I have YouTube premium and totally agree with you.

One workaround though, although it’s a bit of a pain,is that you can VPN into your home network and have the benefits of pihole when on mobile or using an iPad.

And when you need to block ads on a friends phone? roku tv? android tv? apple tv? iphone or ipad? android phone or tablet?

I'm not understanding why I would want to try to block ads on a friend's phone unless they asked me how to get rid of them. But for the other stuff, it's super easy.

On a PC: Install any random adblocker your browser allows. Most browsers have an addon or extension store that you can go it with only a few clicks and install one quickly and hassle free. Once you install it, there is no setup required and no maintenance or fiddling required.

On Android phones: Install YouTube Revanced. It's an app. You have to download and install I believe two apps. You don't have to root your phone or do anything special at all. Just download and install and forget about it for the next several years.

On Android based Smart TVs (Chromecast, Fire Stick, etc.): Install SmartTube. It's as easy as downloading and installing a single app. You don't have to root your device. It's incredibly simple and no more complicated than downloading almost any other random app. There is no complicated setup, configuration, or maintenance. Just download and install and forget about it for the next several years.

So there you go. It's not complex at all. A non root installation of two to three simple apps (plus an adblocker that you should have on your browser anyway) has all of my devices set for literally anywhere on the planet I can go. You're really exaggerating how complicated it is and how often you need to install a new app or how often it breaks (maybe once every 5 or so years you install a different easy to install and use app).

I will admit, iOS stuff is a little trickier. I don't personally own any iOS devices, but I think it does make it a bit more complex to install adblocking apps on them. So I suppose if you only have iOS devices I could see why you choose to skip this stuff. It's doable, just more involved. On Android, you literally download, install, and just go and are totally set for multiple years.

Sure, pi hole can work, until you leave the house. Some phones can be rooted to use an adblocker, but that's not practical for everyone. You can use DNS blocking, but that means all of your traffic is tunneled through a random DNS you can hopefully trust.

I have heard of pihole, but I don't believe it's a common solution. This part I agree with you...it's overly complex and you need a lot of tech knowledge to set something like that up and maintain it. Couple that with the downside of it literally only working at home and I don't really understand why people go this route.

It's just a lot. It's possible, but you really need to manage it and keep it working. When a solution is killed, you gotta find a new solution.

You really, really don't need to constantly manage all of this stuff to keep it working. And it's really not complex at all. It's as easy as downloading and installing one or two apps or installing one adblocker extension to your browser. Then you forget about it. There is zero maintenance involved. Maybe once every 5 years you might have to install a different app, but there is no advanced skills needed and there is no maintenance needed. Things do not constantly break and need maintenance. I don't do any maintenance and nothing just randomly kills itself.

YouTube aside, I have no idea how anyone can find browsing the internet at all tolerable without an adblocker extension on their browser. Are you not inundated with ads on every site that is not YouTube? Do you just deal with intrusive ads everywhere else?