4 ms·

Most people don't use the internet at a whole - if you just stick to the 10 biggest apps/websites, the experience is acceptable without an adblocker. As for Yo

Most people don't use the internet at a whole - if you just stick to the 10 biggest apps/websites, the experience is acceptable without an adblocker. As for YouTube, blocking their ads is basically a part-time job at this point. On the desktop it breaks once a month, on Android NewPipe stopped working recently, and soon you won't be even able to install third party clients.

ahofmann 1y ago
I hear this often. My experience is totally different. I've installed ublock origin and I'm using Vivaldi as my blink engine wrapper. I've never seen a YouTube ad since years. I wonder why anyone has to fight for an ad free YouTube.
- nananana9 1y ago
  They often release new "features" in a A/B fashion to a small percentage of users. It's most obvious with UI changes, where a portion of users will get a disfigured version of the site for a month, but it's probably true for their ad-blocking endeavors as well.
  - orthoxerox 1y ago
    I wonder if they're testing the new useless cinema mode on me because I'm running an adblocker.
    - OkayPhysicist 1y ago
      Is cinema mode new? Or did they change it somehow? Last I checked all it did was resize the video to take up most of the width of the browser. That was a pretty happy medium between "video for ants" and "take over my entire monitor in full screen mode"
- discomrobertul8 1y ago
  > I wonder why anyone has to fight for an ad free YouTube. 90% of my YouTube use is on my smart TV. There's not really a straightforward way to block ads there. Used to be many years ago that a PiHole or similar would work, but they clued onto that years ago.
  - account42 1y ago
    If you are using an internet-connected smart TV you already decided you don't care about ads. No one is forcing you to make that choice though.
  - fragmede 1y ago
    The straightforwards way is to give Google money to get rid of them.
    - animuchan 1y ago
      Paid YouTube still shows some ads, so no, it's just a way to give Google some money.
      - immibis 1y ago
        Not ones run by YouTube.
        animuchan 1y ago
        Not sure this is correct. For example: https://vanced.to/posts/youtube-premium-shows-ads-users-concerned https://vanced.to/posts/youtube-premium-shows-ads-users-conc... There's also this email from YouTube support: https://www.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/1gnaetv/paying_to_see_ads_great/ https://www.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/1gnaetv/paying_to_... It reads: > While YouTube Premium provides an ad-free experience for most content, promotional ads can sometimes appear for specific partnerships or limited-time offers. These promotions are often targeted based on various factors, including your location, viewing history, and account settings.
  - 1y ago
- NGRhodes 1y ago
  I don't even think YouTube is anywhere near the worst advert offender. My local newspaper website is stuffed full of adverts. Between a large picture, article heading and advert, you often don't see a signle line of new content above the fold on a 1080p screen. I do not regularly visit such sites. I do unblock websites that I return to often.
happymellon 1y ago
Firefox and UBlock Origin has never broken for me and works effectively.
- chithanh 1y ago
  You were just lucky, because YouTube uses A/B testing and does not roll out anti-adblock-measures to everyone simultaneously. This gives UBO some time to react.
  - selcuka 1y ago
    I haven't seen any ads for years either. I use uBlock Origin, plus I've configured my Firefox to open YouTube always in a dedicated container, that logs me out of any Google-related stuff as I never upvote or comment anyway. Browsing YouTube anonymously might have helped.
- nananana9 1y ago
  I use the same setup, on Windows Linux and Android. It will break when they decide to roll out their aggressive anti-adblock measures more widely, currently they seem to be A/B testing and turning it on and off at random. I'm surprised they haven't gone for the "refuse to serve the video stream for 20 seconds or however long the ad would take" card yet, although it's probably a matter of time.
- dns_snek 1y ago
  Consider yourself lucky. Some of their A/B tests seem to be designed to psychologically torment you with videos "buffering" for 10-60 seconds before they start playing, navigation taking 15+ seconds. If that happens to you, this thread [1] is sometimes updated with manual workarounds that sometimes work: www.youtube.com##+js(nano-stb, resolve(1), *, 0.001) www.youtube.com##+js(set, yt.config_.EXPERIMENT_FLAGS.web_enable_ab_rsp_cl, false) www.youtube.com##+js(set, yt.config_.EXPERIMENT_FLAGS.ab_pl_man, false) ||googlevideo.com/videoplayback$xhr,3p,method=get,domain=www.youtube.com www.youtube.com/watch##+js(set, ytInitialData, undefined) [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/1jbv1xn/youtube_ads_detection_breakages_2025_megathread/ https://www.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/1jbv1xn/youtu...
kelvinjps10 1y ago
I have stopped ads in everywhere for YouTube and they haven't broke: Mobile revanced so far good new pipe it broke but I only use it for downloading videos. On Firefox I use ublock and it has never failed me. Then on tv I'm using smartube
baud147258 1y ago
On mobile I use Youtube with Firefox and Ublock Origin never had any issue with it.
VTimofeenko 1y ago
Consider using dedicated NewPipe repo in F-droid, fixes land much quicker
bambax 1y ago
This isn't really true. Firefox + uBlock origin works fine on the desktop and on mobile. You don't need to use the official YT app. (It is true thought that NewPipe is often broken).
froglets 1y ago
I hate ads and avoid them, but haven’t had to install an ad blocker yet. I only really notice them when searching for recipes, and if I had to go through that multiple times a day I probably would get an ad blocker. I do pay for YouTube to avoid ads, and don’t watch much user generated content because it’s too ad-like imo. I quit podcasts 3 years ago, because those ads made them become unlistenable just like terrestrial radio and I just can’t go back to that kind of listening experience. I started listening to audiobooks instead and don’t miss podcasts at all.
nyarlathotep_ 1y ago
> On the desktop it breaks once a month, on Android NewPipe stopped working recently, and soon you won't be even able to install third party clients. yeah, I often download things via yt-dlp to watch later and I'm encountering frequent failures that I assume are related to the whack-a-mole yt has been doing for the last two years or so. NewPipe has been working for me as of late though, and I've not updated it in some time (although my use is infrequent)

