How to block YouTube ads for free with the new DuckDuckGo feature

Imagine you’re watching a YouTube video, completely immersed in what’s happening, and suddenly an ad interrupts you. It’s always annoying and I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels this way. I prefer to install a ad blocker in a few minutes you pay youtube premium just to avoid ads.

If you’re tired of YouTube constantly bugging you about ad blockers, here’s how you can make it work on your device too.

Before I tell you more about what it was like to actually use this, let’s first get it set up.

If you’re using a Mac, Windows PC, or iPhone, you’re in luck. YouTube ad blocking is already enabled by default in the latest version of the DuckDuckGo Browserso it is not necessary to configure anything. Just make sure your browser app is updated, open YouTube, and start watching your videos as you normally would.

However, Android users have an extra step. pathopathoir says YouTube ad blocking will be enabled by default on Android “soon,” but until then, you’ll need to turn it on manually. Update the app to the latest version and then follow these steps:

1. Open the DuckDuckGo app on your Android phone.
2. Open a new tab and tap the three line menu (hamburger icon) in the upper right corner.
3. Tap Settings.
4. Scroll down to Other Settings and select YouTube Ad Blocking.
5. Turn on the Block Advertisements on youtube lever.

That’s all. Once you have enabled the setting, open YouTube in the DuckDuckGo browser and enjoy your videos without the usual stream of ads getting in your way.

I followed these steps in my Google Pixel 10aand the entire setup took just a minute. The funny thing was, I was skeptical. I had tried enough solutions over the years to know that many of them stop working sooner rather than later, so while I was hopeful, it didn’t live up to my expectations.

Obviously I had to try it for myself. The first thing I did was play an hour-long episode of one of my favorite YouTube shows. I just pressed play and watched. There was not a single announcement from start to finish. Honestly, it felt a little strange because I had gotten so used to YouTube interrupting videos that I kept waiting for an ad to appear. He never did.

So I moved on. I watched music videos, podcasts, long documentaries, cooking videos, and pretty much anything else I’d normally have open on YouTube, and everything ran smoothly. Although DuckDuckGo warns that you may notice some extra buffering, I didn’t experience any during my testing.

The experience was even easier on my iPhone, MacBook, and Windows PC. Since YouTube ad blocking is already enabled by default there, all I had to do was make sure DuckDuckGo was updated. After that, it was the same story. I ended up spending a lot more time on YouTube than I had planned, partly because I wanted to test it properly and partly because, for once, I wasn’t constantly removed from experience due to ads.

While poking around the browser, I came across another feature that caught my eye. is called duck playerand complements YouTube’s ad blocking surprisingly well.

Instead of opening videos in the regular YouTube player, Duck Player uses DuckDuckGo’s built-in video player. The biggest advantage here is privacy. It uses YouTube’s strictest privacy settings for embedded videos, which means you’re not tracked with cookies or shown personalized ads while watching. The videos you watch in Duck Player won’t influence your YouTube recommendations, nor will they remember your place in playlists.

If that sounds like something you’d like, you can enable Duck Player from your browser settings. Better yet, you don’t have to choose between the two. Duck Player and YouTube ad blocking work together, so you get a cleaner, more private YouTube experience without giving up any of the features.

Of course, this made me wonder how DuckDuckGo was doing it, given that YouTube has spent so much time cracking down on ad blockers. So I researched how it actually works. DuckDuckGo is based on filter lists maintained by the Origin of the uBlockwhich is constantly updated by an active open source community to keep pace with the way websites, including YouTube, serve ads. On top of that, DuckDuckGo applies its own tweaks to improve compatibility and keep everything running smoothly.

My only hope is that it stays that way, because right now it’s exactly what I was looking for. I don’t have to add another monthly subscription to a list that’s already long enough, and after using it on my Pixel, iPhone, MacBook, and Windows PC, I really don’t miss YouTube’s constant ad interruptions.

If you’re in the same boat, I definitely recommend giving it a try.