music and a video?) is just weird, and I’m glad the default pehavior doesn’t do that. Your second problem is jank intentionally introduced by YouTube.
isametry 3y ago
Does it still block ads? I happily used Vinegar before, but it lost that functionality when YouTube’s crusade against ad blockers began (I don’t recall if it just let the ads through, or if it triggered the “Ad Blocker Detected” pop-up). With that, YouTube single-handedly forced me to move browsers on all my devices – from Safari to Orion, where I get to use uBlock Origin. uBlock seems to have stayed a step ahead of YT since.
- MengerSponge 3y ago
  I don't see ads on YouTube, but I use both Vinegar and Wipr.
- lancesells 3y ago
  I've had some issues with it but it seems to be back working as of the last two or three weeks.
- moi2388 3y ago
  Set your vpn to India and buy YouTube premium there for like 1 dollar a month. Cheaper than adblockers and works everywhere
  - shiroiuma 3y ago
    In what universe is 1 less than 0? I haven't paid one red cent for uBlock Origin.
    - thaumasiotes 3y ago
      Yeah, but does that work everyw-
    - oliwarner 3y ago
      Universes where your time isn't worthless? A low cost, fire-and-forget solution might easily out-value free.
      - 3y ago

thrdbndndn 3y ago

> which bizarrely uses the same tiny Material touch targets as on phones I personally think iPad YouTube app's touch is not too bad; but in general (not limited to YouTube), I think the UI design of web video players are all too fixated on the existing design. For example, when not in fullscreen mode, I don't see why all the controls need to be confined to the video frame and disappear when not hovering. While this design choice has its benefits, it also presents significant drawbacks: it obscures the actual content when you're interacting with the controls (a problem that's particularly acute on smaller screens), and performing quick, repetitive actions becomes difficult because the controls aren't visible until you hover over them, among other issues. This approach to web video player UI has been a pet peeve of mine for some time.

eurekin 3y ago
Another one with a same pet peeve here. It's especially "interesting", when the slider allows to navigate to the exact frame you want (that happens very rarely) and the information you want to see is in the subtitles burned into the video - the ones not shifting with UI controls. The UI obscures that and I have to make tens of attempts with increased sloppiness due to frustration to take it all in. Most often it's something I keep mishearing and need subtitles to actually understand what's being talked about. For example, I keep hearing "Hello awful person" in Anton Petrov's videos. https://youtu.be/PyRf7B1Ji4A?si=bIA7S8qB_WLdLgVs&t=45 https://youtu.be/PyRf7B1Ji4A?si=bIA7S8qB_WLdLgVs&t=45
andrepd 3y ago
You just need to accept that "user interface design" has stopped being a thing in everything but niche/pro applications for at least the past 10 years. You have "follow the trend", yes, or "design it so it looks good on screenshots", but not "user interface design". Accept it and you will be less frustrated.
- brookst 3y ago
  Acceptance can be wise, but this is not a 10 year old problem. Look at your oven; unless you are very lucky (or picky, if you bought it yourself), it has terrible UX. Most people don’t care enough about UX to make purchasing decisions based on it. Therefore, most companies don’t prioritize it. Therefore, most product designers have no incentive to care about UX. This has always been true.

yard2010 3y ago

It's on purpose though, YouTube app is designed to maximize time spent on app, not UX

danpalmer 3y ago

This strategy has changed now as far as I can remember. Google used to have a strategy of using material on iOS, but has decided to switch to a more native UIKit feel. I imagine that will be a long transition, but it's promising.

cbovis 3y ago

The YouTube app on our Sony TV kills me. Out of a variety of apps installed (Netflix, HBO, Disney, Apple, Prime) it's the only one that we need to adjust volume for EVERY SINGLE TIME because they decided 15 should be loud vs 30 on all the other apps. Especially frustrating when a lot of the time the first play experience in YouTube is being blasted with some kind of rapid-fire ad sequence.

bj-rn 3y ago
Don't know about the volume difference. But haven't seen any yt ads in a long time thanks to SmartTube: https://github.com/yuliskov/SmartTube https://github.com/yuliskov/SmartTube
- datpiff 3y ago
  The volume issue persists on SmartTube
badgersnake 3y ago
Same on AppleTV, YouTube is louder than everything else except for Spotify which is even louder.
- cbovis 3y ago
  I've been resisting the urge to splurge on an Apple TV to try and solve this particular problem. Useful to know!

hapticmonkey 3y ago

The AppleTV YouTube app is so bad that I’m convinced nobody responsible for it owns a TV. It even forces its own built in screensavers to run instead of the OS one if the app is left paused. Who approves that?! What Steve Jobs said about Microsoft in the 90s applies to Google today: They have no taste.

deergomoo 3y ago
> It even forces its own built in screensavers to run instead of the OS one if the app is left paused Eh? YouTube is my most-used app on Apple TV by a country mile and I’ve never seen this, I get the tvOS screensavers. Is it because I have YouTube Premium maybe? I agree though, it is a garbage app. Everything on a TV, from the built-in apps to Roku boxes to Apple TV use basically the same app (certainly the same layout) and it’s really quite bad.
heapoverflow 3y ago
This is because of YouTube‘s obsession to build cross-platform, lowest-common-denominator apps, resulting in mediocre experiences across all the platforms they support, and rarely excellent on any single platform. Their Apple TV app is basically a web view which doesn’t conform to any of AppleTV’s UI principles. Same as their YouTube TV app. It’s sad.
isatty 3y ago
N=1 obviously but I use the YouTube app a lot on my Apple tv and think it works fine? I don’t get anything besides the native screensaver and they even added the option to browse comments natively. Only bug seems to be a black screen for a second when I close the app (maybe a bug with suspend?).
- just2043 3y ago
  Are you running with your AppleTV set to Dolby by default? The black screen is switching between SDR (maybe HDR) YouTube and Dolby Vision Home Screen.

rob74 3y ago

Don't get me started on the official YT app on ChromeOS... it's so bad (one example: the seek bar was barely usable with a touchscreen) that I eventually disabled it, using the website is much better.

freedomben 3y ago
Same, with the added benefit that in the browser I have lots of knobs and dials I can turn with uMatrix and other Dev tools. Oh and of course, sponsor block. Youtube should be insanely grateful for sponsor block, because if not for that tool I would have canceled my premium membership because I hate seeing ads. I will simply find something else to watch if I have to watch ads.

LegitShady 3y ago

all the youtube apps suck. I can't tell you how many times I've accidentally clicked on another video while watching the one I actually am trying to watch. If you aren't full screen they fill up half the space with giant links to other videos and there's no confirmation or option for confirmation. I'm not sure anyone who works on them actually uses them in real life situations.