Unlock Ad-Free YouTube and More on iOS: Affordable Solutions for iPhone & iPad

Enjoy ad-free viewing on your iOS device. Experience premium features without the premium price.

Mad Machine
3 min readJul 31, 2024
Image from UnSplash: YouTube
From Unsplash

Though numerous solutions are available for PCs, blocking ads on iOS and Android tends to be more challenging. Many ad-blockers, whether in the form of VPNs or specialized browsers, frequently fall short of expectations. However, I have identified a few tools that perform exceptionally well on both Android and iOS, which I will share with you below.

iOS — iPhone and iPad

Among the finest ad-blocking applications available for iOS are Video Lite and Viddle. While both require a subscription, they remain quite affordable.

Video Lite is priced at $1.99 for a three-month period, which equates to approximately 66 cents per month.

Viddle provides various plans: $5.99 annually, $3.99 monthly, or 99 cents per month. Choosing the annual plan reduces the cost to less than 50 cents a month.

These prices offer excellent value to avoid the annoyance of advertisements. Moreover, both apps come with a suite of attractive features that enhance their appeal even further.

Below is a summary of the key features offered by each application.

Features

Both Viddle and Video Lite have these features:

  • Adblock: Enjoy your videos without interruptions from ads.
  • PIP (Picture-in-Picture): Continue watching videos while using other apps.
  • Background Play: Keep the audio playing even when your screen is off.
  • Live Comment Streaming: Engage with live comments as you watch.
  • Works on YouTube and streaming sites, and doubles as an ad-blocking browser too

Viddle’s got some unique features that really set it apart, like…

  • AI Summary: Get quick summaries of video content with AI assistance.
  • Play Bar: Easily navigate through videos with a user-friendly play bar.
  • UI Customization: Personalize the interface by hiding shorts and displaying dislike counts.
  • The Viddle app for YouTube videos looks a lot like the native YouTube app on iOS.

The Video Lite app is a lot like Viddle, but here are some unique features that set Video Lite apart:

  • Chromecast support on iOS
  • Sleep timer functionality

Both work great, but VideoLite seems a bit more reliable on the iPad. Honestly, you can’t go wrong with either one.

Brave

I stopped using Brave for over a year because its ad-blocking just wasn’t cutting it. But recently, I gave it another shot and wow, what a difference! The ad-blocking is way better now. It’s built right into the browser, so you don’t need any extra extensions, and it’s still totally free.

One thing I absolutely love is the Playlist feature. It lets you download videos for offline viewing, and it works like a charm with YouTube and other streaming sites. But when it comes to ad-blocking on some websites, Brave isn’t quite as strong as Viddle and Video Lite, especially with those annoying ads that open a new tab.

Check out an example of a playlist I’ve downloaded from YouTube and other streaming sites.

By Author, Screen capture of Brave Playlist
By Author, Screen of Phone Showing Brave Playlist

Click here to download Brave.

Conclusion

Whether you’re using Viddle, Video Lite, or Brave, each app offers unique features that enhance your YouTube viewing experience. From ad-free streaming and Chromecast support to offline video downloads and sleep timers, these tools make watching videos smoother and more enjoyable.

I highly encourage you to try out these apps and see which one fits your needs best. If you have other options that work well for you, feel free to share them! Your feedback could help others find their perfect YouTube and video companion. Happy viewing!

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Mad Machine

I’m a DevOps engineer, but I love to tinker with all kinds of technologies.