But premium doesn't have sponsorblock

I would gladly pay for Premium if it actually gave you a decent user experience but it doesn't.

I use 3rd party apps because they don't fill my feed with garbage content. They just show me what I ask for.

Not to mention apps like GrayJay that integrate content from other sources in the same app.

Or that it YouTube does nothing about creators filling content with their own ads.

I was really interested in Nebula before I glanced at their privacy policy and realized that it has all the same data-mining and selling as every other modern web service.

I even had Youtube premium for a bit. Revanced is nice just to dial back some of the bells and whistles that isn't relevant to the video platform. The official app feels clunky.

Wouldn't mind the ads if they weren't deliberately twice as loud as the music! That's just fucking rude

I'm sure they meant "in the end" and not "it's about time".

Video is nearly impossible to host in a sustainable way. The bandwidth usage is among the most expensive things you can host. The only way you’re getting something better than YouTube is if it’s tax funded somehow.

Also YT premium is not a good solution as it does nothing for privacy

Neither is accessing any Google service in the first place, ReVanced or not.

Piped exists and has continued to work smoothly for me this whole time. There are many public instances but running your own is best

We need better alternatives

We'd need a quantum leap in storage and bandwidth first - orders of magnitude better, if we want competing to be financially sane 😮‍💨

Maybe when Google is (hopefully eventually) shattered into a million pieces by some US judge, YouTube could be splintered into several smaller companies, each with some portion of the infrastructure and channels/videos - thus forcing competition. Vaguely similar to the Bell divestiture.

I know it will eventually be blocked by YouTube like Twitch did but you could try ublock Origin with this filter list or another custom filter list. Works pretty well for me.

https://github.com/gijsdev/ublock-hide-yt-shorts

Agreed... The second half of this "article" reads like an ad/puff piece.

A better researched article would go into the difference between API access, scrapers, and modifying the YouTube app, and question which of those YouTube will be able to detect. Maybe even discuss using region-pricing with a VPN to get YouTube premium for cheaper.

And don't have to drag the seekbar, simply tap wherever you want to play

I agree. I refuse to watch ads or to pay for an experience that offers less than a fraction of what Newpipe offers. When Newpipe is no longer viable I'll repurpose that time to chipping away at my reading list.

But where do I go instead for my aquarium hobbyist videos? 😥

How did you quit? Is there any other video platform?