To remove YouTube ads for Android, you have three options. The first and perhaps more “correct” is to subscribe to the YouTube Premium service, whose cost is more or less $ 10 per month, depending on the country. The other two free options are to install a utility that blocks ads in the YouTube app, or replace the latter with an alternative client that by default does not show YouTube ads.
Before talking about the alternatives to remove ads on YouTube for free, you should know that this platform is maintained thanks to the advertising you see on it, which also allows paying all content creators who upload videos. Perhaps it is due to these alternatives and the way of financing YouTube that Google updated its terms and conditions with the following: “YouTube may partially or totally cancel your access or access of your Google account to the Service if it reasonably determines that we will provide you the Service is no longer commercially viable ». It is speculated that this means that they could ban your Google account by blocking advertising on the platform, although this has not been confirmed by the company.
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AdSkip
AdSkip, an app based on the accessibility service of Android, does not actually remove advertising, but skips it or jumps when you have the video in view (not minimized). In other words, it does the same thing as when you press the “Skip ad” button in a video, but automatically. It also mutes advertising during the mandatory viewing seconds (3 to 6 seconds), after which time the above button Skip advertisement appears.
This means that you will only have to see the initial seconds of the advertisement, between 3 and 6, and you will automatically jump to the video. Although it is not the most ideal, it is probably more “secure” than the other options in this list, because this way you could continue to be “commercially viable” for Google. After seeing the initial seconds of the advertising, YouTube will already be charging the advertiser for that advertising.
The only disadvantage of AdSkip is that its operation is not consistent and sometimes it does not work.
Adblock for Android
In other words, an ad blocker that affects the entire Android system. There are several apps that achieve this, such as Adclear or DNS66 , which basically filter ads on YouTube and other apps, analyzing traffic based on DNS or host names, through a VPN interface.
In theory, these apps only work locally, so your traffic would not be exposed to third parties.
Both apps mentioned already come preconfigured, so you only have to start them, allow the VPN connection and they should already block advertising on the entire cell phone, including YouTube, other apps and even websites.
YouTube Vanced
It is a third-party version based on and practically the same as the original YouTube app, but enriched with several interesting features, such as ad blocking, background or off screen playback, and content download. Best of all, it works without root, although login requires an extra APK.
Other older YouTube Vanced variants are iYTP or OGYouTube , currently discontinued.
NewPipe
NewPipe is an “open source” alternative that is not anything like the original YouTube, including the fact that you will not see advertising anywhere, plus you can download the videos or their audio and play in the background or screen off. Its disadvantage is that you will not be able to log in with your Gmail account, although you will be able to import your subscriptions.
Tubemate
It is basically a viewer for YouTube’s mobile web, but it blocks its advertising, in addition to allowing you to download videos and music. However, the app has its own advertising, so it is not as clean an experience as in the previous cases.
Web browser with «Adblock»
Brave Browser settings screen, where you can activate ad blocking
To avoid advertising on YouTube you can also visit this page from a web browser that includes an option of “AdBlock”, “Adblock Plus” or “Ad blocking”. Google Chrome is not one of them, but there are other excellent options such as Mozilla Firefox or Samsung Internet (with the prior installation of an add-on). Microsoft Edge, Opera or Brave Browser do offer this option by default, without the need to install anything extra.
References : Reddit
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