ahofmann 1y ago

I hear this often. My experience is totally different. I've installed ublock origin and I'm using Vivaldi as my blink engine wrapper. I've never seen a YouTube ad since years. I wonder why anyone has to fight for an ad free YouTube.

nananana9 1y ago
They often release new "features" in a A/B fashion to a small percentage of users. It's most obvious with UI changes, where a portion of users will get a disfigured version of the site for a month, but it's probably true for their ad-blocking endeavors as well.
- orthoxerox 1y ago
  I wonder if they're testing the new useless cinema mode on me because I'm running an adblocker.
  - OkayPhysicist 1y ago
    Is cinema mode new? Or did they change it somehow? Last I checked all it did was resize the video to take up most of the width of the browser. That was a pretty happy medium between "video for ants" and "take over my entire monitor in full screen mode"
discomrobertul8 1y ago
> I wonder why anyone has to fight for an ad free YouTube. 90% of my YouTube use is on my smart TV. There's not really a straightforward way to block ads there. Used to be many years ago that a PiHole or similar would work, but they clued onto that years ago.
- account42 1y ago
  If you are using an internet-connected smart TV you already decided you don't care about ads. No one is forcing you to make that choice though.
- fragmede 1y ago
  The straightforwards way is to give Google money to get rid of them.
  - animuchan 1y ago
    Paid YouTube still shows some ads, so no, it's just a way to give Google some money.
    - immibis 1y ago
      Not ones run by YouTube.
      - animuchan 1y ago
        Not sure this is correct. For example: https://vanced.to/posts/youtube-premium-shows-ads-users-concerned https://vanced.to/posts/youtube-premium-shows-ads-users-conc... There's also this email from YouTube support: https://www.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/1gnaetv/paying_to_see_ads_great/ https://www.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/1gnaetv/paying_to_... It reads: > While YouTube Premium provides an ad-free experience for most content, promotional ads can sometimes appear for specific partnerships or limited-time offers. These promotions are often targeted based on various factors, including your location, viewing history, and account settings.
- 1y ago
NGRhodes 1y ago
I don't even think YouTube is anywhere near the worst advert offender. My local newspaper website is stuffed full of adverts. Between a large picture, article heading and advert, you often don't see a signle line of new content above the fold on a 1080p screen. I do not regularly visit such sites. I do unblock websites that I return to often.

