YouTube Is Good Again! And All It Took Was a Brave Little Browser
By The Open Source Outlaw
Well, folks, sometimes you stumble across something on the internet that makes you stop what you’re doing, lean back in your chair, and say, “OH MY GOODNESS!” This morning was one of those moments. And believe it or not, it involved YouTube.
Now, I’ve been using YouTube for years. I love YouTube. There is an incredible amount of useful information available, especially if you’re into computers, Linux, old technology, and figuring out how to make something work that somebody else has already thrown away. But lately, YouTube has been getting on my nerves. And I mean REALLY getting on my nerves.
Yesterday, I opened YouTube and looked at my home screen. Want to know how many video suggestions I had? TWO. That’s right. TWO! Here I am with a nice computer monitor, plenty of screen space, and YouTube decides I need two videos and a whole bunch of other nonsense.
Shorts. Games. Playables. More Shorts. Things I didn’t ask for, things I didn’t want, and things that had absolutely nothing to do with why I opened YouTube in the first place.
I don’t want to play games on YouTube. I don’t want to scroll through a thousand fifteen-second videos. I want to WATCH VIDEOS! You know, the thing YouTube was originally created to do?
Apparently, that’s asking too much.
Enter Brave
I’ve known about the Brave browser for a while. It’s a privacy-focused browser built on Chromium, which means it works with most of the same websites and extensions as Google Chrome. But Brave has something I really appreciate: built-in tools for blocking advertisements, trackers, and other things that clutter up the internet.
And here’s something else I like. Brave is free, and its browser source code is open source.
That’s already enough to get the Outlaw’s attention.
But this morning I came across an article from How-To Geek about using Brave’s built-in filters to clean up YouTube. The author explained how these filters could remove some of the annoying features that have slowly taken over the platform.
I thought, well, let’s give this a try.
Now, the article’s directions for finding the settings didn’t match what I was seeing. Imagine that! Instructions on the internet that don’t quite match the software!
Steve would have thrown his hands up and declared the whole thing impossible.
Not the Outlaw.
I started digging through Brave’s settings, and sure enough, there they were.
And folks, what happened next was BEAUTIFUL.
YouTube, Is That Really You?
I enabled the filters I wanted, went back to YouTube, and refreshed the page.
OH. MY. GOODNESS.
There it was. A screen FULL of videos!
Not two videos surrounded by junk. Not a bunch of Shorts begging for my attention. Not a collection of games I never wanted to play.
VIDEOS!
An honest-to-goodness screen full of videos!
I almost wanted to stand up and salute.
It reminded me of what YouTube used to be. You opened the website, looked through the available videos, found something interesting, and watched it. What a concept!
And the best part? I didn’t have to install some questionable browser extension, download a modified YouTube application, or write a bunch of complicated code.
I just changed a few settings in Brave.
BOOM!
Here’s How You Can Do It
If you’re using Brave on a desktop computer, open the browser and go to Settings. From there, select Shields, then Content filtering.
Or, if you want to skip the treasure hunt, type this directly into Brave’s address bar:
brave://settings/shields/filters
That takes you straight to the content filtering settings.
You’ll find a collection of filter lists that Brave can use to change what appears on websites. Look for the YouTube-related filters.
Depending on your version of Brave, you may see options for blocking YouTube Shorts, Playables, members-only videos, distracting elements, and other unwanted features.
Turn on the filters that interest you.
Personally, I wanted Shorts gone. I wanted games gone. And I wanted my screen space back.
One important suggestion: Don’t automatically enable every filter you see.
Some filters remove video recommendations or thumbnails, and that’s not what I wanted. I actually WANT video recommendations. I just want them to be VIDEOS!
Once you’ve selected your filters, refresh YouTube. You may need to restart Brave before every change takes effect.
If you’re using Brave on Android, some of these options may also appear under Settings and Media. The exact location can vary depending on the device and browser version.
And there you have it. A much cleaner YouTube experience without having to become a computer programmer.
But Wait, What About the Ads?
Here’s where Brave gets even more interesting.
Brave includes its own advertisement and tracker blocking through a feature called Shields. You can adjust how aggressively it blocks unwanted content, and many people use it to reduce or eliminate advertisements while browsing YouTube.
Now, I want to be clear about something. YouTube changes things constantly, and no advertisement blocker is guaranteed to work forever. Some features can break, and occasionally you may have to update your filters or change a setting.
Also, blocking advertisements doesn’t give you every feature of YouTube Premium. There are differences, particularly when it comes to downloads, YouTube Music, and other subscription benefits.
But for someone who simply wants to sit down at a computer and watch videos without all the clutter?
This is pretty darn impressive.
The Bigger Picture
Now, here’s why I think this is worth writing about.
This isn’t really just about YouTube.
It’s about control.
Somewhere along the way, we’ve gotten used to software companies deciding how we’re supposed to use our computers. They decide what appears on our screens, what features we should see, and what they think will keep us clicking.
And most of us just accept it.
We complain about the advertisements. We complain about the clutter. We complain about how our favorite websites aren’t what they used to be.
Then we keep using them exactly the same way.
But what if we didn’t have to?
What if we could take back a little control?
That’s what I love about open-source software and the tools that surround it. They remind us that there are alternatives. We don’t always have to accept the experience somebody in a corporate office has designed for us.
Sometimes there’s another way.
Sometimes there’s a setting hidden in a menu.
Sometimes there’s a completely different piece of software that does the job better.
And sometimes all it takes is a Brave little browser.
Poor Steve
I can just picture Steve sitting at his desk right now.
“But Outlaw, YouTube has invested millions of dollars into optimizing the user experience through personalized content delivery and engagement metrics!”
Steve, I don’t care.
I WANT TO WATCH VIDEOS!
“But the algorithm—”
STEVE!
TWO VIDEOS!
I HAD TWO VIDEOS ON MY SCREEN!
Now I’ve got a screen full of them.
You do the math.
The Outlaw’s Final Word
I didn’t stop using YouTube. I didn’t need to replace it with another service. I didn’t have to spend a dime.
I simply found a way to make it work better for ME.
And that’s something I’ve been preaching for a long time.
Your computer belongs to you. Your browser belongs to you. And you ought to have some say in how you use them.
So if you’re tired of YouTube looking more like an amusement park than a video website, give Brave a try. Spend a few minutes exploring its content filters. You might be surprised at how much better things can be.
Yesterday, YouTube gave me two video suggestions.
Today, I’ve got a screen full.
And somewhere, Steve is still trying to figure out why anybody would want to change the default settings.
Hey Steve, watch this!
YOU BET YOUR SWEET GRUB!
The Open Source Outlaw
Want to try it yourself?
Download Brave from its official website: brave.com
For the original inspiration, check out the How-To Geek article, I Stopped Paying for YouTube Premium After Discovering Brave’s Secret Filters.
Remember, browser features and filter lists can change, so your results may vary. But that’s the beauty of having choices. Experiment until you find what works for you.
Don’t Be a Steve.