I just wanted to share a program I’ve been using quite a lot recently which is Freetube.

FreeTube is what YouTube should have been: an ad-free, hackable, curated feed of videos from only the creators I enjoy. The app has a small developer base but is very complete with all the essential features.

FreeTube can either source videos from YouTube or Invidious depending on what you prefer, it also has additional settings for importing and exporting history and subscriptions, changing the user interface/player, and neat things like DeArrow video titles for less click-baity thumbnails.

The app is cross-platform though my preferred method is installing via flatpak on Linux.

Limitations: It is a “read-only” interface to YouTube, meaning that commenting, uploading videos, personalized recommendations and other YouTube provided services will not be available. Think of this as Invidious on the desktop.

“I have not used the YouTube app/website for over a year and a half. It’s going to stay that way”