> He said YouTube Premium - its service letting users pay to remove ads between videos, or songs on its music service - had helped boost paid subscriptions across Google consumer services to more than 325 million in 2025 overall.
325 million people that don't know about Firefox and uBlock Origin?
I pay for YouTube premium and it’s one of my happiest expenditures. YouTube is a miraculous, unbelievable treasure trove. Learn any language, any musical instrument, any academic subject. TV clips from the 80s that someone taped in VHS for some reason. Isaac Arthur, Veritaseum, numberphile. I’ve gotten more value from YouTube than any other single site on the internet, and it’s not close!
So yeah, take my $13.99/month
Does using Firefox allow me to play YouTube in the background or download videos to my iPhone/iPad for long journeys? No, it doesn't.
I want to use it on my Apple TV and don’t want to fiddle around with VPNs. It’s the only streaming service I pay for and I’m happily doing it. It also pays creators I’m watching which is a nice feel-good benefit.
Tell your friends and family about Napster offline. Theres nothing to gain by talking about it anymore on the open internet
Ironically iPhone helps them earn more. Most apple device owners have no choice or awareness.
I happily watch adless YouTube on an iPhone. There are definitely choices available. I agree on the awareness though.
Mobile app compatibility is presumably the biggest seller.
It is very amusing to read HN comments that complain about the "enshittification" of free platforms while simultaneously mocking those who would pay for stuff they like. YT is dollar for dollar the best digital subscription I pay for and I pay it gladly.
I don't think one should mock people who are paying for youtube. If they find it's good, then it's laudable to pay for it. But that said, I personally can't relate to that position. There just isn't any content on youtube that I find interesting enough that I would pay for it. It's a time waster for me, not something I seek out because it's a compelling way to spend my time.
Youtube has reached the terminal stage of enshittification:
• the good stuff is VHS-quality TV content that somebody pirated
• the ads, once nonexistent, are typically disreputable and now incessant
• the few 'creators' worth watching are lost in an ocean of audience-captured, brain-dead garbage "hey guys... [product placement disguised as organic content]... misinformation... remember to like and subscribe... [product placement disguised as organic content]"
• access becomes increasingly arcane due to ad-blocking measures
• one of the lowest quality comments sections - largely inorganic, rogue state-sponsored - on the internet
• increasingly just AI slop
The day I can't scrape videos via yt-dlp is last day I permit youtube domains on my network. Personally, I would prefer to eat a rotten cat carcass than pay a single cent to Youtube.
In a better world, youtube would be some kind of a protocol, not a mediocre company serving as a middleman.
i am a subscriber as firefox + ublock origin does not work on phone (on android, i think? last time i checked) and neither on smart tvs (mine is rokutv)
NewPipe and IronFox (hardened Firefox) for Android, although I suspect these need to be "sideloaded" as Google won't allow them on the Play Store. (I run Graphene so this does not apply to me.)
For the TV, I would suggest VacuumTube (a frontend to the Leanback interface) on a free/libre box running Linux.
Firefox + uBlock Origin works just fine on Android.
I'm currently using Firefox + ublock origin on Android while typing this...
SmartTube and Revanced
Firefox and ublock origin won't help you play music in the background on your iphone while using another app......tons of other situations like that. Think a bit more instead of wasting peoples time with pointless and braindead comments please. I say this as an android/linux user.
~~your iphone
It works on Android and PC.
I use Firefox and uBlock Origin but still pay for premium because I want to support the channels I watch but don't want to watch their ads.