No. Though I think it's important to separate video serving Youtube and recommendations/algorithm YouTube. We need FOSS solutions to both and neither will be easy.
this post was submitted on 22 Mar 2025
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Inside newpipe. No feed or homepage (as long as you set it to that), just a list of the channels I've subscribed to. I just manually go through them if I'm looking for something to watch.
PipePipe is still yt but its only a subscription feed and integrates perfectly with other services like peertube
you can disable YouTube history
Maybe don't get news from social media?
It's still not as popular but it's making headway with makers.
Or if you want to stay on YouTube itself others have added clients that don't have algorithms.
https://www.youtube.com/feed/subscriptions is my Youtube bookmark. It's just who I'm subscribed to. That's it.
I just wanted to mention, because apparently only ~7% of us exist who use the Subscriptions feed, according to various Youtubers showing off their stats pages.
Its impossible for me to subscribe to a youtuber because I don't have (and don't want) a Youtube account. I understand Youtubers get more visibility with more subscriptions, but I just don't want to be part of the algorithm. I can close my private browser, and any algorithm infection is wiped clean from my view.
You can download newpipe and subscribe there. It makes a local subscription, no account needed. Also no ads.
because I don't have (and don't want) a Youtube account.
Every channel has an RSS feed. I use that instead.
Depending on your setup, YouTube will still fingerprint your browser and track your behavior, as is common practice with ad networks.
Your cookies and data might be cleared but as long as yt has any way to generate a unique identifier out of your browser preferences, it will identify you and start looking at your behavior / figuring out an algorithm.
Just fyi.
I don't think this is true. Every time i reset the app on my tv, i see zero recommends that would fit my browsing history. Also I've tested it on 3 browsers (including default Chrome and edge) after clearing everything and it is default. Nothing i see recommended fits my history. So yea, no, this is not true. I'm sure they try to fingerprint but it doesn't seem to work well or it's just not sophisticated enough to track it through a browser/app clear. I'm not even using a VPN when i tested this.
Sure, it can start building it again just with what I search to watch. Then I get to close the browser again and wipe it clean again. I know that fingerprinting exists, but I'm not seeing its behavior for video suggestions. In fact, I do see tracking by IP because I'll get suggested things I know my wife is looking at (and we're coming from the same IP). Even those are few and far between though.
I would strongly recommend using a VPN and changing servers regularly in that case.
That's fine, I'm not tempted by the sidebars to partake in the algo at all because I've removed them with extensions. Without an account, yeah then I'd be using NewPipe and whatever desktop equivalents are surely out there.
Wait, what do the other 93% do?
Homepage. That's where those complaints that people never see a youtuber's videos "anymore" comes from.
Yes!
If you have a Linux OS on a PC then Freetube is a terrific desktop app.
You can import your subscriptions from YT there.
If it's only ads that you hate then Revanced mobile app is the way. Unless you are on iPhone - then it won't work. It's Android only.
Piped.video is an option directly in the browser. Or Invidious.
On mobile (android) I've seen NewPipe as an option
I have seen others say that youtube channels have their own RSS feeds. Could plug each YouTube channel you want to follow into an RSS app of your choice. Not ideal, but should avoid algorithms
Algo? I'm assuming algorithm? I rarely if ever use that. Just find creators you enjoy and subscribe to them, I have a giant list of them I watch and never have to deal with YouTube algorithms at all.
I added my subs to an RSS feed but honestly I really like the algorithm...
Rumble if you are racist white trash....
what if you're just a trash can?