The 5 best ways to watch YouTube without ads and interruptions

Don’t let Google know, but I’d be quite lost without YouTube. I use the video platform daily for background noise during the workday and for enjoying my favorite creators’ content in the evenings.

The platform doesn’t offer the best user experience, at least not one that prioritizes the content. Constant interruptions and visual clutter within the app have prompted me to seek alternative ways to watch YouTube. And you don’t need to put up with them, either.

There are various ways to use YouTube interruption-free. What follows are your options.

You don’t necessarily need to use an app to view YouTube content; Android browsers will serve just as well. Some browsers are more adept at displaying and controlling video than others, though, and while the likes of Google Chrome seem like an excellent fit for a fellow YouTube product, there are better options.

Personally, I’ve gravitated towards Banana Browser as my preferred video web browser. It packs a dedicated video player that supports numerous content sources, including YouTube and TikTok. It also includes ad-blocking smarts and SponsorBlock support — a tool that skips past sponsor slots and other interruptions — while background play and picture-in-picture modes are also available.

As far as user-friendliness is concerned, Brave is perhaps the best option on Android for casual users. It supports background playback for audio tracks, picture-in-picture mode, and dedicated settings to block recommended content, “distracting elements,” and YouTube Shorts.

There are many apps that present YouTube content in a more user-friendly manner, free from annoying content. My current favorite example is Tubular, a fork of NewPipe. What makes Tubular better is its inclusion of SponsorBlock, which skips video sections based on crowdsourced info, and ReturnYouTubeDislike, which does exactly what it says on the tin. It’s also extremely easy to use, so even non-techies can easily adopt it.

Notably, NewPipe remains a pretty great alternative, especially if you’re running an older Android smartphone.

PipePipe is a hard fork of NewPipe, featuring a nifty keyword filter system and support for other platforms, including Bilibili.

For something more democratic, Grayjay is not simply a YouTube alternative. It’s effectively a content aggregator and supports a host of big-name platforms serving audio and video. It’s also built with privacy in mind, keeping subscription information locally.

You can use a web browser for your YouTube needs on Windows, but I’ve found a standalone app to be a far better solution. As Google doesn’t offer a dedicated Windows app, I have to look elsewhere. For the most part, FreeTube covers pretty much all of my bases.

FreeTube is a free and open source program that bills itself as a privacy-first client. It keeps all your subscription, playlist, and history data on your local machine, doesn’t display ads, and uses a UI consistent with YouTube itself. The most significant appeal is its support for macOS and Linux as well.

As an unofficial product, FreeTube occasionally breaks due to YouTube’s changes to its backend. But, thanks to the power of open source collaboration, these problems are usually remedied in a day or a few.

Most of my YouTube viewing takes place on my TV via my Chromecast with Google TV. While I could use the official YouTube app for the platform, I find it somewhat lacking in customization, video controls, and quality adjustments. It’s why SmartTube is one of my essential Google TV apps.

SmartTube is a brilliant piece of free and open source software that’s updated regularly and supported by a thriving community. The app itself feels quicker, offers more UI options to enhance accessibility, and boasts numerous advanced features compared to YouTube’s official production. It just so happens to support SponsorBlock, ad suppression, and gives me complete control over the types of videos I want recommended to me. It’s a far more personal way to consume YouTube.

Of course, being a third-party app that’s not directly available from the Play Store on Google TV, installation is a bit of a chore. It requires installing a prelude app before you can access SmartTube itself. Nevertheless, jumping through this hoop is well worth it.

Look, as much as thrifty consumers hate to admit it, paying for YouTube Premium may actually be the best solution for watching YouTube without ads. While parting with cash monthly is a painful prospect, Premium is the only solution if you want to access YouTube unabated on every supported device.

Premium also offers a few valuable perks, including YouTube Music Premium access, offline viewing, additional playback options, and the super helpful skip-ahead smarts. And, of course, paying for Premium is one way to support the creators you watch every day.

My primary concern with this approach is the YouTube experience itself. As I mentioned in the SmartTube section, YouTube is overly rigid in its UI and controls on its supported platforms. Although most consumers won’t need options to increase the scale of thumbnails on TV or hide Shorts from view, many power users do. Paying for YouTube won’t magically produce these features.

At $13.99 monthly, Premium isn’t what I’d call cheap. And, arguably, you could access the lion’s share of its features with one of the solutions outlined above. Nevertheless, I did want to mention purchasing YouTube as an option because it genuinely is.

How do you watch YouTube interruption-free? Let me know your solution in the comments below.