Welcome to the SkipAd Help. This guide walks you through every part of the SkipAd home page, step by step. SkipAd is a free service that lets you watch YouTube videos without any ads. You do not need a YouTube Premium subscription, nor do you need to install any browser extension or plugin.
This guide is written for first-time visitors. Every section of the home page is explained in plain language. If you have never used SkipAd before, just read along from top to bottom, and you will know everything you need to get started.
What SkipAd is
SkipAd embeds its own video player into the web page. This player plays YouTube videos without showing you any advertisements. That means: no ad clips before your video starts, no interruptions in the middle, and no banners covering the picture.
The service is 100% free. You do not have to create an account, sign in, or install anything. All you need is a modern web browser such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, or Apple Safari.
Overview
The home page is divided into three main areas. You can jump directly to any area by using the menu at the top of the page. The most important sections are:
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Selection - where you choose a video to watch
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Player - where the video is played
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Playlist - where you find all the videos you have watched or imported
Desktops
On a laptop or desktop computer, you see the SkipAd logo on the left side, with menu items displayed as text links next to it. The menu items are:
- Selection
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Scrolls the page to the Video selection area.
- Player
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Scrolls the page to the Video player.
- Playlist
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Scrolls the page to Your playlist.
Simply click on any of these words to jump straight to that section.
Mobiles
On a smaller screen, there isn’t enough room to display all menu items as text. Instead, you will see a button with three horizontal lines (sometimes called the hamburger menu icon). Tap this button to open a slide-in menu panel.
From there, tap on any item (Selection, Player, Playlist, or Help) to navigate to the corresponding section. Tap anywhere outside the panel or press the back arrow to close it again.m (Selection, Player, Playlist, or Help) to navigate to the corresponding section. Tap anywhere outside the panel or press the back arrow to close it again.
Quick Access
On the right-hand side of the navigation bar, you will find a row of small icons. Each icon gives you access to a special feature of the website:
- Home (house icon)
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Takes you back to the very top of the home page.
- Search (magnifying glass)
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Opens a search dialog where you can search the contents of the entire website.
- Cookie Settings (cookie icon)
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Opens a dialog where you can choose which cookies the website is allowed to store on your device.
- Translate (language icon)
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Opens Google Translate so you can view the page in a different language.
- Read Aloud (speaker icon)
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Opens the Speak2Me tool, which reads the text on the page aloud to you.
- Theme Toggler (light-bulb icon)
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Switches between a light and a dark colour scheme for the website.
| If you are not sure what an icon does, hover your mouse pointer over it (on a desktop) or long-press it (on a touchscreen). A short tooltip text will appear. |
Selection
The Video selection area is the first main section below the large banner image at the top of the page. This is where you tell SkipAd which video you want to watch. There are two ways to do this: you can paste a YouTube link or import a ready-made playlist.
Watch a Specific Video
Follow these steps when you already know which YouTube video you want to watch without ads:
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Open YouTube (in a new browser tab). Search for the video you want to watch and open it.
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Copy the video’s web address (URL) from your browser’s address bar. The address looks like this: https://youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ. You can also copy just the VideoID, which is the code after v= (for example: dQw4w9WgXcQ).
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Switch back to the SkipAd tab.
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Look for the text input field that says https:youtube.com/watch?v=xxxx.. or xxxx...
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Click the Paste button right next to the input field. Your copied link or ID will be inserted automatically. Alternatively, click inside the input field and press Ctrl+V (Windows / Linux) or Cmd+V (Mac) to paste manually.
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Click the Watch Video button. The video will now load in the player section below - completely ad-free.
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When you want to watch a different video, click Clear Selection first to empty the input field. Then paste a new link and click Watch Video again.
| The input field accepts several YouTube link formats like https//youtube.com/watch?v=z2FHKVzGhgA or simply the 11-character VideoID z2FHKVzGhgA on its own. |
Import a Ready-Made Playlist
If you do not know what to watch yet, SkipAd offers a selection of hand-picked video lists you can import with a single click. These lists contain YouTube videos you might not have discovered on your own.
Here is how to import one:
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Find the dropdown menu that reads For import, select a playlist … (directly below the video link input field).
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Click on the dropdown and choose one of the available lists. The current options are:
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CBS - Carpool Karaoke (English)
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NPR - Tiny Desk Concerts (English)
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AGT - Legendary Contestants (English)
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BGT - Legendary Contestants (English)
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YTP - Rick Astley (Series)
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YTP - Bea and her business (Series)
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BBC - The Next Step, Season 1 (Series / English)
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Click the Import Playlist button next to the dropdown.
