Ads are pretty annoying when you just want to look up something really quick on YouTube. Not as if they aren’t annoying all the time, but when you are looking up instructions on CPR, you definitely don’t need a long advertisement on hamburgers.
I completely understand that free stuff is never free. Ads keep a lot of “free” services afloat and there are some that I do pay money to, because I find them essential and the fees are not exorbitant. Spotify and Dropbox comes into mind especially since both of them have a family plan.
Remember, if you want to support something, directly contributing is always a better choice than watching or clicking related ads.
I will probably jump the gun with YouTube Premium too as if you want to skip ads on YouTube, this IS the best solution after all. The problem is that all these services added together are just too big of a drain on my wallet.
Skipping YouTube ads on a desktop browser
On my desktop computer, I’m using the Adblock for Youtube™ Chrome extension, which you can download for both Chrome and Firefox.
It works pretty well, nowadays I’m only noticing half a second pauses in the videos where the ads are supposed to be.
You can use it anywhere you can run Chrome or Firefox plugins (also with compatible browsers) like Windows, Linux, macOS, or Chrome OS.
Skipping ads on Android
On Android, the solution I found is a compromise. It doesn’t completely skip ads merely makes them way less annoying by muting them and skipping them after 5 seconds. I’m using the Skip Ads Pro app which also has a free version available. I’m using it so long, that I can’t even remember why I went pro.
If you have a better solution for Android or a solution for iOS, please post it in the comments 🙂
Other handy tools to enhance your experience
uBlock Origin is a general ad blocker for a more streamlined web experience. Someone told me that it can even skip ads on the browser version of Spotify. Never tested it as I have an active subscription.
YouTube NonStop is great when you are listening to long videos on YouTube as background noise while working or studying. It prevents the popup that pauses the video to ask if you are still there.
Picture-in-Picture Extension (by Google) allows yout to watch videos in an always-on-top floating window outside the browser. Absolutely great when you are multitasking.
Keep Awake is an extension that prevents your laptop to go to sleep when you are using it without touching the trackpad or keyboard for a long time. Of course, you can change the system settings too, but it is way easier to just click on the extension icon in the browser. It works on any device that can run the Chrome browser and its plugins, so if you have such a tablet it is a gem. I’m using it while cooking to keep my Chrome OS laptop awake so it doesn’t go to sleep with my recipes on screen.