Show HN: I built a cleaner YouTube – no ads, sponsors, or doomscrolling

22•Nina_F•7mo ago

Hi HN!

I built SkipCut

it’s like an ad-free, distraction-free YouTube with useful extras: background play, SponsorBlock, dark mode, playlist support, local history, download/share buttons… and it works on any device. No install. No login.

Here’s the best part: It works just by replacing "youtube" with "skipcut" in the video link. You skip all the boring stuff — ads, sponsors, intros, silence, filler and just watch what matters.

Why it’s different: No comments. No suggested videos. No clickbait.

I made this for my kid, I create a playlist and just send a SkipCut link like: https://skipcut.com?list=xyz123 It plays only those videos and stops the doomscrolling.

Just replace youtube with skipcut in the URL of any video Example: https://www.skipcut.com/watch?v=abc123

No signup required

Would love your feedback, ideas, and bug reports!

Try it: https://skipcut.com

Comments

gigatexal•7mo ago

How does it work?

Nina_F•7mo ago

It uses an embed player, like how IMDb or any website uses it. When I added YouTube videos to my website, I observed that ads never show there, so I made it and added a sponsor block too. Now, I can watch videos on any device or share links without anyone installing anything.

Leftium•7mo ago

I also noticed embedded YouTube videos don't seem to play ads. I am planning to make a beat-aware YouTube player, so I was wondering how ads would affect the timing...

netsharc•7mo ago

Some videos don't allow embedding though, for example the Formula 1 channel disallow it for seemingly all their videos: https://skipcut.com/watch?v=QGTErgNcpDM

Nina_F•7mo ago

Yes. Some videos are not allowed by channel owners.

Hiikyu•7mo ago

just tried it out with replacing the youtube.com in url to skipcut.com and it seems like there is a bug where the video doesn't show

keep up the great work!

Nina_F•7mo ago

thanks for the feedback.

Leftium•7mo ago

I also made an alternate YouTube player with a different feature set (for sharing/reviewing segments of dance videos)

- https://youloop.leftium.com

- https://github.com/Leftium/youloop

Your app gave me some ideas. Here are some ideas your app might use:

- Load video by detecting YouTube ID/URL in clipboard

- Hide YouTube "branding" in paused/thumbnail state. (Mostly to hide "More videos" UI)

- (A-B) looping

- Playback speed controls

- Mute

RobotCaleb•7mo ago

Please keep your paws out of my clipboard

Nina_F•7mo ago

Most people won’t allow clipboard access, that’s why I never added the paste button.

I’m already planning to use a different player to remove YouTube branding, playback speed controls, and other features.

Thanks for the feedback.

Leftium•7mo ago

A feature I would love to see in a YouTube player: better transcript view

- Single click to open transcript

- Transcript not crammed into tiny window in corner

- Often I use the transcript as a navigation tool when (re)viewing a long video. Especially when I want to share a specific part of a video.

---

And I found a bug in SkipCut when clicking a FAQ:

- If the video was started (then paused) opening a FAQ starts the video (audio).

- Possibly related? often the browser jumps down the page, so the FAQ I clicked is not visible unless I scroll back up. (Or maybe it is scrolling the FAQ to near the top of the viewport? It's disorienting. If intentional, a smooth scroll animation may help.)

Nina_F•7mo ago

Thanks for the feedback. I will update it soon.

djyde•7mo ago

Many language learning extension have this feature. They provide a transcript view beside the player.

ibdf•7mo ago

This looks really nice, but... you went so far to remove all the annoying things just to add some annoying notifications... you get about 3 of them per video loaded.

Nina_F•7mo ago

Which notifications? Related Sponsorblock?? I will add toggle to off them in Sponsorblock setting soon.

ponta17•7mo ago

I just tried it out. This is awesome!

Nina_F•7mo ago

keep sharing.

CHB0403085482•7mo ago

Testing: https://www.skipcut.com/watch?v=eMP1JoYVnmw

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Comments