Focused YouTube – Remove Distractions & Ads
Focused YouTube is a powerful userscript that removes ads, Shorts, sponsored content, and algorithmic suggestions from YouTube. Take control of your viewing experience with granular feature toggles, watch time limits, focus scheduling, and visual customization — all privacy-friendly and open source.
Ad & Content Blocking
Remove all YouTube ads
Blocks pre-roll, mid-roll, banner, and overlay ads across the site.
Skip video ads automatically
Auto-skips any ads that slip through, including unskippable ones.
Hide sponsored content
Removes promoted and sponsored video cards from feeds.
Block Shorts everywhere
Hides Shorts from homepage, search, and sidebar. Redirects Shorts URLs to the regular video player.
Hide end screen cards
Removes clickable overlay cards that appear at the end of videos.
Video Player Enhancements
Force cinema mode
Automatically expands the video player to theater/cinema mode on every page load.
Default quality selector
Set your preferred video quality (auto, max, 4K, 1440p, 1080p, 720p, 480p, 360p, 240p, or 144p).
Audio track controls
Force a preferred audio language, block the multi-audio selection menu, and aggressively enforce your language choice.
Keyboard shortcuts
Alt+C to toggle cinema mode, Alt+R to toggle related videos visibility.
Visual Customization
Grayscale thumbnails
Renders all thumbnails in black and white for a calmer browsing experience.
Color on hover
Reveals full-color thumbnails only when you hover over them.
Hide thumbnail previews
Disables animated hover previews on thumbnails.
Hide homepage view counts
Removes view counts and upload timestamps from homepage video cards.
Hide notification badge
Removes the red notification count from the bell icon.
Fix first-column layout
Removes YouTube's uneven grid styling for a cleaner homepage layout.
UI Element Controls
Hide comments
Hides the entire comments section below videos.
Hide related videos
Removes suggested/related videos from the sidebar.
Hide live chat
Hides the live chat panel on livestreams.
Hide filter bar
Removes category chips (Gaming, Music, etc.) from the homepage with proper spacing fixes.
Hide action buttons
Individually hide the Thanks, Clip, and Join/Membership buttons below videos.
Sidebar controls
Eight individual toggles to hide: History, Playlists, Your Videos, Your Courses, Watch Later, Liked Videos, Downloads, and Footer.
Focus & Productivity
Daily watch time limit
Set a daily limit in minutes. An overlay appears when the limit is reached (set to 0 to disable).
Break reminders
Get a reminder to take a break after a set number of minutes of continuous watching.
Watch time tracking
Tracks your daily watch time with a rolling 30-day history.
Focus schedule
Automatically enable or disable the script on a weekly schedule you define.
Statistics tracking
Counts ads blocked, Shorts hidden, and UI elements removed.
Settings & Configuration
Keyword blocklist
Filter out videos by keywords — any video whose title matches your blocklist is hidden.
Import/Export settings
Back up and restore all your settings as a JSON file.
Multi-language support
Full interface support for English, Dutch, German, and French.
Per-feature toggles
Every feature can be individually enabled or disabled from the settings.
Userscript vs Chrome Extension
| Feature | Userscript | Chrome Extension v35 |
|---|---|---|
| Remove YouTube ads | ||
| Block & redirect Shorts | ||
| Hide sponsored content | ||
| Force cinema mode | ||
| Default quality selector | ||
| Audio track controls | ||
| Grayscale thumbnails | ||
| Hide comments / related / chat | ||
| Hide filter bar & action buttons | ||
| Sidebar controls (8 toggles) | ||
| Daily time limit & break reminders | ||
| Watch time tracking (30 days) | ||
| Focus schedule | ||
| Keyword blocklist | ||
| Import/Export settings | ||
| Keyboard shortcuts (Alt+C/R) | ||
| Network-level ad blocking | ||
| Context menu filtering | ||
| Settings sync across devices | ||
| Stats dashboard with charts | ||
| Popup pause/resume toggle | ||
| Built-in help page |
Chrome Extension Available
Focused YouTube is also available as a Chrome extension (v35) with additional features that require browser extension APIs:
Installation Guide
Choose your preferred installation method
Userscript (Tampermonkey / Violentmonkey)
- 1
Install a userscript manager like Tampermonkey or Violentmonkey in your browser.
- 2
Visit the Focused YouTube script page on Greasy Fork: https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/541103-focused-youtube
- 3
Click "Install" to add the script to your userscript manager.
- 4
Refresh YouTube and enjoy a cleaner, distraction-free experience!
Chrome Extension (v35 - Full Features)
- 1
Download the Focused YouTube extension from the Chrome Web Store or the author's repository.
- 2
Click "Add to Chrome" and confirm the installation.
- 3
The extension icon will appear in your toolbar — click it to access the popup controls.
- 4
Open the extension options to configure all features, set your focus schedule, and customize your experience.
Important Notes
The script is updated regularly to keep up with YouTube layout changes, including new Shorts selectors (grid-shelf-view-model, ytm-shorts-lockup-view-model) and homepage elements (yt-lockup-view-model, yt-thumbnail-view-model).
You can customize every feature through the userscript manager settings panel.
No data is collected or sent anywhere. All watch time and stats are stored locally. 100% privacy-friendly.
Some features like context menus, settings sync, and the dashboard require the Chrome extension version.
Who Is This For?
Students, professionals, and anyone who wants to stay focused on content, avoid algorithmic rabbit holes, and take control of their YouTube experience.
Learn More
For more information, source code, and updates, visit greasyfork.org or contact the author.