You're halfway through a lo-fi beat loop or a deep dive into Roman concrete when it happens. The yellow bar appears. Suddenly, a guy is screaming about a CRM tool you'll never use. It's jarring. Honestly, it’s getting worse. YouTube’s ad density has spiked over the last two years, pushing many of us to the brink of insanity. We all want to know how to get rid of youtube ads, but the "how" changes almost weekly because Google is in a constant arms race with developers.
Ads are the tax we pay for "free" content. That’s the official line. But when the tax becomes 30% of the viewing time, people start looking for the exit.
👉 See also: YouTube This Video Is Unavailable: Why It Happens and How to Fix It
The Nuclear Option: YouTube Premium
Let’s be real for a second. The most reliable way to handle this is the one Google wants you to choose. YouTube Premium is the "official" solution. It’s expensive—pricing has crept up to $13.99 a month in the US—but it works across every single device you own. Your phone, your smart TV, your fridge if it plays video.
You get YouTube Music thrown in, which is cool if you're trying to quit Spotify. Most people overlook the fact that Premium also supports the creators you actually watch. When you have Premium, a tiny slice of your subscription fee goes to that niche woodworker or tech reviewer you love, often more than they’d get from a standard ad view. It’s the path of least resistance.
But not everyone wants another monthly bill. We're all "subscription fatigued." If you're looking for the DIY route, things get a bit more technical.
Browser Extensions and the Great Manifest V3 Scare
If you're on a desktop, extensions are the classic move. uBlock Origin is generally considered the gold standard here. It’s open-source. It’s lightweight. It doesn't sell your data. However, there’s a massive elephant in the room: Google Chrome’s transition to Manifest V3.
This technical shift changes how extensions interact with the browser. Google claims it's for "security and privacy," but critics, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), argue it severely limits the effectiveness of content blockers. If you're still using Chrome and wondering why your ad blocker feels sluggish or keeps getting detected, that’s why.
- Switching to Firefox: Many power users have jumped ship to Mozilla Firefox. Since Firefox isn't built on Google's Chromium engine, it doesn't have to follow the Manifest V3 rules. uBlock Origin works better there.
- The Brave Alternative: Brave is a browser with native blocking built into its core. It's Chromium-based but they’ve hard-coded the blocking capabilities so Google can’t easily break them with an extension update. It’s fast. It’s easy. It just works.
- The AdBlock Plus Trap: Be careful with "AdBlock Plus." They have an "Acceptable Ads" program where companies can pay to be whitelisted. It feels a bit like a protection racket. If you want a clean experience, stick to uBlock Origin.
What About Mobile?
The YouTube app on your phone is a fortress. It's specifically designed to be un-blockable by standard means. On Android, the legendary "YouTube Vanced" was forced to shut down after legal threats from Google. But the spirit lives on in projects like ReVanced.
ReVanced and the Android Side-load
ReVanced isn't an app you just download from the Play Store. It’s a patcher. You take the official YouTube APK and run it through the ReVanced Manager to strip out the ad code. It’s brilliant. It even adds "SponsorBlock," which skips those annoying "this video is sponsored by..." segments inside the video itself.
Is it "safe"? Generally, yes, if you get it from the official GitHub repository. Is it "easy"? Sorta. You need to be comfortable installing APKs and potentially troubleshooting MicroG (the tool that lets you sign into your Google account on a modified app).
iOS: The Walled Garden Problem
If you're on an iPhone, you’re in a tougher spot. Apple doesn't like side-loading. You can use the Brave browser or Safari with an extension like "AdGuard" or "1Blocker," but you have to watch YouTube in the browser, not the app. The experience is clunkier. The UI isn't as snappy. But the ads are gone.
Some people use "sideloading" tools like AltStore to install modified YouTube apps (like uYou+), but you have to "refresh" the app every seven days using a computer. It's a hassle. Honestly, for most iPhone users, the browser method is the only sane non-Premium option.
DNS Blocking: The Myth and the Reality
You’ll see people on Reddit talking about Pi-hole or AdGuard DNS. They claim you can block ads at the network level.
Here’s the truth: DNS blocking doesn't really work for YouTube anymore.
YouTube serves its ads from the same domains as the actual video content. If you block the ad domain via DNS, you block the video too. This worked five years ago. It doesn't work now. Don't waste your weekend setting up a Raspberry Pi specifically for YouTube ads; you'll be disappointed. DNS blocking is great for tracking and "fluff" ads on websites, but it’s useless against the hard-coded video ads Google uses.
The Philosophical Side of the Ad War
We have to acknowledge the tension here. YouTube costs a fortune to run. Every minute, 500 hours of video are uploaded. That’s a lot of storage and bandwidth. When we talk about how to get rid of youtube ads, we're participating in a cat-and-mouse game that impacts the people making the content.
If everyone blocked ads and nobody paid for Premium, the platform would collapse or become a pay-walled garden. This is why Google is getting aggressive. They’ve started testing "server-side ad injection," where the ad is stitched directly into the video stream before it even reaches your device. This makes it almost impossible for traditional blockers to distinguish between the show and the commercial.
Better Ways to Support Creators
If you do decide to block ads, consider supporting your favorite creators in other ways.
- Patreon or Nebula: Many creators have moved to platforms where they get a direct cut.
- Merchandise: Buying a shirt usually nets a creator more profit than a thousand ad views.
- Affiliate Links: If you're going to buy that camera anyway, using their link helps.
Practical Steps to a Cleaner Experience
If you're ready to make a change today, don't overcomplicate it. Start with the easiest methods and move up the technical ladder if you aren't satisfied.
For Desktop Users:
Move away from Chrome if you can. Download Firefox and install the uBlock Origin extension. If you must stay on Chrome, install uBlock Origin anyway, but be prepared for it to be less effective over time. If you see the "Ad blockers are not allowed on YouTube" popup, go into the uBlock settings, clear your cache, and update the filter lists. The community updates these lists hourly to bypass Google's latest detection scripts.
For Mobile Users:
On Android, look into the ReVanced project, but only use the official documentation on GitHub to avoid malware. For iPhone users, stop using the YouTube app. Use Safari with the AdGuard extension. It’s a slightly worse interface, but the silence is worth it.
For Smart TVs:
This is the hardest nut to crack. If you have an Android TV or Fire Stick, you can sideload "SmartTube" (formerly SmartTubeNext). It’s an incredible third-party client designed for TVs that blocks everything and has a much better interface than the stock app. If you have a Roku or an LG/Samsung TV with a proprietary OS, you're mostly out of luck. Your best bet there is to plug in a cheap streaming stick that allows for third-party apps.
The ad war isn't going away. As long as there is a way to skip a 30-second commercial for insurance, people will find it. Just stay informed on the tools you use and be aware that the "perfect" solution today might break tomorrow. That’s just the nature of the web in 2026.
Next Steps for a Faster YouTube:
- Audit your extensions: Remove old, redundant ad blockers. Having three different ones active actually makes your browser slower and easier for YouTube to detect.
- Update your filters: If you use uBlock, go to "Dashboard" > "Filter Lists" and click "Update Now" whenever you see a new ad type.
- Check your browser version: Ensure you're running the latest version of Firefox or Brave to take advantage of the most recent anti-tracking patches.