[nicbou]

It takes a minute or two to realize you've picked the wrong browser, when every website has a cookie notice and a ton of ads.

I also started using the YouTube mobile website instead of the apps after getting 2 ads before a 3 minute video.

[3r8Oltr0ziouVDM]

>I also started using the YouTube mobile website instead of the apps after getting 2 ads before a 3 minute video.

Have you tried NewPipe? https://newpipe.net

[LeonenTheDK]

Not the person you responded to, but doing the same thing. Had tried NewPipe for a while and it was great at first, but at the time it would frequently crash and act janky in other ways that I can't quite remember now. The mobile site was just smoother, but it might be time to give it another try.

[3r8Oltr0ziouVDM]

It can certainly break if YouTube changes something on their side, but I've never had huge issues, so it's probably not something that happens very often. But the mobile site is a good fallback option.

[danShumway]

I do experience pretty regular issues, but in really specific areas: listening to long music playlists can get janky if they're left open across multiple days, sometimes videos stop working after that and I need to force quit and restart the app (I assume it's doing something to refresh some cookie or connection).

Mostly the benefits outweigh the downsides for me, for a lot of reasons: data export is a big one. The ability to download videos/audio is another. Background listening is another. It's also way more battery efficient than any of Youtube's official apps for video or music.

One thing I would recommend, the version in the offical F-Droid repo works, but you can also install the direct source in F-Droid, which will get updates/bugfixes much more quickly.

[efreak]

Plus if you install the direct source in fdroid, it's signed by the same key as the official releases, so if you don't want to wait for fdroid to update all the other random repos you're too lazy to remove, you can still update directly from the notification/app/website.

[crtasm]

> ...I need to force quit and restart the app

Same sometimes happens for me with a single video if I come back to rewatch/finish watching the next day. I can live with it too.

[nicbou]

I tried something like that - E: YouTube Vanced - but apparently sideloaded it from the wrong place and nearly got my identity stolen.

Long story short, it tried to use my phone as a disposable phone number. For about a month I was getting messages from adult dating sites, verification numbers for all sorts of services, and a few phone calls from bitcoin banks trying to verify my ID. Had I given the app permission to read my text messages, it would have been a catastrophe. Fortunately, I didn't and nothing bad happened.

[3r8Oltr0ziouVDM]

In case you'd want to try it: NewPipe is open source and it's on F-Droid which is a very safe place to get apps from.

[OOPMan]

I prefer Vanced YouTube

[BiteCode_dev]

Youtube vence and firefox mobile are life savers on android