As of October 13, the developers of AdBlock Plus didn’t really have an answer for the new YouTube problem in a blog post on the matter. As for its competitor, uBlock Origin, various Reddit users say the Firefox version of the extension still works, though it’s recommended that you keep the extension and its blocklist as up-to-date as humanly possible and don’t use custom filters. “YouTube changes their detection scripts twice a day, which means that even if you got a filter update earlier today, another one might be required soon,” reads a note from the Reddit post author.
Another post notes that uBlock Origins seems to be working to block the ads on the Brave browser, as well, including the mobile version. The same post also recommends NewPipe for Android, a free, open-source app that provides an ad-free YouTube experience. That post, however, notes that it’s best to sideload the app from official sources like the NewPipe website or its pages on GitHub or F-Droid, citing issues with versions on the Google Play Store that have advertisements added to the app.
On a per-video basis on desktop, there’s also the workaround — discovered by AI developer Shanaj Raj — of watching the ad-free version of the video that pops up when you ask for the video’s embed code through the Share menu. Of course, these are all unofficial workarounds that may stop working at any moment; the only reliable way to get an ad-free experience is with a Premium subscription.
