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Ok, So far FreeTube is working well - I can subscribe to all my favorites. I will probably be using Freetube, at least until Youtube finds a way to squash it.

I use Firefox with UBlock and I don't see any ads on Youtube. You should try this.

As for a fediverse version of YouTube there's peertube, but realistically hosting video is more expensive and you would never see a collection as large as YouTube on the fediverse IMO.

My solution appears to be a bit unique, at least on the deskfop.

I have four extensions on my Librewolf browser. Ublock, NoScript, Alter, and Chameleon.

Additionally, I use newsboat rss reader which reads a list of youtube rss urls from a simple txt file. This keeps my youtube subscriptions without subbing on google's platform. Whenever I open one of these rss feeds via newsboat, Librewolf opens and uses the Alter extension to redirect to an Invidious instance. Ublock and Noscript block everything. Chameleon feeds a fake fingerprint to invidious as well. The invidious url remains in tact. I copy this url.

In a terminal on Linux, I invoke yt-dlp on this url. I include a sponsorblock flag that literally cuts out the mention of sponsors and the sponsored content. I watch it with mpv/devour, often including the captions as well.

On my GrapheneOS phone, its more simple, i just use Libretube which has sponsorblock turned on. To avoid ads otherwise I use mull browser with ublock, noscript, and a few other about:config settings. I also bypass paywalls for major news sites using ublock and a list I yoinked from somewhere on github.

Free tube is a porn site, don't listen to this person if you are at work