Youlag is a FreshRSS extension that allows you to browse your YouTube RSS feed through a modern video-centered interface. It incorporates a bunch of quality-of-life features and mobile friendly layout.
Supports both text-based and video feed content.
Why?
For those who prefer not to use a Google account to stay connected with creators, following via RSS provides a way to do so without being tied to a specific platform.
Since FreshRSS is web-based, you can access your subscriptions and playlists from any device.
Recent features:
- Add your own Invidious instance to use it as video playback source.
- Simulated “Picture-in-Picture” mode, allowing scrolling through the feed while keeping the video in the bottom corner of the page.
Other features:
- Fullscreen viewing for videos and articles.
- Familiar video layout to e.g. YouTube.
- Dark mode.
- Redesigned mobile menus for better one-handed navigation.
Note for existing Youlag users:
Youlag is now installed as a standard FreshRSS extension, and no longer uses the “User CSS/JS” method. To upgrade, please install it as with any other FreshRSS extension.
Find more details and instructions, see the repository:
Just for this returned to FreshRSS on tried it on my Yunohost server. Added a youtube user feed and got a list of their latest videos. They dont actually seem to be playable tho? No play button, just a picture and the link.
Dont know if they are supposed to have controls?
Just to double check, is the Youlag extension enabled in “Settings -> Extensions”?
The view you described sounds like what FreshRSS would look like if Youlag isn’t enabled.
It looks like this (by default after install):
I read in the documentation Youlag is included in FreshRSS so I didnt tinker with it …
Youlag doesn’t come with the core FreshRSS, it’s an extension you need to manually install. You can follow the install instructions here to learn how to install Youlag. It’s the same method that you use to install any other third-party extension for FreshRSS.
Once installed, the extensions page should look like this:
Oh … thnx will do!
Does it block the adds?
If you’re thinking of SponsorBlock, Youlag doesn’t support that feature. In this recent comment, I’ve shared why that is the case.
For traditional adblocking, I would suggest using uBlock Origin, which is also available on Android for firefox-based browsers.
Edit: To clarify, there are no adblocking features built-in to Youlag.
How does this stand up to GrayJay with multiple devices connected sync and cross platform use?
I don’t use Grayjay myself, but I tried it a long time ago, so this what I recall.
Grayjay uses a web scraper to feed the stream into its own video player, which lets them add features such as timestamp, SponsorBlock, and background playback.
Youlag is less sophisticated as it’s solely a client‑side approach that embeds the official YouTube player. If you however add your own Invidious instance via the Youlag settings, you can play it through Invidious instead.
With Youlag in FreshRSS, everything runs in the browser, so there’s no device syncing needed. That also means it even works on iOS devices, and essentially anything that can run a modern browser.