Does usage of third party youtube apps necessitate a VPN in the near future?
Does usage of third party youtube apps necessitate a VPN in the near future?
Greetings y'all. I've been using ways to circumvent YouTube ads for years now. I'd much rather donate to creators directly instead of using Google as a middle man, needing YouTube Premium. If even pay for premium for just a add free version, if the price wouldn't be so outrageous. I've So far used adblockers, Vanced and then Revanced.
Since the recent developments in this matter, I've setup Tubearchivist, a self hosted solution to download YouTube videos for later consumption. It mostly works great, with a few minor things that bother me but I highly recommend it. ReVanced also still works, but nobody knows for how long.
The question now is, if I should use a VPN to obscure my identity to Google. I don't know if I'm being paranoid here but I wouldn't put it past Google to block my account, if they see YouTube traffic for my IP address and no served ads. Revanced even uses my main Google account, so not that far fetched.
So far, or at least to my knowledge, Google has never done this but I think they just might in the future. So I'm planning on putting tubearchivist behind a VPN via gluetun.
What do you think? I'm eager to hear your opinions on this.
I can also add my docker compose, if there's interest and when I'm back on my PC.
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I just put this on another post about YT, but seems relevant here:
Adblocking on YouTube is an uphill battle, especially on mobile.
Sign up for a VPN trial, set it to a random country. I think I used Argentina or something. Sign up for YT premium, the prices will shock you. I pay ~2$ US a month for a family subscription.
Turn off your VPN, and enjoy YT premium on the cheap, in your native country.
Or just use Piped, Invidious or any other frontend https://pluja.github.io/awesome-privacy/#youtube
I don't see any ads in years, just don't use youtube.com. whether on PC, phone, Android TV.
I’m all Apple, so paying the $2 works well for me
I mostly watch YouTube on iOS, Apple TV, or the web on my work computer. So piped etc is not an option for me, this works well.
You have Yattee, works on iOS/AppleTV https://github.com/yattee/yattee
Yeah I’m not sideloading anything that’s not worth me saving $2 a month.
What's wrong with sideloading free and open source software?
Effort
Just realized that this is about Yattee, you don't even have to sideload it, it's on the App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/yattee/id1595136629. Just follow this guide to set it up, it takes 2 minutes.
Is Piped blocked on your work computer? If yes, there's a guide on how to easily bypass any website block.
Holy shitballs, this is amazing.
Right? Glad I could help :)
I know this is a possibility, but also a risk. The land where you purchased youtube premium doesn't match your home address so Google notice. Do you use your primary account for this? Do you need a foreign credit card?
I use my home countries credit card no problem! You may have to manually approve the international charge depending on your bank. Been doing it for over 5 years now, no issues yet. I use my primary account, although I don’t use any google services other than YT so I don’t care if my account gets suspended.
Yeah, there's a big difference between "random country" and "home country".
I experimented with this some time ago and failed because I didn't have a credit card from the foreign country to pay with. I'm sure this can be circumvented with some effort, but it's not trivial.
Permanently Deleted
Don't. Don't install Google spyware on your phone and don't give this garbage company even a fraction of a cent. Also, stop pretending that it's impossible to block ads on YouTube, there are many ways to do it: There are web clients like Piped and Invidious, there is FreeTube for Desktop and on Android you can use LibreTube (client for Piped), NewPipe, NewPipe x SponsorBlock, it also has Return YouTube Dislike built in, or Grayjay. On iOS, you can use Yattee, just follow this guide to set it up, it should also work on the Apple TV if I'm not mistaken, or just add the Piped website to your homescreen. If you have a device that runs Android TV, you can use SmartTubeNext.
At that point just don’t use YouTube at all tbh