Not even speaking about all the ads in the default YouTube app without a subscription.
The app is basically useless in my opinion. It defaults to freaking 240p for every video. My phone is definitively not the problem, also not the Internet connection. Watching in Firefox on the same connection gives me normal expected quality.
This was better on some “feature phones” without touchscreen!!! YouTube app works and playback is in 720p / 1080p
SmartTube beta is meant for Android TV devices, but it just works fine on phones too, and it also has SponsorBlock AND account login.
they just added touch and mouse control
I suspected they had changed something recently; the UI was working better