welcome to the deep dive great to be here today we're looking into something
pretty interesting actually it's a different way to interact with one of
the biggest websites out there yeah we're talking about YouTube but through
a different lens exactly we're diving into something called invidious now for
this deep dive we're mostly pulling from the project's own words you know the
descriptions on their github page where the code lives and also bits from their
official website right going straight to the source our goal here is really to
unpack what invidious actually is why would someone use it instead of you know
regular YouTube and what are the key features yeah exactly and we want to
make it easy to understand even if you've never heard terms like alternative
front-end before it should make sense absolutely keep it approachable before
we really get into it though just a quick thank you to our sponsor this deep
dive is supported by safe server safe server is great because they actually
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dot DE just type that in www.e.ufsafarver.de to know okay so let's tackle
this term alternative front-end right what are we actually talking about here
when we say that about YouTube well the project itself calls invidious an
open-source alternative front-end to YouTube right so think about the normal
YouTube website or the app on your phone that's the usual front-end the interface
right how it looks how you click around how you watch videos the part you
actually see in you exactly invidious is what's a completely different interface
built by a totally separate group of people okay it still connects you to the
same videos the huge library on YouTube it just presents everything lets you
interact through its own design its own rules almost and it's open source you
mentioned yeah that's key open source means the code the blueprint for how
it's built is public anyone can look at it use it even suggest changes or
contribute so it's not run by like a big corporation with the same motives as
YouTube itself precisely this different team this community they have different
priorities different goals for what the experience should be like okay and that
leads to the really interesting question I think why bother right if the regular
YouTube site is right there why use this this different doorway what's the draw
well the benefits the invidious project emphasizes really come down to giving
you the user more control and just a very different feel okay like what a
huge one probably the biggest for many is privacy ah always a big topic
definitely the sources say it's privacy focused they explicitly stated aims to
protect you from the prying eyes of Google no and features no tracking so on
regular YouTube pretty much everything you watch click on search for it it's
tracked logged linked to your account yeah for recommendations ads all that
stuff right in videos tries to act as a shield there when you use it the idea is
your viewing habits aren't being scooped up and tied back to a big Google profile
in the same way so you can watch without leaving quite so many digital footprints
behind for you know data collection exactly it's about separating the
watching from the harvesting you could say okay privacy is a big one what else
what's another really practical benefit one that pretty much everyone notices
right away no ads oh really no ads at all the documentation is clear in videos
allows you to watch videos without being disturbed by annoying ads Wow they even
mentioned it supports sponsor block which is slightly different that's about
skipping sponsored segments inside videos but the main point is the platform ads
gone so no pre-roll ads no mid-roll interruptions nope that alone makes the
viewing experience totally different for a lot of people I can imagine that's
huge okay so privacy no as what about just using it how does it feel compared
to standard YouTube is it just like bare bones not necessarily bare bones but
definitely different by design they describe it as lightweight lightweight
meaning probably faster loading less demanding on your computer or phone they
also mentioned no JavaScript required for basic viewing now that's a bit
technical yeah what does that mean for me the user it generally means things
might load quicker especially if you have a slower internet connection or
maybe an older device it uses fewer resources okay and they also talk about
it being ethically designed they use the term humane design you mean design that
sounds interesting the idea it seems is to help you regain focus so the
interface isn't constantly trying to grab your attention autoplay the next
thing keep you scrolling forever fighting against the infinite scroll and the
algorithms designed to keep you glued kind of yeah it feels more designed for
you to watch what you intended to watch rather than getting sucked down a rabbit
hole more intentional that really speaks to how some people feel overwhelmed by
modern platforms so invidious offers a different philosophy there exactly and
that ties into another aspect independence how it handles things like
subscriptions and accounts oh right you don't need a Google account you can
create accounts within invidious itself and build playlists but crucially the
sources say this is without needing a YouTube account so my list of channels I
follow my saved videos yeah it all lives just within invidious yes your
subscriptions are independent from Google you can basically build your own
little YouTube world without ever logging into Google that's a level of
like digital autonomy you don't often get on the big platform precisely and
it's not like it's missing features either the sources list things you'd
expect light and dark themes always popular right a customizable home page so
you see what you want first notifications for channels you subscribe
to okay and a really neat one an audio only mode oh like for playing music or
podcasts yeah and it can even play in the background on mobile devices so you
can listen with the screen off that's super useful definitely and it can even
pull in ready comments for videos sometimes which is an alternative
discussion source plus lots of language translations thanks to volunteers Wow
okay that's actually pretty complete package for an alternative hmm so if
someone's listening and thinking all right I'm curious I want to check this
out what's the easiest way do I need to download code and be a tech wizard no
not at all this is where the quick start point they mentioned is perfect for
beginners you absolutely do not need to install anything yourself just to try it
okay good so how does it work then well because it's open source lots of
different people and groups run their own public versions of the Nvidia