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The videos from the chosen list will now appear in your personal playlist further down the page. You can then pick any of those videos to start watching.
Player
The Video player section is where the selected video is displayed and played. SkipAd uses its own custom player instead of the standard YouTube player. This custom player hides all the usual YouTube controls, ads, and overlays, replacing them with a clean, simplified control bar.
If you have not selected a video yet, the player area will be empty. As soon as you load a video from the Selection area or click on a video in your Playlist, it will appear here.
| The player hides all native YouTube Player controls, replacing them with a handy, simplified control bar that provides convenient controls for a better, more undisturbed video-watching experience. |
Player Controls
Below the video picture, you will find a control bar with the following buttons and elements, listed from left to right:
- Seek Backward
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Jumps 10 seconds back in the video. Useful when you missed something.
- Play|Pause
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Starts the video. Click it again to pause. Click once more to resume playing.
- Seek Forward
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Jumps 10 seconds forward in the video. Handy for skipping parts you are not interested in.
- Volume
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Controls the sound level. You can also click the speaker icon to mute or unmute the sound instantly.
- Playback Speed
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Lets you change how fast the video plays. The available speeds are:
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0.25x - very slow (useful for studying details)
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0.5x - slow
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1x - normal speed (the default)
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1.5x - faster
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2x - double speed
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- Fullscreen
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Expands the video to fill your entire screen. Press the Esc key or click the fullscreen icon again to return to the normal view.
At the very bottom of the player, you will see the progress bar. This bar shows how far you are into the video. The left side shows the current time, and the right side shows the total length of the video. You can click anywhere on the bar to jump to that point in the video. You can also click and drag the bar to quickly scrub through the video.
Playlist
The Your playlist section stores every video you watch on SkipAd as well as any videos you import from the ready-made lists. Think of it as your personal video history and library.
| Your playlist is saved locally in your browser. This means it is only available on the same device and in the same browser where you used SkipAd. If you switch to a different browser or a different computer, you will not see your playlist there. See Managing Your Playlist below for how to create a backup. |
Playing a Video from Your Playlist
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Scroll down to the Playlist section.
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Browse through the video cards (or list entries) until you find the video you want to watch.
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Click on the thumbnail image (the small preview picture) or the play icon (the triangle) overlaid on the thumbnail.
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The video will load in the player above and start playing automatically.
Managing Your Playlist
At the top of the playlist section, you will find three management buttons (Export, Import, Clear):
- Export Playlist
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Saves your entire current playlist as a file (in JSON format) to your computer. Use this to create a backup of your videos or to share the list with someone else.
- Import Playlist
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Loads a previously exported playlist file back into SkipAd. Click the button, then choose a .json file from your computer. The imported videos will appear in your playlist.
- Clear Playlist
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Removes all videos from your current playlist at once. For fail-save reasons, the playlist to be deleted is stored in a backupfile befoe deletion. You’ll find the backup file skipAd-playlist-backup.json in yor Download folder.
| Clicking Clear Playlist permanently deletes all entries. If you want to keep your list, make sure to export it first. |
Searching Your Playlist
If your playlist contains many videos, the built-in search helps you find specific entries quickly.
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Locate the search field at the top of the playlist area (you will see a magnifying glass icon inside it).
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Start typing a search term. Results are filtered instantly as you type.
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You can search by any of the following properties:
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Title of the video
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Author (the channel name)
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Category
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Tags
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To clear the search and show all videos again, click the small X button on the right side of the search field.
Display Options
Above the playlist grid, you will find several controls that let you customise how your playlist looks:
- Cards|List toggle
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When the Cards switch is turned on (default), videos are displayed as visual cards with a thumbnail image, title, author, and action buttons. When you turn this switch off, the playlist switches to a compact list view without images.
- Merge toggle
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By default, when you import a new playlist it replaces your current list. If you turn the Merge switch on before importing, the new videos will be added to your existing list instead of replacing it.
- Sort dropdown
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This dropdown lets you change the order in which your videos are displayed. The available sort options are:
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Date (newest first, default)
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Date (oldest first)
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Issue Date (newest first)
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Issue Date (oldest first)
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Duration (longest first)
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Duration (shortest first)
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Title (alphabetical)
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Author (alphabetical)
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Category (alphabetical)
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Type
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Working with Individual Videos
Each video card (or list entry) in your playlist comes with three small action buttons and an info link:
- Star icon (Rate)
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Opens a rating dialog where you can give the video a rating from 1 to 5 stars. This helps you remember which videos you liked best.