happymellon 1y ago

Firefox and UBlock Origin has never broken for me and works effectively.

chithanh 1y ago
You were just lucky, because YouTube uses A/B testing and does not roll out anti-adblock-measures to everyone simultaneously. This gives UBO some time to react.
- selcuka 1y ago
  I haven't seen any ads for years either. I use uBlock Origin, plus I've configured my Firefox to open YouTube always in a dedicated container, that logs me out of any Google-related stuff as I never upvote or comment anyway. Browsing YouTube anonymously might have helped.
nananana9 1y ago
I use the same setup, on Windows Linux and Android. It will break when they decide to roll out their aggressive anti-adblock measures more widely, currently they seem to be A/B testing and turning it on and off at random. I'm surprised they haven't gone for the "refuse to serve the video stream for 20 seconds or however long the ad would take" card yet, although it's probably a matter of time.
dns_snek 1y ago
Consider yourself lucky. Some of their A/B tests seem to be designed to psychologically torment you with videos "buffering" for 10-60 seconds before they start playing, navigation taking 15+ seconds. If that happens to you, this thread [1] is sometimes updated with manual workarounds that sometimes work: www.youtube.com##+js(nano-stb, resolve(1), *, 0.001) www.youtube.com##+js(set, yt.config_.EXPERIMENT_FLAGS.web_enable_ab_rsp_cl, false) www.youtube.com##+js(set, yt.config_.EXPERIMENT_FLAGS.ab_pl_man, false) ||googlevideo.com/videoplayback$xhr,3p,method=get,domain=www.youtube.com www.youtube.com/watch##+js(set, ytInitialData, undefined) [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/1jbv1xn/youtube_ads_detection_breakages_2025_megathread/ https://www.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/1jbv1xn/youtu...

kelvinjps10 1y ago

I have stopped ads in everywhere for YouTube and they haven't broke: Mobile revanced so far good new pipe it broke but I only use it for downloading videos. On Firefox I use ublock and it has never failed me. Then on tv I'm using smartube

baud147258 1y ago

On mobile I use Youtube with Firefox and Ublock Origin never had any issue with it.

VTimofeenko 1y ago

Consider using dedicated NewPipe repo in F-droid, fixes land much quicker

bambax 1y ago

This isn't really true. Firefox + uBlock origin works fine on the desktop and on mobile. You don't need to use the official YT app. (It is true thought that NewPipe is often broken).

froglets 1y ago

I hate ads and avoid them, but haven’t had to install an ad blocker yet. I only really notice them when searching for recipes, and if I had to go through that multiple times a day I probably would get an ad blocker. I do pay for YouTube to avoid ads, and don’t watch much user generated content because it’s too ad-like imo. I quit podcasts 3 years ago, because those ads made them become unlistenable just like terrestrial radio and I just can’t go back to that kind of listening experience. I started listening to audiobooks instead and don’t miss podcasts at all.

nyarlathotep_ 1y ago

> On the desktop it breaks once a month, on Android NewPipe stopped working recently, and soon you won't be even able to install third party clients. yeah, I often download things via yt-dlp to watch later and I'm encountering frequent failures that I assume are related to the whack-a-mole yt has been doing for the last two years or so. NewPipe has been working for me as of late though, and I've not updated it in some time (although my use is infrequent)