Unlock origin + Firefox! The harassment stops. I’d rather donate to the unlock team monthly instead of paying google for a solution to a problem they created.
AdAway (F-Droid) will do the same but on-device (so it works everywhere), and if you’re rooted it’ll do it without the VPN by directly updating the hosts file.
Actually YouTube kinda built in the feature lol. It detects sections of the video most people skip and gives you a button to skip it as well. All right inside the YouTube app.
FYI, SponsorBlock isn’t just for skipping sponsored segments. SB gives you granular control over the sorts of sections you can skip, and it only auto-skips sponsors by default. However:
There are several categories of section, including intro animation/intermission (“an interval without actual content”), preview (i.e. where the information already exists later in the video), sponsor (a segment made in return for payment from a third party), unpaid/self-promotion (e.g. “buy my merch”), interaction reminder (e.g. “remember to like and subscribe”), and endcards/credits. (There’s also “filler tangent/jokes”, but I haven’t tried this one.)
For each of these categories, you can choose to disable altogether, show in the seek bar, prompt to manually skip, or auto skip.
So even if you would never want to skip a sponsored segment in your life, the extension still saves a ton of time if you have no/limited interest in watching even just one of the above-listed categories.
One helpful thing I found is that it can skip “non music sections”, ie those cringey silent scenes they put in YouTube videos. If that’d existed a couple of years ago, I probably wouldn’t have switched to Spotify. I mainly switched because I was sick of random 10 second pauses for dramatic effect in the middle of songs, often right before the chorus
Absolutely! And what I ran down is just the extent of the features I personally interact with; there are a fair few more, including one that aims to combat clickbait by changing clickbaity titles.
Unlock origin + Firefox! The harassment stops. I’d rather donate to the unlock team monthly instead of paying google for a solution to a problem they created.
Pi-Hole + VPN and you can stop mobile ads as well. (You connect your phone to your VPN, whose traffic passed through your Pi-Hole)
Ublock Origin also works on Firefox mobile for Android, but that only works inside the browser.
You need the Pi-Hole network-level blocking to block ads in apps.
AdAway (F-Droid) will do the same but on-device (so it works everywhere), and if you’re rooted it’ll do it without the VPN by directly updating the hosts file.
You also need to add SponsorBlock to skip in-video advertisements.
Actually YouTube kinda built in the feature lol. It detects sections of the video most people skip and gives you a button to skip it as well. All right inside the YouTube app.
I don’t know, most creators I watch put a creative spin on those, and it’s fun to watch. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
FYI, SponsorBlock isn’t just for skipping sponsored segments. SB gives you granular control over the sorts of sections you can skip, and it only auto-skips sponsors by default. However:
So even if you would never want to skip a sponsored segment in your life, the extension still saves a ton of time if you have no/limited interest in watching even just one of the above-listed categories.
One helpful thing I found is that it can skip “non music sections”, ie those cringey silent scenes they put in YouTube videos. If that’d existed a couple of years ago, I probably wouldn’t have switched to Spotify. I mainly switched because I was sick of random 10 second pauses for dramatic effect in the middle of songs, often right before the chorus
I see, thanks for a thorough explanation! Didn’t know it was this advanced.
yeah, surprised me too when i first got it. it’s pretty much a must for me now
Absolutely! And what I ran down is just the extent of the features I personally interact with; there are a fair few more, including one that aims to combat clickbait by changing clickbaity titles.
I got me some new devices recently. Researching and adding privacy/security add ons to Firefox was surprisingly enjoyable.
The idea that I have some measure of control over what I experience - and what I give in return - is novel to me.
The -10 or so extensions work well enough. It’s still the internet, but it’s an earlier version. Better than what currently exists.