Google warns users of these apps that their experience may deteriorate soon. They may “experience buffering issues” or see errors such as “the following content is not available on this app” when trying to watch videos.

Similar to Google Search, ads have become insufferable for many users of the service. There are too many of them, they may break the viewing experience, and they may show inappropriate content.

YouTube Premium is expensive. What weights more for some users is that its functionality is severely limited when compared to third-party apps.

The cat and mouse game continues.

For those looking to avoid ads or improve privacy, here are some options for free, open source, privacy-friendly frontends to YouTube without advertisements:

https://www.privacyguides.org/en/frontends/#youtube

  • @RealFknNito
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    -88 months ago

    They provide a service not easily replicated, hence why there are no good alternatives. They operate on a loss because Alphabet/Google can afford it. They own the monopoly because they’re willing to lose money on it. You can swallow your pride and fuck off but it doesn’t matter. You don’t make an impact. They’ll still have the userbase and you leaving does nothing but lighten the server load from people who won’t pay anyway.

    You aren’t entitled to free services at the expense of others. They don’t have to let you use their website without charging you. You not using the site without paying isn’t the attack you think it is, it’s the desired outcome.

    • @GardenVarietyAnxiety
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      18 months ago

      That was a whole lot of assumptions about me. That, with the emotional language being used tells me that this interaction isn’t going anywhere useful or productive, so I’mma go ahead and step out.