Free Yout*be without Ads method, working as of 2024-03-18

[Khris]

I recently found this method on reddit and wanted to share.

First, you need the uBlock Origin extension installed in your browser. Open its window (click on the icon) and click on the gearwheels in the bottom right. This opens the settings page. Select the "My filters" tab, then paste the four lines found here:
https://pastebin.com/LMD0v06k

Works great so far. As I understand it, these filters prevent youtube from detecting uO.

Edit: the key benefit of these additional filters seems to be that you can remain logged in and youtube still cannot tell you're circumventing the ad breaks.

[eri0o]

Ah, using YouTube without ads is something I appreciate. I mostly don't use YouTube anymore, because the Ads got me so annoyed.

Recently I wanted to watch some Adventure X talks but they are all in YouTube, my approach was to just download and stream with Plex on the TV. (Really liked the 2023 one with the broken sword dev on mobile porting)

If I have to for some reason watch something on YouTube on my phone, Safari with AdGuard appears to work. It's mostly cppcon and other technical convention talks.

[Danvzare]

I personally just use FreeTube nowadays. No ads, subscribing actually informs you when a new video comes out, it has a download button, and it has a way to actually block certain Youtubers from showing up in your recommended list (I've finally been able to get rid of all of those annoying influencers).

Only problem is, it's for PCs only.

[LimpingFish]

I've always got uBlock (along with Privacy Badger and HTTPS Everywhere) running in Firefox, so I don't see ads anyway. Never had to edit the filters, but I have all the available downloadable filters running, so maybe I'm already set. I agree, though, that it works a treat for Youtube.

Only problem is, it's for PCs only.

Yeah, if you're watching Youtube on your PC, you're golden. Running the app on my TV is still ad hell.

[Stupot]

I actually signed up to the free trial of YouTube Premium for one month, so that I could download some stuff to keep my kid occupied on a long-haul flight. It was actually brilliant having no ads, even on the TV... not brilliant enough to make me actually subscribe, but brilliant while it lasted.

[Khris]

I had to turn uBlock Origin off on youtube a few months ago because it essentially told me I'd no longer be able to use the site otherwise. Good to know there are other ways to get rid of the ads in case this method breaks at some point.

[Cassiebsg]

Khris, when YT started telling me I would be blocked because of Adblok (funny, they wanted US to tell them what WE were using  ) I just started using a private window, never got the msg I would be blocked while running this method. Though, doesn't seem to be needed anymore.

Also, if any of you are on a slow PC and YT  takes "ages" to load, just hit the stop as soon as the black BG for the video loads. Only disadvantage with this method is a) you don't get "recommended" (if you use that feature) and b)the search bar to find a new video will also be missing.
What I do is, have a tab opened on the main page to use the search, and then copy/paste the url into a new tab (and delete everything after the first & in the link, as those are used for tracking and throwing ads at you).

[LimpingFish]

I had to turn uBlock Origin off on youtube a few months ago because it essentially told me I'd no longer be able to use the site otherwise.

Weird, never had that happen to me. 

[Khris]

Back a few months ago they suddenly showed a popup that said something like "you have three videos left to watch while adblock is turned on".
I'm always logged in, so that might have contributed to this.

Anyway, the goddamn ads are gone for now. They are incredibly annoying, and it was some of the worst ones out there. Part of it was the same boring and stupid ads for detergents or shampoo I already loathe from network tv, the rest was Hero Wars and a bunch of crypto and health scams. (I even reported one ad as being a ponzi scheme and they took it down ).

[Laura Hunt]

Back a few months ago they suddenly showed a popup that said something like "you have three videos left to watch while adblock is turned on".

Like so many other people I started getting those too, but I simply went over to the uBlock Origin subreddit and followed their recommendations, which were basically to always check that the uBlock filters were up to date every time I started up my browser, and to delete youtube cookies after every session. Never had any more warnings after that.

For a while it was like a crazy game of whack-a-mole between youtube and uBO, with new measures and countermeasures being pushed out daily, but thankfully, seems like things have calmed down since then.

[Khris]

It's probably because I'm always logged in; if you keep clearing your cookies and never log in, youtube can't really tell you're the same person.

Which means these filters are primarily for people who want to stay logged in, I guess.

[Laura Hunt]

It's probably because I'm always logged in; if you keep clearing your cookies and never log in, youtube can't really tell you're the same person.

Which means these filters are primarily for people who want to stay logged in, I guess.

I'm always logged in too. Deleting cookies logs me out from youtube only, but I get logged back in automatically.

In any case, none of this probably matters because the likely reason they let this slip by in the end is that when Chrome upgrades to Manifesto v3, which is supposedly happening in June this year, a ton of extensions will be rendered incompatible, including of course most adblockers. Time to (re)acquaint myself with Firefox, I guess!