How To Watch YouTube Ad-Free? (Best YouTube Vanced Alternatives)
YouTube is a great app but isn’t necessarily the best at all times. Many third-party apps give you an ad-free experience and better features, such as ‘YouTube Vanced.’ Unfortunately, the app is shutting down, so we have put together some of the best ‘YouTube Vanced’ alternatives for an ad-free experience.
Some of the following options will even have more features than YouTube. Besides adblocking, you can expect to see a return of dislike buttons, SponsorBlock, video playback options, and much more. These are the best apps you can use if you don’t like YouTube’s invasive privacy policy.
Best ‘YouTube Vanced’ alternatives for an ad-free experience
NewPipe
Platform: Android
NewPipe is one the most popular apps for watching Youtube ad-free. It was around in the digital sphere before ‘YouTube Vanced.’ The app features many options such as ad-blocking, background playback, picture-in-picture, video downloading, and more.
The developers of NewPipe are privacy-conscious, so if you don’t want to share your data with Google, this is the app for you. NewPipe is entirely free and open-source, so you don’t have to worry about shady software. It is a good alternative for YouTube Vanced.
You can download the NewPipe from its official website or F-Droid. There’s also another version of the app that integrates SponsorBlock on GitHub.
YouTube Premium
Platform: Any streaming device
The most legit way to watch YouTube ad-free is with a premium subscription. Apps like ‘YouTube Vanced’ come and go, but you can always get most features with YouTube Premium. The only thing you can’t get back is probably the dislike button.
When you watch YouTube videos on third-party apps, it doesn’t count as a view for the creator. By getting YouTube Premium, you also get to support your favorite creators. You also get access to YouTube original movies and TV shows.
YouTube Premium starts at $11.99/month or $119.99/year. You can get a free trial or pay less by opting for an annual, student, or family plan.
SkyTube
Platform: Android
SkyTube is another YouTube Vanced alternative for an ad-free experience. The app is an open-source third-party client that comes in two variants. The regular version of the app features video downloads, background playback, video blocking, no ads, and more.
Since it doesn’t have login support, you can’t sign in to your YouTube account. However, you can still browse channel subscription bookmarks and read comments. There’s also SkyTube Extra, which gives you access to closed libraries and supports the official YouTube player and casting.
You can download SkyTube from its official website or F-droid.
LibreTube
Platform: Android
LibreTube is a good YouTube Vanced alternative despite the app being in Beta. However, it is quite different from its competitors as it uses Piped (YouTube frontend website). It means that the app never connects to YouTube directly, and there will always be a server between the user and Google.
Users can also make an account on these servers and subscribe to their favorite channels. Unfortunately, you can only download LibreTube from GitHub for now.
Ad-Free Browser Extensions as YouTube Vanced Alternatives
There are many browser extensions you can use to watch YouTube ad-free. Since Chrome for Android doesn’t support extensions, you can use other browsers in its place. The following are some of the best browsers for YouTube Vanced Alternatives.
Kiwi Browser
Platform: Android
Kiwi is a Chromium-based browser that supports extensions. You can download many of them from the Chrome extension store to get an ad-free YouTube experience. We suggest installing SponsorBlock, Return YouTube Dislike, uBlock Origin, and YouTube Enhancer for the Kiwi browser.
Note: You will need to use YouTube in desktop mode to work.
Firefox Browser
Platform: Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, and Linux
FireFox is one of the few browsers that support extensions on mobile devices. You can easily add extensions by going to Menu > Add-ons and selecting whichever ones you like. You can also add uBlock Origin to block advertisements automatically.
Brave Browser
Platform: Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, and Linux
Brave browser is one of the best mobile browsers that natively block ads and website trackers. The browser also supports YouTube creators if they register for brave rewards. You can also try adding adblocking extensions if native support still doesn’t block YouTube ads for you.
YouTube Vanced is Shutting down
Unfortunately, YouTube Vanced is now shutting down due to legal threats from Google. The app will soon be unavailable for download from its website. The app will likely continue to work for a couple of years for those already installed.