software these are called instances instances okay like different public
servers running the same software that's it exactly so the easiest way to get
started is just to find one of these public instances the project website
usually has a list ah so there's a list somewhere yep you literally just select
a public instance from the list and start watching videos right now click a
link it opens in your web browser like any other site and boom you're using
Nvidia's no installation needed just to watch nope super easy to just test the
waters that is really low friction just pick a server from a list and you're off
but I assume for people who are more technical the option to host it yourself
is there oh absolutely the full documentation is available if you want
to get into the weeds set up your own private instance on your own server or
even contribute code back to the project make sense and you mentioned something
earlier that helps make it seamless browser extensions yes the sources
mentioned those two yes like browser add-ons yeah they often recommend things
like one called privacy redirect the idea is simple you install this little
add-on in your browser okay and then if you click a regular YouTube link
anywhere say in an email and social media whatever or if a website has a
YouTube video embedded the extension can automatically send you to an invidious
instance instead of the main YouTube site oh clever so it routes you to the
alternative automatically pretty much it helps you kind of default to using
invidious without having to consciously think about it every single time that's
a neat way to integrate it okay so we've covered the what the why the how to
start you touched on this briefly but that technical point about API's does
not use official YouTube API's can you elaborate just a bit on why that's
important yeah it's actually pretty crucial to how invidious works API's
application programming interfaces are basically the official approved ways
that companies let other software talk to their services like an official
handshake kind of yeah the documented supported way to request data or embed
things invidious the sources say specifically doesn't use these official
YouTube API's so it's going around the official channels in a sense it has to
figure out other ways to access the video streams and the information about
them this is how it can do things like well avoid delivering the ads that the
official API might enforce or handle user data differently because it's not
playing by YouTube's official rule set for developers exactly it gives it
independence but it also means it's potentially a more complex path
sometimes things might break if YouTube changes how things work unofficially but
it's fundamental to offering that different more private ad free experience
so it's a deliberate choice to trade off to gain that independence and offer those
features precisely and as we said it's truly open source the license is the
AGPL 3.0 that's a copyleft license which often encourages sharing improvements
back with the community and you mentioned contributors before yeah the
sources listed I think 348 contributors that's a lot of people involved it
really shows it's a community effort that's impressive a global community
building this thing it is but with that kind of decentralized community thing
there are some important caveats warnings almost especially about
liability ah okay what do the sources say there they're very clear there's a
statement saying the project creators take no responsibility for the use of
our tool or external instances provided by third parties meaning just because
the code is out there they don't control every single server or someone sets up
using it exactly anyone can host an instance so they can't guarantee how
reliable or trustworthy every single public server is right use public
instances with awareness and they also strongly recommend you abide by the
valid official regulations in your country they explicitly refuse liability
for any inappropriate use and they mentioned illegal downloading as an
example so the tool is there to watch videos available on YouTube but it's on
you the user to make sure you're using it legally and responsibly where you live
spot-on the responsibility lies with the user they say it's provided in the
spirit of free open software think freedom to use study modify not freedom
to break laws that's a crucial distinction okay so let's try and pull
this all together for you the listener yeah let's recap we've looked at
Nvidia's it's this alternative way an alternative front-end for YouTube right
same videos different interface and its big selling points seem to be
prioritizing your privacy cutting out the tracking as much as possible
getting rid of those disruptive ads and offering an experience that's designed
to be maybe calmer less distracting more focused yeah lightweight
customizable ethically designed plus it's open source built by a community
and lets you manage your subscriptions and playlists without needing a Google
account giving you that independence so understanding what Nvidia's is tells you
something important doesn't it it shows there are alternatives out there even
for massive platforms absolutely it shows that different choices exist built
on different values privacy user control no ads it gives you options for how you
engage with online video and manage your sort of digital life which does raise a
question maybe for you to think about what does it actually mean for you that
these kinds of alternatives can exist alongside the Giants yeah what does that
possibility signify it definitely makes you pause right right if communities
can build tools like this focusing on privacy and user control instead of say
maximizing engagement time or data capture what does that tell us about the
trade-offs we usually just accept on the standard platforms and maybe more
personally how much value do you put on having that choice that control in your
own online experience it's definitely something to mull over indeed well that
brings us to the end of this particular deep dive into invidious thanks so much
for joining us to explore this yeah hope it was useful and remember this deep
dive was supported by safe server if you're looking for hosting maybe for
your own projects or need support with digital transformation check them out at
www.safeserver.de that's s-a-s-e-r-v-e-r.de right and as the invidious project
shows if you are
interested in learning more there's plenty of documentation out there and
that list of public instances is waiting if you want to give it a spin yourself
lots more to explore absolutely we hope you found this insightful we look
forward to digging into more fascinating information with you next time on the