this post was submitted on 01 Sep 2024
584 points (95.1% liked)

Technology

58076 readers
3192 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
584
submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by 1984 to c/technology@lemmy.world
 

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.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Nima@leminal.space 113 points 2 weeks ago (6 children)

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.

[–] acosmichippo@lemmy.world 45 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

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

[–] wesker@lemmy.sdf.org 31 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

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.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] wulf@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago

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

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] sndmn@lemmy.ca 70 points 2 weeks ago (10 children)

SmartTube beta on Android TV is fanfuckingtastic.

[–] jetliswar@lemmy.world 29 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

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.

[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world 16 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

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

[–] jetliswar@lemmy.world 11 points 2 weeks 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.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (9 replies)
[–] doodledup@lemmy.world 56 points 2 weeks ago (19 children)

Am I the only one that hates third-party clients for Desktop? They all have terrible UI and UX. Firefox + UBlock + Youtube is the way to go. For the phone it's NewPipe or Grayjay.

[–] xthexder@l.sw0.com 11 points 2 weeks ago

Personally I still use the Firefox + uBlock + SponsorBlock + YouTube combo on my phone too. Maybe if I watched more YouTube on my phone it'd be worth figuring out an app with a better mobile UI, but I like that it's a consistent experience anywhere I watch from.

[–] Psythik@lemmy.world 9 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Don't forget about Enhancer for YouTube, SponsorBlock, and DeArrow! They're all a must-have for desktop YT.

[–] helenslunch@feddit.nl 7 points 2 weeks ago

LOL the only terrible UI is the YouTube one. I dunno how people deal with all the garbage content and vertical videos that are relentlessly crammed down your throat. Not to mention the completely fucked search function.

load more comments (16 replies)
[–] Suavevillain@lemmy.world 50 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (6 children)

Keep it quiet with the Freetube articles, I don't want it gone lol.

[–] WhyFlip@lemmy.world 19 points 2 weeks ago

Created by deletor

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] powermaker450@discuss.tchncs.de 44 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

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

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] SmileyBMM@feddit.nl 36 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

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

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] _sideffect@lemmy.world 29 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

My lg tv is jailbroken so I have the ad blocked version of YouTube on it, but I was on my Chromecast with Google tv yesterday and decided to go back to the regular YouTube app since I was there.

I was watching a video of 20 minutes in length, and got one 30 second ad at the start; ok fine.

After 4 minutes, they decided to show me a 50 second unskippable ad.

I backed out of the video, and deleted the regular app.

Fuck Google.

[–] ContrarianTrail@lemm.ee 12 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

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.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] sorrybookbroke@sh.itjust.works 12 points 2 weeks ago

Oh shit, I just made the switch and I'm liking it. I just "favourite" things from my sub feed in one small window, and watch in the other, and it autoplays (if I want) so I can just start doing shit while the background vids keep playing. Honestly kinda more convienient than youtubes gui. It has sponsorblock built in too, which is nice

[–] Freuks@lemmy.ml 10 points 2 weeks ago

Using it for years yes

[–] noodlejetski@lemm.ee 8 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

I wish it didn't use Electron.

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] sxan@midwest.social 7 points 2 weeks ago

I agree; between it and Tubular, YouTube is usable again.

That said, someone pointed out that higher resolutions are not viewable on FreeTube. I hadn't noticed this until they mentioned it, and now I notice it constantly. I don't know why, but it's demonstratable: find a 4k video on Tubular, and open the same video on FreeTube, and only lower resolution versions are available.

[–] moepoi@forum.moe.onl 7 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

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

[–] EngineerGaming@feddit.nl 7 points 2 weeks ago (6 children)

How is that different from the free version in a browser with Ublock Origin?

load more comments (6 replies)
[–] ElvenMithril@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

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...

[–] DrSteveBrule@mander.xyz 5 points 2 weeks ago

I downloaded Newpipe from the Fdroid app store and it works very similar go freetube

load more comments (2 replies)

The trifecta!

[–] burgersc12@mander.xyz 5 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

I enjoy the Android app. Wish the ui was a bit better tho, hard to navigate sometimes

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] zkfcfbzr@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] noodlejetski@lemm.ee 26 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

you might like Piped or Invidious with Libredirect addon.

load more comments
view more: next ›