Recent reports have discovered a glitch on YouTube, which allows the audience to bypass YouTube Ads and watch videos without interruptions. Based on the Reddit thread posted by u/unicorn4sale, adding a period on a YouTube video link removes the annoying advertisements that we often see before and during playback on the video-sharing platform. Yes, it doesn’t require people to subscribe to YouTube’s Premium Plan just to access and play ad-free videos. So, does it work, and what does the glitch imply? Here are the complete steps on how to do it and other things that we observed while running the test.
Author’s note: We’ve played the same YouTube video in different conditions (one in normal mode and the other one applying the ad-free “hack”). The trick applies to both mobile and desktop web browsers.
How to skip YouTube Ads while watching
For desktop web browsers
Step 1: Copy the link of the video that you want to watch on YouTube
Step 2:Â Paste it on the desktop web browser.
Step 3: Add a period (.) next to the .com of the video URL (Ex: https://www.youtube.com./watch?v=PpG5QUbIuBw)
Step 4:Â Hit the Enter key to load the video.
For mobile web browsers in iOS and Android
Step 1: Copy the link of the video that you want to watch on YouTube
Step 2:Â Open YouTube on Desktop Mode in a mobile web browser like Chrome. To do this, click the upper-left icon and select Desktop Site.
Step 3: Paste the link and add a period (.) next to the .com of the video URL (Ex: https://www.youtube.com./watch?v=PpG5QUbIuBw)
Step 4: Tap the search button to load the video.
The glitch in a nutshell
According to the reports, the recently discovered glitch makes the websites “forget to normalize the hostname.” This means that exclusive content is still being served since there are no recorded authentication cookies and Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) broken in the addition of the period in the URL. Cookies are reliable mechanisms that allow websites to remember data such as browsing activity and sensitive information such as usernames and passwords. The CORS, on the other hand, allows restricted resources on a web page to be requested from another domain. Some website giants also do not use a different trusted domain without the extra dot to provide ads and exclusive media content.
From our test results, using the trick on desktop browsers did not change the quality of the uploaded video. It works perfectly fine and has little to no delays in terms of playback. The ads from the normal mode have 4 to 5-minute intervals compared to the ad-free video. The same goes for mobile browsers. However, users cannot fully adjust the size of the video according to the screen-ratio of their mobile device.
As suggested on the thread, the trick also works on select websites with paywalls such as The New York Times and Harvard Business Review. The caveat of the method is the inaccessibility of sites that entirely require subscription plans such as the Wall Street Journal.
Since this is a wide-scope glitch, it will only be a matter of time before YouTube and other websites patch the bug. Still, we highly suggest paying for the exclusive digital services being offered in the app market and official websites to obtain legal access. Also, this protects users should they encounter some issues with the services they are using.
And that’s it, folks! How was your experience? Let us know in the comments section below!
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