6 hacks to regain your YouTube experience (and your reason)

YouTube is an ever -evolving animal. Between the infinite UI experiments, the increase of shorts and the ever-growing ad invasion, it is more difficult than ever to enjoy the platform that we used to be in the good old days. But even though I finally cut and got Youtube premium – Because when you can’t defeat the system, sometimes, you have to join the system – all hope is not lost. There are still many ways I can take back control of my YouTube experience, and so can you. From browser adjustments, extensions, setting changes and filters that can bring back a cleaner, calmer and more customized experience, here are six YouTube hacks you need to try today:

If you are tired of youtubes non-sub-sub-pressure to get you hooked on shorts, you’re not alone. While bite size, snackable content is great when trying to avoid a deep dive into YouTube, Shorts take over overwhelming platform. Open the YouTube home page, you will find only three correct video suggestions (one of which is inevitable an ad), followed by an aggressive wall of shorts. No thanks!

If you’re on Google Chrome, grab Remove YouTube Shorts Extension. It is plug-and-play and simple, and it dries shorts not only from your website, but also from search results. In fact, it removes the completely short category from the YouTube’s left panel. You can even use it on the Kiwi browser for mobile, if that’s your thing.

The people who do this extension also have an Android -app called Blocks rollthat removes Shorts from your YouTube app at Android. But fair warning: The app asks for more permits than I personally am comfortable with handing over, so use it with care if you need to.

If you are a firefox user, you can check out the excellent Control panel for YouTube. It not only deals with shorts, but also tackles YouTube’s second user interface, which brings me to my next point.

For reasons only known for YouTube, the website now shows only three videos per row on any screen size. On a 13-inch laptop, it is, to say the least, annoying. On a 27-inch screen? It is simply ridiculous. The good news is that you can change this too.

If you use Firefox or brave (browsers still supporting Ublock Origin with Manifest V2), Open the Ublock origin settings and paste this line into the “My Filters” section:

Note that this hack will not work with Ublock origin in Google Chrome because it no longer supports adding custom filters. That said, in other browsers, the trick acts as a magic, and you can change the number in the mature above from five to everything else you want, depending on the number of rows you want to see on YouTube.

If you don’t want to mess with Ublock filters to do this, you can also use YouTube Row Fixer Extension In Chrome Or the aforementioned YouTube control panel on Firefox to fix your video per row problem. Some of these extensions also give you extra controls such as hiding sponsored and live videos, customizing thumbnails and skipping ads automatically, so remember to check out these additional features as well.

If you are tired of Youtube’s messy appearance and endless shorts, you can also check the YouTube Redux extension to take things back to how they used to be. The Chrome extension brings back the classic, Retro YouTube setup you know and love, complete with the old school video player size, simpler website grid and none of the extra fluffs. Apart from the known interface, you will also be stored from auto -playing channel trailers and distracting sidebar. So if you missed the way YouTube used to feel, Redux will be regained that experience in just a few clicks. The best part if you can customize it further to fit your style.

Leaving the YouTube app means you just get a floating player that stubbornly follows you around your phone like a clingy ex. It is YouTube’s image-in-image mode at work, and although it is useful, it can be annoying if you just want the video to stop when you leave the app.

Fortunately, deactivation of YouTubes image-in-image feature does not require help from third-party tools. To disable it, only

• Tap your profileavatar in the YouTube app
• Go to Settings> Playback
• Switch of photo-in-image

If you have a device that naturally supports system-wide automatic beeps, such as iPhones, you also need to disable that setting to get rid of YouTubes image-in-image mode.

Hack #5: Remove podcasts, music, mixtures and more from YouTube Ui

I stumbled upon several useful Ublock Origin filters on Reddit, which I used to maximize the YouTube user interface. These filters must be used with the same method I described in Hack #2. They will help you remove everything from podcast playlists to music playlists, mixtures, livestreams and more.

• Removes podcast playlists from home:

You can customize your YouTube user interface by selecting all (or all) of these filters and pasting them into the Ublock origin or choosing more from This very useful filter list That a Redditor has shared.

Falling down the YouTube cannin hole is inevitable sometimes. I’m sure there are days you’ve found you streaming for hours. But YouTube gives you a simple way out of this bad habit. To check your binge-sighting urge on the YouTube mobile app, you can pause a break reminders that appear with the selected time intervals and break the video, reminding you how long you have been watching. To put a break reminders:

• Tap your profile picture
• Tap Settings
• Tap General
• Next to remind me to take a break, press the switch to turn reminders on
• Set the reminder frequency and press OK.

You can also enter a reminder of bedtime by going to Profile Image> Settings> General> Remind me when there is a bedtime and choose a start and end time.

We hope you think these YouTube sharks were useful. If you have any tips or tricks of yourself, you can drop them in the comments and share the wisdom with us and co -readers.