I’ve been bored and started using my phone a few times. As soon as an ad starts. I stop the app, start it again. Or just watch it in the thumbnail with cc.

I like watching YouTube stuff on my iPad to fall asleep, but at times the ads can make that real difficult, and I have yet to find a way to block them on the tablet.

PiHole allegedly helps with that, but afaik PiHole is only a DNS blacklister, and I already have blocked Google adservers troguh my router, tho that does not seem to help with ads in the YouTube mobile/tablet app.

I know AdGuard[0] claims to have the ability of blocking YouTube ads in Safari, but I also believe it's behind an IAP. Alternatively, an Invidious instance[1] will play videos without ads. It doesn't work for music videos (thanks DRM!), and I believe you have to set the video quality to DASH in Invidious's settings for Safari to be able to play it. Not as convenient as YouTube, sure, but if you hate ads enough I think it's worth it.

[0] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/adguard-adblock-privacy/id1047...

[1] https://redirect.invidious.io

YouTube premium is $12 per month. If there is one subscription worth getting, it is definitely this.

Youtube vanced works well for blocking ads. But you need an android device.

Brave on iOS blocks YT ads.

I think Brave blocks YT ads on all platforms?