The best ways to block YouTube Ads on Android

I mean, it's not necessarily wrong. That is one way to block YouTube ads on Android.
It's just that if you're savvy enough, you can also do it for free
- That's not blocking ads.
  While language is an ever shifting thing, there's no reasonable way to claim that paying for something to not be shown to you is the same as preventing that thing from being shown to you.
  The key word is blocking, which would be a defensive response to invading ads rather than appeasing the invading ads with a tithe.
- Firefox + Ublock Origin + Ghostery.
  Not even sure if Ghostery is necessary.
  Yes, there are a slew of NewPipe derivatives and what not, but this is not really that complicated.
  
  Ghostery got bought, and is now selling your data, while tracker blocking has become a default on Firefox and ublock.
  Just Firefox and Ublock are all you're gonna need, for a long time

ReVanced.

Greyjay works very well and if you disable native YouTube app greyjay actually can be the default app to open YouTube links with and doesn't need root.
- Does it have sponsorblock?
  
  Yes! You have to enable it and they try to guilt you into not using it but you can use it.

I just discovered this shocking trick, the best and fastest way to pirate a game is just bought it. 🤯

the non sequitur in the screenshot aside, i personally am satisfied with their premium subscription.
inclusion of family sharing and youtube music is just the icing on the cake. for example, we pay for this instead of spotify's family plan. overall, it hasn't been a decision that i've regretted.
all that said, i get the allure of not wanting to be held hostage by ad-bombardiers. it should not be a pay or get plastered with ads scheme. that decision has played out quite badly.

I pay for a VPN that all my phone's internet traffic routes through. Then I use Firefox mobile. I have zero ads when I'm watching YouTube through Firefox mobile.

I pay to join small creators' channels to support them as directly as possible, and Google takes a cut from that. If they're still going to try to force ads even on channels I directly pay for I have no issue blocking ads altogether. I also have an extension to disable shorts and recommendations, I just go there, watch specifically what I want to watch and leave.

I want Google to store an exabyte of storage, and send me videos at speeds that allow me to watch them at 4K @60hz for free tho?
- They chose to store an exabyte of storage without a business model people find acceptable.
  They also decided they didn't care about moderation and became a cesspit of far-right and conspiracy trash.
  They can fuck off.
  
  I dunno. I pay for premium. The price feels justified given how much I use YouTube pretty much every day.
  But if others feel differently, that's fine.
  The far right shit is bad, there's a lot bad in general, but I still get a lot of value from lefty politics to atheism content to video game essays to music videos.
  
  My bigger complaint is that there isn't another choice. It is Google's choice to spend that much money, and it should be the consumer's choice to use the better product if they make a bad experience with ads... Antitrust Google to fuck so competition can make sure there's a better choice
- Those services aren’t free, I get that, and I wouldn’t mind paying a bit. Alas, paying will result in less ads, not none; plus there might be no visible ads but hoo boy, you’ll still get tracked like the piece of click cattle that you are. It is also still funky expensive, and even then: Google is in full enshittification mode, expect a new, expensive Premium subscription soon - and yours to be riddled with ads again, as it is the basic variant.
- It's not our fault silicon valley decided to run with the "every service is free and we'll figure the rest out later" model. Unbeknownst to them I can configure my computer to not accept data transmitted from ad domains.
  
  In their defense, they could loan money for free for 30 years. Needing to be profitable is a recent requirement