How to Watch YouTube Videos Without Ads on Android, Even Without Vanced
YouTube Vanced was a popular modified version of the YouTube app that gave us access to features not available in the free version of the YouTube app (not to mention a few fun extras like themes and swipe controls). However, it was mostly popular because it had an ad blocker, offline downloads, picture-in-picture, and background playback—things that typically cost $9.99 a month. It was quite popular in the Android community, but, alas, it no longer exists .
But just because Google asked Vanced to cease operations doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy YouTube without background-playing ads. There are many other options.
(Note: if you installed Vanced right now, it will continue to work for the foreseeable future.)
First, a case for YouTube Premium
We’ll get to the “real” Vanced alternatives below, but before that, let’s take a look at YouTube Premium. Yes, it costs $11.99 per month but it removes ads on all your devices. Your TV, PC, Android smartphone, everywhere. And it gives you access to features like background playback and picture-in-picture.
If you can afford premium, you are supporting content creators. And, if you pay for the $14.99/month family plan, you can split the bill with up to five other users.
Best Alternatives to YouTube Vanced
But if you can’t (or don’t want to) pay for YouTube Premium, you can still use modified YouTube apps and third-party clients that provide a similar experience to YouTube Vanced.
NewPipe
NewPipe is an unmodified version of the YouTube app, unlike Vanced. It is a separate free and open source player for YouTube. It’s lightweight yet offers the features you need most: no ads, background playback and picture-in-picture. NewPipe is an app that I have personally used for the last couple of years.
Like Vanced, NewPipe is not available on the Play Store. But you can directly download the APK installer from their website, or search for the app in the F-Droid app store (an alternative to the Google Play Store that hosts free and open source apps).
SkyTube
This is another free and open source third party YouTube app just like NewPipe. It also offers the basic features you’ll need, including no ads and payback in the background.
The only real downside is that this is a view-only app. You can’t sign into your YouTube account, so there’s no sync feature. The app has its own channel subscription and bookmarking feature.
uBlock Origin add-on for Firefox
One clear reason to use Firefox instead of Google Chrome on Android is the huge gallery of free add-ons. And they are very useful here. If you install the uBlock Origin add-on, you will get ad-free access to YouTube in the browser. Go to Menu > Add- ons > and enable uBlock Origin .
Back side? There are no features like offline download.
Brave Browser
Vanced themselves recommend using the Brave browser to watch ad-free YouTube videos on Android. The app comes with an ad-blocking feature by default and if you’ve enabled Shields Up for the YouTube site, you should be fine.
Use a VPN with ad blocking
In addition, you can use an ad-free VPN on your Android smartphone. This will prevent ads from loading on your devices and also protect you from online tracking. Vanced suggests you try Adguard , but you can use any ad-blocking VPN for this purpose.