Over the last year, YouTube has undergone significant changes, affecting how users experience the platform. Since advertising revenue is crucial for YouTube, the company has actively targeted those bypassing its systems.
By late 2023, YouTube began taking strong measures against ad blockers. Currently, it is focusing on eliminating third-party apps that violate its policies.
YouTube’s support page recently revealed plans to target apps that break its rules, especially those that block ads. This isn’t the first instance of YouTube addressing such apps; for example, Vanced was shut down in 2022.
If you’re unsure if your app will be impacted, you might soon notice by simply trying to watch videos. You could experience buffering problems or see an error message saying, “The following content is not available on this app.”
YouTube is becoming stricter in securing its advertising income. While developers may continue to innovate and discover new ways around the rules, currently, apps that don’t comply with the guidelines could face problems or might need to switch to the official YouTube app.
The official app offers a lot of features and a good user experience. However, if you want to avoid ads, you will need to subscribe to YouTube Premium, which requires a monthly payment.
When you subscribe to YouTube Premium, you won’t see any ads in the app or on the videos you watch. You also get the ability to play videos in the background and download them for offline viewing.
Additionally, you’ll have access to YouTube Music, which offers over 100 million songs without commercials. However, these benefits are not free. The subscription fee is $13.99 per month in the US.
You receive many benefits, and for some, it provides good value. If you’re uncertain, you can also start with a trial. Share in the comments if this impacts you and if you plan to switch to YouTube Premium.
What we think?
I think YouTube will keep getting stricter to protect its ads money. Many people using third-party apps to avoid ads might have to stop using them or face problems.
YouTube wants everyone to use the official app and might push more to get people to pay for YouTube Premium. This could upset some users, but it might also make more people choose to pay to avoid ads.
