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2020-11-05-youtube.md
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2020-11-05-youtube.md
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---
tags: [projects,iphone,ipadonly,shortcuts]
cover: "youtube.jpg"
---
# Psst… don’t tell YouTube that I created a page to watch videos without being tracked 🤫
On [my iPad](/ipadonly) not only I can [download YouTube videos](/youtube-dl/) now, I also created a [special page](/yt/) to be able to watch YouTube videos without being tracked. Here’s why I did it and why I hope YouTube/Google will not find out about it:
<!--More-->
## We're tracked too much! Let's start using "Private Mode"
On both my iPad and iPhone, by default I'm opening most of links in a "private mode" in the Safari browser. This way I'm not tracked by third-party trackers and don't care much about GDPR consents. I accept everything, check out the page content and later close the browser tab and all the cookies are being deleted.
This is how I also started watching YouTube videos. I don't have a YouTube app on my iOS devices. I watched the videos in a private tab directly on YouTube.com each time and life was good.
Until YouTube decided to "be evil". Just look:
They started forcing me to "sign in" with a pop-up, even though the sign-in button is right there in the corner! Now each time I want to watch a video in a new private tab, I have to dismiss this pop-up.
That's not all! Right after I get **yet another pop-up** to accept their tracking. Only then I get to watch the video, and even then sometimes for some reason the video doesn't load correctly so I have to refresh the page.
This was annoying so as a geek I decided to do something about it. It's legal and the best part is that you can use it, too!
## Launching: [Michael.team/yt](/yt)
I [created a page](/yt/) where I can paste any YouTube link and thanks to some [JavaScript goodness](https://jsfiddle.net/MichaelTeam/a68rnjyt/) it automatically embeds the video on this page and I can instantly watch it and:
* I'm not being tracked (I use *youtube-nocookie.com*)
* I don't get any popups
* I can tap/click to watch video full-screen on both the iPhone and the iPad
* When full-screen, I can change to watch the video picture-in-picture on iOS
* I don't see an ad before the video
* and I think I don't get as many ads as YouTube isn't profiling me
Lots of benefits, and the only downside is that a small portion of videos won't work (the ones that don't allow embedding on 3rd party pages like mine). But that's hardly a problem.
[Feel free to check it out for yourself!](/yt/)
Or check out [how Nozbe Teams video promo looks like embedded there](https://michael.team/yt/?yt=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6STLYtnQnfU).
## Siri Shortcut to "Share a video"
I've also created a handy [Siri Shortcut][shortcut] that helps me share any YouTube link directly to this page!
**[Get the Siri Shortcut for iOS][s]**
## Enjoy... and don't tell YouTube!
Feel free to use my new special page together with the Shortcut. **Share it with your friends but don't tell YouTube** I've created this to avoid being tracked by them!
**[Go to Michael.team/yt and enjoy!](/yt/)**
[s]: https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/56ebe64991fc441ea1bf0d4b52eaa2dd
[shortcut]: https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/1b20e7375c9f4a17b418f75736da46a1
[shortcutx]: https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/a45cec1e83944253b6c0bd3cb2915bc4
[n]: https://michael.gratis/nozbe