uBlock Origin on Chrome Is Dead: 8 Ways to Block YouTube Ads (That Still Work)

Eric Griffith, Jason Cohen

Updated Thu, July 9, 2026 at 9:14 PM UTC

a closeup of youtube controls during an ad - Credit: PixieMe / Shutterstock

Streaming ads are annoying, and you often have to pay to turn them off. They interrupt our Netflix binges, cut into Hulu dramas, and disrupt our Spotify playlists. They also support the content-creation economy on YouTube. With 2.5 billion monthly active users worldwide , YouTube brings in the big bucks without asking users to pay . That's great for creators and viewers—until the fourth consecutive advertisement runs, and you're starting to forget what you're actually watching.

For some, commercial breaks are simply the cost of doing (free) business. But for most, YouTube advertising is obtrusive and frustrating, and the platform is making it harder to get around them. And now, in Chrome versions 150 and 151, Google will officially kill support for Manifest V2 extensions , like ad blockers. Does that mean you're doomed to watch an endless slew of commercials? Not necessarily. There are still eight ways you can escape these pesky ads.

1. Wait a Few Seconds

The majority of in-stream ads that play before or during a YouTube video are short—usually 15 seconds or less—and are easily skippable. Which, honestly, is a pretty good compromise between watching and avoiding ads. Just wait five seconds until the Skip Ads button appears, click it, and move on with your day. There's just one catch: The clip no longer counts for the video maker.

If you immediately hit Skip Ads, it's no longer considered, as YouTube calls it, an "engaged-view conversation," and the creator won't receive any of the ad money they would have earned if you had watched the whole thing. To meet that requirement, you'll have to watch at least 10 seconds of the ad. To ensure they get what's owed to them, creators can make ads unavoidable. You might also encounter longer ad breaks on smart TVs .

2. Report the Ad

If you're seeing the same ad over and over and wish to be free, you can report it. During the pre-roll ad on a YouTube video, tap Tab + Enteron your keyboard to prompt the "About This Ad" box with details on why you're seeing the ad and who's behind it. Choose Stop seeing this ad,and you'll see a warning that the particular advertisement shouldn't appear again. Keep in mind, though, that this won't stop you from seeing content in the future from the same advertiser.

Click Report this ad,and you'll be redirected to a new page, where you can report the advertiser for violating YouTube's policies on trademarks, counterfeit goods, or even just showing multiple ads (which is against the company's "unfair advantage" policy). While this won't mean the end of ads, it will limit exposure to those that aren't tailored to you. Or, if you hate the customization aspect (because it requires too much tracking of your online actions), turn ad personalization to Off.

3. Pay for YouTube Premium

Individual:$15.99 per month or $159.99 per year
Lite:$8.99 per month
Student:$8.99 per month
Family (five people, plus yourself):$26.99 per month

YouTube Premium is the same as YouTube—just without ads. This is the most legal and ethical way to skip YouTube ads, as it ensures the folks who make the videos you watch still get paid. Bundled with YouTube Music Premium, it lets subscribers play ad-free content, play songs in the background, and download videos to watch later. That freedom from ads extends to YouTube mobile and smart TV apps. And it strips out commercials on shares you make to YouTube Kids.

That said, it got a price hike this year. Premium is now $15.99 per month or $159.99 per year (up from $13.99 and $139.99) after a one-month free trial. The Premium Lite tier is also now $1 more expensive at $8.99 per month. It includes ad-free viewing of non-music content, plus offline downloads and background play , but there's no YouTube Music access.

For household viewing, the Family plan covers up to five other people for $26.99 per month. Students can also get it for $8.99 per month. If the price seems too steep, a Google One Premium plan includes 25% off YouTube Premium. Verizon also offers a cheaper plan with eligible mobile and home internet plans .

There are caveats: Premium isn't available everywhere, so if you travel to an unsupported region, you may see ads when your geographic location is identified (usually via your IP address ). A VPN that spoofs your location will probably fix this. You may also see ads in embedded YouTube videos if you're on a site that blocks browser cookies . To avoid that, make sure you're signed in with the Google account that has YouTube Premium.

4. Try Manifest V3 Ad Blockers

On Chrome, Google has been at war with ad blockers for years. It first blocked users with one installed, and later phased out support for extensions that allowed for ad-blocker workarounds. This shift from extensions built with the older Manifest V2 system to Manifest V3 meant the end of the popular ad blocker uBlock Origin on Chrome. A stripped-down alternative, uBlock Origin Lite , remains in the Chrome Web Store. However, keep in mind that this version of the extension is less effective against advanced tracking, has a smaller blocklist, and doesn't offer dynamic filtering. Other options, however, such as Privacy Badger and Ghostery , are worth trying.

5. Switch Browsers

You could also switch to Firefox, which continues to support Manifest V2 extensions and uBlock Origin. It doesn't have built-in ad blocking, but it's the only major browser not based on Chromium, so its extensions are unaffected by Google. UBlock Origin, Privacy Badger, and others can be installed from the Mozilla Add-Ons store and should all work as intended.

Other alternative browsers such as Brave , Opera , Vivaldi , and now DuckDuckGo have built-in features that block ads—including YouTube ads—by default. Brave, for example, uses its Shields feature to block ads out of the box. You can adjust the controls to allow ads or block them more aggressively right from the browser window. DuckDuckGo, meanwhile, is based on uBlock Origin's filtering system.

6. Unlock Add-Free Content With a VPN

A VPN isn't just for maintaining your online security and privacy. Since it diverts your web traffic through remote servers at a pre-selected location, many people also use it to unlock content on Netflix and other services from different regions. This same trick can also be used on YouTube to remove ads. Since YouTube only shows ads in certain countries , any location outside of this list doesn't have them. By setting your location to one of these locations, you can bypass advertisements on the platform. Albania seems to be the preferred location for this trick, but Cambodia, Russia, Syria, Uzbekistan, and many others will also work.

7. Watch YouTube Clones

The above methods are best for desktop use, but it's hard to block YouTube ads in the official mobile app. If you're not too attached to brand names, though, there are a few programs that provide an approximation of the video-streaming interface. Many work on Android devices and streaming hubs, such as Amazon's Fire TV devices, since they run a variant of Android—you just need to be able to sideload apps, which has become increasingly difficult , though restrictions are easy again.

You typically won't find them in a legitimate app store like Google Play, but the upside of using one is that they strip out ads. If you install programs like SmartTubeNext , NewPipe , SkyTube , or ReVanced , keep in mind that they may not last forever. In 2022, Google threatened YouTube Vanced with legal action, forcing the project to shut down , a fate any of these other tools could face.

8. Download Your Favorites

If there are videos you return to time and again but hate being interrupted by ads, download them from YouTube to store on your machine. This does take money away from creators, but you're probably not running completely afoul of Google's terms of service—or the law, for that matter—if it's for personal use. For the full how-to, read our YouTube video download tutorial . For music lovers, there's also a way to save your favorite songs as MP3 files using a converter.

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