Been using FreeTube for a bit now w/ GraphineOS, and my Linux Desktop. Runs cookieless embed of YouTube videos and Invidious instances built in. Localized subscriptions and playlists, which can be imported in from Google Takeout; no recommendations page. Occasionally YT will block your IP, which is where a good VPN comes into play so you could switch on the fly, and for overall additional privacy hygiene.

I would love to drop YT all together, but some independent journalists I follow are all there who’s coverage is really on the pulse. It pays to be informed by good journalists these days, and many of them are unfortunately on YT.

I use a private invidious instance for the stuff I need to access Youtube for. And peertube for everything else

uBlock or Brave blocks normal ads, including the banners and injected commercials.

SponsorBlock blocks in-video sponsor mentions.

DeArrow removes clickbait thumbnails and replaces them with random frames from the video, and switches clickbait titles to crowdsourced descriptive titles.

I’d leave too if those stopped working, but they work for now.

fully agreed, however check out invidious.io or freetube if you want to degoogle but if theres still anything your missing

I stopped using youtube completely back when Trump was elected. I was never a big user anyway, I prefer reading. Its not something I grew up with so I don’t miss it. I got a used Pixel for GrapheneOS shortly after that. I got a Proton account a few years ago, and stopped using google search back in 2008, when I started using Linux and duckduckgo was the default search in Firefox. I think I’m pretty degoogled now. Hope Graphene can find an OEM supplier, having this Pixel gives me some strong dissonance. Its just a temporary fix, it was cheap tho.

Using apps like Grayjay or Newpipe allow you to just subscribe to certain channels and don’t see any recommendations at all. I haven’t used the YT algorithm in years and also don’t get any ads. Instead, I just watch the content creators I like and nothing else. On grayjay you can also add other services like Nebula, so the variety is even higher. I really don’t get how people can watch YT with the algorithm and with ads, but it seems too much effort for most people to look for alternatives.

I use NewPipe on mobile and freetube on desktop, although you probably considered them since they’re often recommended first when you just start looking into youtube alternatives

i put only the “few” channels that put out good stuff i think it’s worth watching on an RSS feed and disable recommendations. using invidious, of course.

For some reason i haven’t seen an ad on YouTube since April. I didn’t sign up and still get an occasional pop up about a free trial. Not sure what happened

How do I upload video to Lemmy?

Peertube has no content whatsoever. The current best option for privacy is using invidious mirrors.

This reads like a click-bait youtube video’s script… Soulless Chatbot-like language, no real information offered at all, and the content is a huge letdown (“here’s my recommendation on how to ‘walk away and keep the content you love’ - just walk away and forget all about the content you love! It’s that simple!”).

As much as I would like to ditch it, there really isn’t a good equivalent. Peertube and Nebula don’t have the amount of content I’m intetested in.

On Amy social media platform, subjecting yourself to their algorithm is a really bad idea anyway. I treat YouTube like Imgur, I don’t browse the site unless some interesting content link sheds me there. Suggestions and auto play are off in my Newpipe with Sponsorblock. I stick to handpicked videos or my curated subscriptions only.

I really hope Peertube becomes more popular amongst content creators.

How is Nebula? It has some creators that I like, but does it have a good mobile app?

Subscribing to channels with RSS and using third-party YouTube clients is still using YouTube for content.

The suggestion you gave about using peer tube is fantastic, but the content does need to increase some.