Did YouTube finally kill adblocking apps like SmartTube? - Tons of unusual 403 / forbidden errors

[Sexy Senior Citizen]

"Your browser has detected you have not purchased the product being advertised. Please purchase the advertised product to continue."

 

[The_Red_Man]

"Your browser has detected you have not purchased the product being advertised. Please purchase the advertised product to continue."

On Patrol: Live is the first time I've actually seen a commercial asking you to consume the products being advertised and somehow that makes me seethe more than the regular ads themselves.

Also yeah, smarttube is kill for now. Can confirm I'm able to use a chromium browser on Android with uBlock origin and SponsorBlock just fine, however YT doesn't allow "mobile browsers" to watch the "Free With Ads" movies. Haven't tried switching to desktop mode, not sure if that's a work around.

 

[trash cat]

If I can't watch without ads, I will just stop using YouTube for any of my own entertainment. Sadly, I still have to touch it to process/archive lolcow content. Is yt-dlp affected by this?

yt-dlp (recent version) was not affected when I checked last night. There is some sporadic mention of 403 errors on the yt-dlp GitHub but not like it is with the apps

INVIDIOUS is unaffected

RVX still works, hopefully not just a "for now" situation.

The android app I use to block adds seems to still work, as does whatever adblocking thing I use for jewtube on PC Adblock for Youtube still works.

Revanced is still working.

From the little bit of investigation I've done, this seems to something in the YouTube API meant to break the third-party apps.

Browser extensions not affected as of today.

For those of you that have working YouTube apps, did you try to play a video? What version are you using, what platform, and is it logged into an account? (You can still see recommendations and channels in the broken apps.) Make sure to try to play a video... that's where it fails.

I've experienced no issues with ublock on firefox.
Brave also seemingly uneffected.
My phone just has revanced and that's working fine too.

Is it just "smart" TVs and their apps effected?

Brave has been working this whole time.

I don't think it affects browser extensions. So far anyway. Fingers crossed.

So who is affected?

• "Smart" TVs and their adblocking YouTube apps (SmartTube)
• Phones and their adblocking YouTube apps (NewPipe)
• Desktop computers (Windows, Linux, Mac) and their privacy focused adblocking YouTube apps (FreeTube)

Not affected so far

• Browser-based adblocking (uBlock, etc)
• Maybe Revanced, RVX, and Invidious according to users in this thread

Newpipe still works for me, I hope it stays that way.

Did you try clicking play on a video? Are you logged into an account or not? What platform are you using it on?

I could not get NewPipe to work. Not "working" is defined as being unable hit play on a video. You can surf around just fine. Not logged into an account.

• NewPipe 0.25.2 Android - broken
• NewPipe 0.27.0 Android - broken

If there's no workaround then I'm gonna make an extension that blocks the ad with a black square and kills the volume until its over so I don't have to watch the fucking ad.

Luckily you can algorithmically detect when there's an advertisement because SUDDENLY SOMETHING IS YELLING AT YOU

 

[Raisincrest]

@trash cat

1. Yes, I'm still able to play videos amd livestreams. I currently have Lofi Girl playing while I'm typing this.

2. YouTube version is 19.09.37, and the Revanced patch is 4.10.0

3. I'm on an Android 13 phone.

 

[LifeAlert]

SmartTube released another update which fixes the 403 error but only up to "full HD" resolution (1080p). Just tested and can confirm everything from 144p to 1080p60 works fine. Resolutions above that are currently disabled.
https://github.com/yuliskov/SmartTube/releases/tag/22.38s

 

[Null]

If you give money to Youtube for premium you're a scab and people should kick the shit out of you.

 

[Prophetic Spirit]

Where's the option in the poll to migrate into Firefox?
I done it in January and i don't have problems with ublock origin.

 

[WelperHelper99]

Brave has been working this whole time.

Same. Brave has been based throughout all this. We'll see if it holds, but it is rn.

 

[Maude Snew]

Anybody else remember when Google's motto was "don't be evil"? Yeah, how times have changed.

 

[Maldavius Figtree]

To be fair, is there even any proof they’re trying to kill Adblockers? They might’ve just made changes to their internal api for a million different reasons and it would also break all third party apps as a side effect, since they use undocumented APIs that were never meant to support third party apps.

 

[Gog & Magog]

If YouTube finally kills the third-party adblocking applications, will you stop watching or will you be a fucking scab and pay for YouTube premium?

Neither. I shall continue to watch while adblocking.

 

[CHARizard]

Just a heads up if anyone is having issues downloading, Downie still works for me fine. Its Mac OS only to my knowledge and a paid product but its never failed with youtube.

 

[Catch The Rainbow]

Revanced is working fine with the occasional sponsor block problem.

 

[Silver Higgs]

For those of you that have working YouTube apps, did you try to play a video?

I have revanced opened rn and its working just fine, it did yesterday and it did 6 hours ago.
-Version 19.09.37.
-Logged with microG.
-The video is still playing as I type this.

 

[Oliver Onions]

I watch a lot of YouTube on my Playstation (feel free to bully me), and I recently discovered you can instantly skip any add by pressing X to bring up the timeline and clicking the little i and saying the ad is inappropriate (might have the same effect if you click the other options too, never tried).

I'd obviously prefer to have a proper AdBlock solution but worst case scenario I will still never watch a YouTube ad.

 

[Angry Alt Right Nerd]

Well if the technological solution doesn't work they can always make the government force you to stop using adblockers, Japan is probably salivating at this idea.

 

[Easterling]

Ublock chad here, its still working fine

 

[The Cunting Death]

Alphabet (or google or whatever) can kiss by ass before I even think about paying for their services. Fuck em.

Well if the technological solution doesn't work they can always make the government force you to stop using adblockers

>implying that will stop me either

 

[Lightsaber Dildo]

It must just be third-party apps that use Youtube APIs since my experience is the same as the other posters--uBlock Origin, ReVanced, and Brave all still work for me.

The cat and mouse game shall continue.

 

[Lord of the Large Pants]

Well if the technological solution doesn't work they can always make the government force you to stop using adblockers, Japan is probably salivating at this idea.

Can't wait for the first prosecution for not watching your federally mandated 2 hours of daily ads.