YouTube front ends/alternatives

[Blackhawk]

So, the browsers thread made me decide it was finally time to look more closely at this, as I do feel a little creeped out at the way Google is watching what I'm watching. I'm seeing lots of options: LBRy, NewPile, FreeTube, Invidious, others.

The thing is, there are a few creators whom I actually do want to support in my own limited way - views, likes, subscription. If I do these things through a front end, do the creators on YT still get the credit?

[Blackhawk]

What a pain that is. Invidious, it turns out, is mostly dead. The developer abandoned it, and nobody has been willing to take it over. You can still access it, but when things break, they'll stay broken. This has, apparently, already begun to happen.

FreeTube is limited to a downloadable client, which makes it unappealing and impossible to use in some formats (like VR.) It is desktop-only.

NewPipe is Android-only. This plus the above means that I'd need to run separate clients on different devices with separate subscription lists and no syncing.

LBRY isn't a front end for YouTube, it's a completely different service, and trying to read about how it works made my head spin with elaborate integrations of blockchain and crypto.

Looks like I'm sticking with YouTube.

[Anonymous Bosch]

What a pain that is. Invidious, it turns out, is mostly dead. The developer abandoned it, and nobody has been willing to take it over. You can still access it, but when things break, they'll stay broken. This has, apparently, already begun to happen.

In my experience, using the Invidition or Privacy Redirect Firefox extension allows Invidious to work fine for the most part. Because if/when a particular public instance goes down, those extensions make it pretty much effortless to switch to a viable alternative.

[Blackhawk]

The problem is that if YouTube puts in a counter to them at some point, there's nobody left to fix it. I don't want to get wrapped up in a system that is likely to disappear with no warning.

[Anonymous Bosch]

The problem is that if YouTube puts in a counter to them at some point, there's nobody left to fix it. I don't want to get wrapped up in a system that is likely to disappear with no warning.

Sure, it's far from ideal. It's FOSS, so you get what you pay for. But there are plenty of functional public Invidious instances still around almost a year after the original developer moved on. More importantly, Invidious development was not halted after the original developer stepped away, because others are continuing its development and have thus far been able to keep things compatible and operational.

So, given the choice between the uncertainty of ad-free Invidious instances going forwards vs. having Google track each and every one of your search and viewing habits and serving ads, I'll gladly opt for the former over the latter as long as I can. But I do understand YMMV.

[hitbyambulance]

What a pain that is. Invidious, it turns out, is mostly dead. The developer abandoned it, and nobody has been willing to take it over. You can still access it, but when things break, they'll stay broken. This has, apparently, already begun to happen.

In my experience, using the Invidition or Privacy Redirect Firefox extension allows Invidious to work fine for the most part. Because if/when a particular public instance goes down, those extensions make it pretty much effortless to switch to a viable alternative.

recommended to use Privacy Redirect over Invidition, since the former is being actively developed

[hitbyambulance]

one of the twitter alternatives (it may have been a nitter instance) when clicking through an embedded link here was blocked by Firefox. i then attempted to 'accept the risks and continue' and then the nitter instance was blocked by my ISP - i think the domain was literally 'vampire.xyz'.