- Pencil icon (Edit)
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Opens an editing dialog where you can change the video’s metadata, such as its category or tags.
- Trash icon (Delete)
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Removes this single video from your playlist.
- Info icon (small "i" circle)
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Opens the original video page on YouTube in a new browser tab, so you can see more details, read comments, or share the video directly on YouTube.
Additional Features
Besides its main purpose - watching videos without ads - the SkipAd page offers several helpful extra features. You can access all of them through the small icons on the right-hand side of the navigation bar.
Search the Website
Click the magnifying glass icon in the navigation bar. A search dialog (called QuickSearch) will open in the centre of the screen. Type a search term and press Enter. The results will appear as a list of links below the search field. Click on any result to navigate to that page. Click the X button or press Esc to close the search dialog.
Cookie Settings
When you visit the website for the first time, a banner asks you whether you accept cookies. You can change your cookie preferences at any time by clicking the cookie icon in the navigation bar.
| To make SkipAd fully working, you need to accept all available Cookie optios. The operator of this website takes the protection of your personal data seriously. We treat your data confidential and comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the European Union to protect your privacy. |
Translation
Click the translate icon (it looks like a speech bubble with a letter inside) to translate the page into another langua. The translation is done by Google Translate. Select your language from the dropdown that appears, and the page will be translated automatically.
Read Aloud
Click the speaker icon to have the page content read aloud to you. A small control panel opens at the top of the screen with the following settings:
- Speed
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Controls how fast the text is spoken.
- Pitch
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Changes the tone of the voice (higher or lower).
- Volume
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Adjusts the loudness of the speech.
- Voice
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Lets you pick a different voice, if your browser supports more than one.
Below the settings, you will find these control buttons:
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Speak - starts reading the page
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Pause - pauses the speech
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Resume - continues after a pause
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Stop - stops the speech completely
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Close - closes the read-aloud panel
Theme
Click the light-bulb icon to switch between a light and a dark colour scheme. The dark mode can be easier on the eyes, especially when you are watching videos in a dimly lit room or at night.
FAQ
Find below a list of frequently asked questions.
Do I need an account?
No. You can use SkipAd immediately without creating an account or signing in.
Is SkipAd really free?
Yes. SkipAd is 100 % free - there are no hidden costs.
Where is my playlist stored?
Your playlist is stored entirely in your own browser (so-called local data). SkipAd does not send your data to any server. If you clear your browser history or website data, your playlist entries will be lost. That is why it is a good idea to export your playlist regularly as a backup file (see Managing Your Playlist).
Why does a video not play?
Some YouTube videos cannot be embedded because the creator or copyright holder has restricted embedding, or because the video is blocked in your region. In such a case, SkipAd unfortunately can not play the video.
Which browsers are supported?
SkipAd works with all modern web browsers: Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, and Apple Safari. It is recommended to always use the latest version of your browser for the best experience.
Can I use SkipAd on mobiles?
Yes. SkipAd works on smartphones and tablets just as it does on a desktop computer. The page layout adjusts automatically to smaller screens. On mobile devices, use the hamburger menu (three lines icon) at the top left to navigate between sections.
What happens if I clear my browser data?
If you clear your browser’s cookies, cache, or local storage, your playlist will be deleted. You may export your playlist as a JSON file before clearing browser data if you want to keep it.
| For fail-safe reasons, the playlist to be deleted is stored in a backup file before deletion. You’ll find the backup file skipAd-playlist-backup.json in your Download folder. |
Can I share my playlist with a friend?
Yes! Use the Export Playlist button to save your playlist as a .json file in your Download folder. Send that file to your friend (for example by email or a messaging app). Your friend can then use the Import Playlist button on their own SkipAd page to load your video list.
How to use a playlist on different devices?
This is done very similarly to sharing a playlist with a friend. Export the playlist you want to transfer, then import it into a different web browser (on the same device) or load the export file from the SkipAd page on another computer (a different device).
How can I manage my personal playlists?
It’s easy to manage multipöe playlists. It is recommended to create a playlist folder under your home directory. Then export your playlist, give it a unique name, and move the JSON file to the folder you’ve already created in your home directory.