78
submitted 6 days ago by cardamon@leminal.space to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

does anyone know a good workaround for watching age-restricted videos from youtube without being forced to having a google account? i've tried

  • a few browser extensions (very old ones) who promised to solve it. didn't work.
  • downloading them through classic youtube downloading services. didn't work.
  • switching to nsfwyoutube.com/url . didn't work does anyone know of a working solution right now? thanks a lot in advance!!
top 19 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] unknowablenight@piefed.social 1 points 1 day ago

Copy a link, paste into an mp4 converter (I use cnvmp3.com), watch from files

[-] DFX4509B@lemmy.wtf 36 points 5 days ago

Age-gated vids are login-walled full stop, and I won't be surprised if the rest of the site gets login-walled at some point too, in addition to the implementation of DRM so you can't download YT vids anymore, nor use alt clients.

[-] cardamon@leminal.space 13 points 5 days ago

that's so bad...:(

[-] Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 points 5 days ago

Grayjay does allow you to use an account only for age gate/content gate authentication, so I wonder if there are any burner or public google accounts that could be repurposed for that (junk because multiple people use them)

[-] dogs0n@sh.itjust.works 12 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Hmmm.. similar to how Aurora store lets you use one of their google accounts to download from play store. Sounds like a good idea for alt clients (though idk if that involves expensive proxying to avoid passing around tokens so maybe not feasible).

[-] rmerc@lemmy.ml 27 points 5 days ago

I've found no way to do this, tried everything. The question for me has changed to "how do I create a dummy google account for instances when I do seem to need to log in" and I've pretty much given up on this too. They require a phone number; I haven't been able to get them to accept any kind of temporary number service/app I've found online, I could try harder to acquire some kind of more private burner phone or sim card but I feel like they'd just try to verify me once I no longer have access to the number and I'd get frozen out.

[-] SteakSneak@retrolemmy.com 2 points 5 days ago

Did you try paid SMS services or just the free ones? I tried some listed on fmhy but didn't try actually paying for a number

[-] rmerc@lemmy.ml 3 points 5 days ago

I never tried a paid one - might be the next step?

[-] SteakSneak@retrolemmy.com 1 points 4 days ago

Yeah I guess so. I don't have a phone that can run graphene or any other privacy OS so I'm running a sort of "hardened" stock android os 🤣 I just want a random google account to download a couple of apps that require play services in order to function

[-] Zoma@sh.itjust.works 7 points 4 days ago

I found some of those download youtube sites do work lol. This one works for me i just tested it https://ytdown.to/en2/

[-] Brutticus@midwest.social 1 points 4 days ago

Bless you sir

[-] CatZoomies@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago

Verified. I was able to use this to download an age restricted video just now.

[-] onlooker@lemmy.ml 6 points 5 days ago

Bad news, I'm afraid. Tried opening a few restricted videos with PipePipe, FreeTube, tried downloading with yt-dlp, nothing works. YouTube is being locked down.

[-] IndigoGollum@lemmy.world 12 points 5 days ago
[-] LytiaNP@lemmy.today 11 points 5 days ago

Nope, it's not possible to watch age restricted videos without a verified Google account token

[-] cardamon@leminal.space 10 points 5 days ago

it doesn't. i've tried multiple alternative frontends

[-] hexagonwin@lemmy.today 5 points 5 days ago

there used to be a userscript that bypasses it, but sadly it stopped working a few years ago. haven't found a solution since...

[-] mukt@lemmy.ml 4 points 5 days ago
[-] maniacalmanicmania@aussie.zone 4 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

I don't think so. The members only trend is annoying also.

this post was submitted on 15 Feb 2026
78 points (98.8% liked)

Privacy

46425 readers
1272 users here now

A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.

Some Rules

Related communities

much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)

founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS