Of all the things I use my iPhone for on a regular basis, I would have to say a large percentage of that is YouTube video playback. That’s because I like to pass time while I do things by either watching videos or listening to podcasts.
Obviously, there are a lot of shortcomings to the YouTube app, but that’s something that the jailbreak community has worked tirelessly to attempt to address. In today’s roundup, we’ll discuss the plethora of iOS 15 & 16-compatible jailbreak tweaks that come to mind when we think about augmenting the YouTube app experience.
So without further ado, let’s jump right in.
Best YouTube jailbreak tweaks for iOS 16
YouMute
You would think it’d just be common sense, but a mute button in the YouTube app would be a godsend. Why is it then, that the YouTube development team hasn’t added one to the YouTube app’s user interface?
The YouMute jailbreak tweak adds a mute button to the YouTube app’s user interface, making it more convenient to use, especially when you need to quickly end all sound to hear your surroundings or to prevent sound from playing on your Bluetooth speaker.
The YouMute tweak makes the mute button look as if it were a native addition to the interface, so it doesn’t even look out of place.
You can learn everything you need to know about YouMute, including where you can get it from in our full review post.
LetMePass
More recently than ever before, there’s been a surge in the number of apps that prevent you from continuing to use them unless you update them to the latest version first. These shenanigans are a clear and evident ruse to make sure you’re running the latest release with the newest bug fixes to prevent hacks.
The LetMePass jailbreak tweak was designed especially for the YouTube app, which may sometimes display an “Update Required” prompt when you’re running an outdated version of it on your device. For jailbreakers, running outdated apps can sometimes be a requirement of using jailbreak tweaks that enhance the features of said app, and the YouTube app is no exception.
Once installed, LetMePass bypasses the Update Required prompt, enabling users to continue using the outdated YouTube app without updating it.
You can learn more about LetMePass in our full review post.
DisableYTVideoZoom
There’s a feature in the YouTube app that lets you zoom in to the video frame while the video is playing, and while it can be useful, I’ve found myself inadvertently zooming in more often than not.
The DisableYTVideoZoom jailbreak tweak does exactly what the name suggests, and it disables the zoom gesture while you’re viewing videos in the YouTube app.
Once installed, you will no longer accidentally zoom in to videos when you’re watching them, especially when you only meant to scrub your video progress slider or perform some other gesture that got mis-recognized.
You can learn more about DisableYTVideoZoom in our full review post.
YouTube Fix
At some point this year, an iOS developer discovered an issue where certain images (such as profile photos and community post photos) wouldn’t load correctly in the YouTube app in certain countries, which is because the domain used can be actively restricted in those countries.
The YouTube Fix jailbreak tweak addresses this problem, and it does so by changing the domain to a mirrored version that allows the content to display correctly in the YouTube app.
You can learn more about these domains and how this tweak works in our full review post.
YouChooseQuality
The YouTube app generally chooses your video playback quality automatically unless you manually specify a video playback quality that you prefer. This automatic quality selection can consider things like your internet connection and the YouTube server’s performance when selecting a quality choice automatically.
But if you have a preferred YouTube video playback quality that you like to watch videos on, then you can take advantage of the YouChooseQuality jailbreak tweak to manually select one preferred video quality that the YouTube app will be forced to use all the time (when available).
You can learn more about YouChooseQuality and how it can improve your YouTube video playback experience in our full review post.
YTShortsProgress
For whatever reason, the YouTube app doesn’t like displaying a progress bar when you’re watching Shorts in the app, but it does for full-length videos.
I’ve always hated this, because I like to know how long something is or how far along I am while I’m, watching it.
The YTShortsProgress jailbreak tweak adds a progress bar to the Shorts playback interface, and it looks as native as can be without disturbing your viewing experience.
You can learn more about YTShortsProgress in our full review post.
YTAutoFullScreen
If you’re anything like me, then you probably spend most of your time watching YouTube videos in full-screen mode in landscape orientation rather than in the smaller windowed view with comments visible.
The YTAutoFullScreen jailbreak tweak ensures that your YouTube video playback experience always plays back in full-screen landscape orientation, making sure that you always take full advantage of your iPhone’s long display without requiring any manual input.
Best of all, the tweak even hides the comments section, removing the additional step of having to hide comments when you rotate your device into landscape orientation.
You can learn more about YTAutoFullScreen and how it works in our full review post.
YouTube X
The YouTube X jailbreak tweak allows jailbreakers to hide ads in the YouTube app and enable background playback functionality, all without subscribing to YouTube Premium to do so.
While there’s nothing inherently wrong with free ad-based playback, I have a problem with YouTube’s back-to-back ads that just never seem to end. If double-dipping wasn’t enough, there are even times when YouTube triple-dips.
I also like the background playback option because it lets you close out of the YouTube app while content continues playing in the background. This is a multi-tasker’s best friend, and you’ll quickly see why we like it when you try it for yourself.
You can learn more about YouTube X in our full review post.
Gonerino
Sometimes you don’t want to see certain YouTube channels in your search results, and that could be because the channel is buying up ad space and showing up more in your search results than other channels, or because they’re something you wholeheartedly disagree with, but the YouTube algorithm shoves it down your throat anyway.
With the Gonerino jailbreak tweak, you can designate which YouTube channels you don’t want to appear in your search results. It’s a great way to take control of your YouTube user experience and see only the content that matters most to you.
You can learn more about Gonerino and where you can get it from in our full review post.
DLEasy
Have you ever wanted to be able to download videos from the YouTube app? Well now you can, and you don’t even have to deal with that offline viewing fake-download feature that YouTube pushes on you in YouTube Premium.
With the DLEasy jailbreak tweak, you can bring true video downloading to the YouTube app and save video files locally to your device so that you can share them elsewhere.
As an added bonus, DLEasy works in other social media apps as well, so you can download videos from pretty much anywhere.
You can learn more about DLEasy in our full review post.
YTHoldForSpeed
One of the cool things about the YouTube app is that you can change your video’s playback speed so that you can listen to or watch videos more quickly than you could ordinarily.
But if you’re looking for quicker access to that playback speed feature, then you need a jailbreak tweak called YTHoldForSpeed, which lets you change the video’s playback with a simple tap and hold gesture instead of perusing through options in the YouTube app.
You can learn more about YTHoldForSpeed in our full review post.
youtube no panel
Don’t you just hate it when you rotate your iPhone into landscape mode while watching YouTube videos and then instead of playing a full-screen video, you get a small landscape video next to a block of comments? I mean… who cares about the comments.
The youtube no panel jailbreak tweak forces your YouTube app to completely disregard the comments and move straight to full-screen landscape orientation video playback, which is my preferred way to use the YouTube app.
You can still open the comments up manually, but they won’t be forced down your throat from the very start.
You can learn more about youtube no panel in our full review post.
Conclusion
There are lots of ways that you can use your jailbreak on iOS 15 or 16 to improve the YouTube app on your device.
While these are some of our jailbreak tweak recommendations, we also recognize that there are other options out there. So we welcome your comments below if you wish to share what you’re using and we missed it above.