YouTube is a little bit of a large number proper now. It’s nowhere close to as unhealthy as Instagram or TikTok on this entrance, nevertheless it’s nonetheless straightforward to lose hours scrolling via YouTube movies and Shorts in your advice feed. The algorithm will get you in some unspecified time in the future, irrespective of how arduous you strive. However there’s an alternate. A saner solution to watch YouTube movies that you just truly actually do need to watch, with out getting sucked into the YouTube black gap of really helpful content material.
The reply you have been on the lookout for is a third-party Watch Later app like Play. Play isn’t a fully-featured YouTube consumer (Google made certain to nerf all of these), however that’s truly factor. You employ the app to search out and type movies you truly need to watch, with out getting bothered by the algorithm. No feedback, no feed, and sure, there’s an choice to disable Shorts as effectively.
Collect all of your YouTube movies utilizing the Play app
The Play app may help you construct your personal watch later playlist that’s separate from YouTube itself. There’s no YouTube login right here. You’re free to avoid wasting movies with a number of tags or folders. The purpose is to construct a queue of fascinating YouTube movies you could watch at your leisure, and with intention.
The Play app is supported on Mac, iPhone, and iPad. And there’s an Apple TV app for viewing all of your saved movies as effectively. The Play app comes with a built-in extension so you may add any YouTube video to the app simply. It’s also possible to simply paste in a video’s hyperlink so as to add the video to the Play app.
Credit score: Khamosh Pathak
When including a video to Play, you can even tag it so all of your Taskmaster binge classes keep organized (as they need to).
Saved movies will present up within the New folder. Faucet on a video to open the detailed view, the place you may see the outline, transcription, and all different particulars. There’s an choice to begin video playback, too, so that you need not depend on the YouTube app to look at your saved content material.
And sure, you may make movies full-screen as effectively. When you have YouTube Premium, you can even join your account to Play to eliminate advertisements and allow picture-in-picture, below Settings > Video Participant > Join YouTube Account.
And there it’s. A less complicated, calmer YouTube expertise, devoid of Shorts and the algorithmic feed.
What do you assume up to now?
Play Premium Lets You Subscribe within the App
The bottom Play app is simply $3, and may be a good way to search out YouTube movies on-line, after which to avoid wasting them to look at later (maybe on the Apple TV). However the Play Premium subscription ($20/yr) goes a step additional, letting you subscribe to your favourite channels proper within the app.
Credit score: Khamosh Pathak
There’s a devoted Channels Inbox the place you may undergo all the brand new movies out of your subscribed channels. You possibly can subscribe to channels by looking for them, or by importing your total subscription feed utilizing Google Takeout. There’s additionally an choice to routinely add all movies from a channel to your Later listing, though that may be a bit excessive for many channels on the market—I would not suggest it. Play Premium customers can even allow an choice to disable Shorts within the Channels Inbox.
Alternatively, you can even take a look at Unwatched for YouTube, which is a free and open supply YouTube watch later app. The app is far less complicated, however the interface is sort of chaotic. It’s not as polished or seamless because the Play app. Nonetheless, Unwatched additionally allows you to subscribe to YouTube feeds, and allows you to construct your personal queue of movies to eat exterior of the YouTube app, all without charge. And if you happen to’re on Android, take a look at the NewPipe app as a substitute.
Replace 08/08/2025 at 11:02 am: A earlier model of this text asserted that Play may disable advertisements and not using a YouTube Premium subscription. This has been corrected.
