154
‘Goal is viewer addiction’: Email from YouTube employee show company’s mission
(www.independent.co.uk)
this post was submitted on 30 Mar 2026
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Technology
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Have you considered a platform like freetube that allows you to fully block shorts?
I’ve been using it for ages now (desktop application, I use it on Linux, works great), but other platforms for watching YouTube without ads are also likely to have “distraction-free” mode where all that obnoxious shit gets blocked or turned off, like when I view a creator I’m subscribed to the -only- thing that comes up are full-length videos. No community page, no shorts, no playlists and follows, nothing but videos which is what I’m there for.
You also get the perk of blocking ads and sponsored segments, self promotion, etc. so very nice to use.
It does break now and then when YouTube updates, but they typically get it working again pretty quickly.
It seems to primarily be a problem when viewing stuff on my phone tbh, since my laptop is already basically in lockdown. I'm admittedly an old person when it comes to phones; millenial but I didn't decide to get one until like 2020. Any particular suggestions for something similar that could work well on android?
PipePipe works well on Android.
Using the ReVanced manager and microG you can patch a YouTube apk really easily to add things like ad block as well as the ability to block YouTube shorts popping up in your feed. It's amazing. Highly recommend. It's the only way I can enjoy YouTube on my phone any more.
I hear good things about NewPipe
Unfortunately no, I’m not on android at the moment (much to my chagrin)
However, lots of people around here are super passionate about sharing exactly that information with people, and there’s a solid chance you’ll get an answer to that here if you give it some time. If not, or if you’d like to know now, you can always make a post about it somewhere like asklemmy and you’ll probably get lots of suggestions :)
Sorry I can’t help further with that one!