2y ago

youtube on modern phones sucks

Not even speaking about all the ads in the default YouTube app without a subscription.

The app is basically useless in my opinion. It defaults to freaking 240p for every video. My phone is definitively not the problem, also not the Internet connection. Watching in Firefox on the same connection gives me normal expected quality.

This was better on some "feature phones" without touchscreen!!! YouTube app works and playback is in 720p / 1080p

113 comments

One word, Revanced.
- Several words: mobile Firefox, ad block, disable youtube app, disable known links to youtube.
  
  Several more words:
  Obtuse, rubber goose, green moose, guava juice Giant snake, birthday cake, large fries, chocolate shake!
  
  And what would be the benefit over Revanced?
- I searched for Revanced and the top 3 results were malware, with the 4th being the real website lol. Thank God for uBlock saving my ass.
  
  Yes, always search it on github and tell people to find it on github if you can't provide a link for them.
  
  https://revanced.app is the real one.
  
  OBS was victim to this a while back. it was almost indistinguishable from the real sites so pretty dangerous
- And use the patch that saves the resolution you select and it then forces it
  
  Which patch is that? I would love to have that in my FF.
- extended revanced
- yeah I'm loving newpipe no fuss
- Now this sounds like a good solution. F-Droid store is serious enough about security so I don't have to worry about applications there.
youtube ~~on modern phones~~ sucks
FTFY
You default to 240 because your internet sucks or you need to change the default setting. I get 720 all the time and could go higher if I wanted. I never see 240.
This is a you issue and not an app issue.
- Tbf my official YouTube also defaults to some shitty quality even on wifi, on my desktop and tv it always goes to 4k. I've also configured it to high picture quality or whatever.
  
  If you go to settings>advanced>you can straight up choose the quality video will play at.
- There are so many of these threads that just boil down to "I am the problem I just can't admit it"
  
  But this is a real issue. Video playback on my phone usually starts at 480p but on my laptop it starts at 1080p. Both are connected to the same network.
Yeah, Newpipe is a lot better option.
- Can you link? This is what I'm looking at
  
  Get it from F-Droid, I'm personally using Newpipe with Sponsorblock and it's great.
  
  Its not on the play store. Get it from apkmirror.com, or fdroid as others are mentioning
I've been using YouTube Vanced for years, and now
, after Vanced got killed. it's a bit tedious to set up on non rooted phones, but even then, it's such a huge upgrade. no ads, let you pick your own quality, SponsorBlock built in, background play, lots of payout control options.
- Recanced is even easier to set up imo. Just patch & install
  
  I remember Vanced being simpler, only making you download the patched app, where ReVanced wants you to uninstall your YouTube updates, find the APK of a specific version, then patch it. not exactly hard for most enthusiasts but still out of reach for most. absolutely worth it though!
- I pay for Premium but I still use Revanced just for the sponsorblock feature. It's great!
- YouTube ReVanced
  This is always my main fear.
  
  the official website is revanced.app . in case of doubt, check https://github.com/revanced. fake websites are sadly always an issue with popular apps that aren't on the main stores
  
  Well, with Revanced you are supposed to patch the APK by yourself and not download a pre-patched one.
Not to forget: the adds are high definition anyway...
- This fucking infuriates me whenever i dont have an adblocker available. Since my connection speed is sub par, buffering is frequent unless it's at a low quality. So to watch a video without buffering, i gotta set the video to low quality (240-480p) only for A FUCKING 1080P UNSKIPPABLE AD TO JUST CUT IN AND PLAY PERFECTLY FOR 15 SECONDS before casually dropping me back down to 360p, only after buffering once more when the ad ends before the fucking video finally resumes
  
  If you're on android I highly recommend ReVanced
- I would not be able to use YouTube without premium these days since there are so many ads . I find on my phone it usually plays 720 if I'm connected to wifi , there is an option in the settings to pick what quality it will play for wifi or data
Quite a few NewPipe mentions here 😁. Another option is NewPipe SponsorBlock, which has support for Return Youtube Dislike and of course SponsorBlock
- SmartTube beta is meant for Android TV devices, but it just works fine on phones too, and it also has SponsorBlock AND account login.
  
  they just added touch and mouse control
YouTube ~~on modern phones~~ sucks.
Even when I select "higher quality" on WiFi, it still defaults to 480p.
And then I have to manually select 1080 every time.
- So this is not some corner case problem for me... I honestly do not care, rarely watch on the phone. Maybe because it depresses me that technology is moving backwards in some sense 😐
Yeah, I switched to Invidious a long time ago. If you want an app, I'd also recommend NewPipe (for Android), and either Yattee (for iOS) or Piped (as a PWA).
That's why I only use Newpipe
Use the Firefox nightly build and you can bring your desktop experience to mobile.
Not only can you use sponsorblock but also ublock origin. Plus you can use picture in picture and play the videos with your phone locked by default
Its literal perfect fir my usage
- But we have apps that do that. Clipious. Newpipe. Libretube.
  
  Yes, but there are drawbacks to each one. For example, with new pipe, if I find a channel that I like I have to remember to like it on all of my devices individually.
  I'd much rather use the mobile YouTube as it works perfectly and I can use any add-on I wish to modify the experience without issue.
Use Newpipe or libretube
- Does not work will use the same 240p shit quality.
You could teach a CLASS on how terrible the YouTube mobile app UX is.
revanced is the only thing I can use. it patches the legacy quality menu back in and a bunch of things that make it usable again
My phone always defaults to 4K, it's definitely something up with your phone/the app settings.
- On mobile, it usually manages to set itself to my desired resolution, on a modded client, but sometimes youtube just does unexplainable things. I have an addon on desktop that forces playback at a specific res, and even then it would casually decide to play 360p
  
  YouTube will randomly enable closed captions for me, even though I literally never have them on.
I just use newpipe on my phone, freetube on linux. I appreciate that you don't need an account to "subscribe" to channels.
- Same but there are times when I block YouTube on my DNS , newpipe stops to work. Is newpipe using YouTube's API?
  
  Obviously yes. Newpipe loads youtube website and parses the video info and files
Also wtf, even with vanced, it makes me subscribe to hit play next? Thats such a basic function.
I installed both Vinegar and Baking Soda and have never looked back. And FWIW, all of Google is rotten.
- What is vinegar and baking soda?
  
  Both are excellent household cleaners, but despite common belief, they aren't good cleaners when mixed together.
  
  I feel like we need a bot to field these kind of questions completely out or context
  
  Safari extensions.
YouTube sucks, period. The best innovation they had recently was copying a Chinese company douyin and making shorts while for years they were pushing long form videos to creators and punishing short form videos 💀 dead brains in YouTube executives
- Youtube sucked a lot less before this cancerous tiktok clone format was introduced.
  
  Lol that's when you know YouTube has sold out to business managers who have nothing in their brains except chase money
Doesn't let users block channels.
Search results are filled with algorithm-fed recommendations.
Player lacks basic features and has a trashy UI with lots of bugs.
And they have a monopoly.
I've given up YouTube almost entirely for PeerTube at this point. If I wasn't to watch a video, I use the *built in grabber and it grabs the video. Then, I can always refer back to PT instead of YT.
Try using it on firefox with ublock installed, works great.
Go with Invidious. inv.tux.pizza works for me when I'm on a browser. (I swear I'm not affiliated with them 😅.) On my desktop and laptop, I use FreeTube because it allows me to track my watch history and subscriptions locally, and it has Sponsorblock and DeArrow optionally integrated. Plus, it's just nice to separate YouTube, which I often watch like TV, from active browsing tasks. On mobile I typically just use Invidious in Firefox.
Firefox on Android with U Block Origin. Can watch in 720p and even listen to audio while in another tab. Stop using apps folks!
I don't really consume s lot of visual media these days. But PBS spacetime is tits.
I use Vivaldi Mobile Browser that makes it a lot more usable.
I use ymusic and deleted the YouTube app
Watching in Firefox on the same connection gives me normal expected quality.
So use firefox? Add an adblocker and that's also dealt with.
This just sounds like a PEBCAK error.
Both your problems can be fixed with subscribing. If you don't check out alternative clients for android like LibreTube or NewPipe
- pay us money to fix the shit features that we purposely implemented to make you pay money

113 comments