YouTube as a real desktop app — without Shorts, without AI slop, without a browser full of tabs.
Windows 10 / 11 · Linux x86_64 (also as .deb and .rpm) · always the latest build · on a Mac? See MacTube 2
Watch what you chose, not what the algorithm pushes.
- Shorts off, for good. One switch removes Shorts from your home feed, search, sidebar and recommendations. Shorts links take you back Home.
- Skip AI-generated videos. Videos YouTube labels Made with AI are stopped before they play. Channels caught posting them disappear from your feed too, so it gets cleaner the more you watch. One click to watch anyway.
- No ads. Video ads are removed before the player sees them, any that slip through are muted and skipped, and promoted videos and ad banners are hidden from your feed, search and watch pages.
- Live chat replay: fully working 😉 Live streams and past streams load their chat alongside the video, with no "your browser is out of date" message.
- Block channels. Press Block under any video and that channel is gone: its videos vanish from your feed and search, and won't play unless you choose Watch anyway. In ⚙ → Blocked channels… you can also block a channel by pasting its @handle or link, edit an entry, or unblock it.
- Tabs. Ctrl+T for a new tab, Ctrl+click a video to open it in one. Closing a tab stops its sound.
- Links go where they should. Links in descriptions and comments open in your default browser.
- Always current. A banner tells you when a new version is out.
| Where | Shortcut | |
|---|---|---|
| Show / hide Shorts | ⚙ menu | |
| Show / hide AI videos | ⚙ menu | |
| Block a channel | Block button under any video | |
| Edit blocked channels | ⚙ → Blocked channels… | |
| New tab | + button | Ctrl+T |
| Close tab | × on the tab, or middle-click it | Ctrl+W |
| Next / previous tab | Ctrl+Tab / Ctrl+Shift+Tab | |
| Check for updates | ⚙ menu |
Windows — download DeTube-Setup.exe and run it. If Windows shows "Windows protected your PC", click More info → Run anyway (DeTube isn't signed with a paid certificate, so Windows asks once).
Linux — pick one:
- AppImage (any distribution): download DeTube-x86_64.AppImage, then
chmod +x DeTube-x86_64.AppImageand run it. On NixOS:appimage-run DeTube-x86_64.AppImage. - Ubuntu / Debian / Mint:
sudo apt install ./DeTube-amd64.deb(download) - Fedora / openSUSE:
sudo dnf install ./DeTube-x86_64.rpm(download)
If videos don't play on Linux, install your distribution's GStreamer codecs (on Ubuntu: sudo apt install gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad gstreamer1.0-libav). The AppImage already includes them.
- AI detection relies on YouTube's own Made with AI label. Videos their creators don't disclose — and YouTube doesn't catch — will still show up.
- Changed your mind about a channel? ⚙ → Forget learned AI channels resets the list.
- Videos from blocked channels can still appear in the suggestions next to a video, because YouTube doesn't say which channel they're from there. They won't play if you open one.
Every push to main builds Windows and Linux releases automatically. To build locally you need Rust and Node.js (plus the Tauri Linux packages on Linux): npx @tauri-apps/cli@2 build.
Sibling of MacTube 2. Not affiliated with YouTube or Google.