Help and fixes

Most problems are solved by reloading the YouTube tab. If that does not help, find your symptom below.

The Block channel button is missing or videos are not hidden

YouTube loads its pages in pieces and changes its layout now and then. When a tab was open before TubeBlock was installed or updated, or right after a YouTube update, the extension may not have attached to it yet.

  1. Reload the YouTube tab (Ctrl+R, or Cmd+R on a Mac).
  2. Check that you are on www.youtube.com. TubeBlock does not run on m.youtube.com, music.youtube.com or YouTube Kids.
  3. Open the TubeBlock popup and make sure the feature you expect is switched on.
  4. If one kind of card keeps slipping through after a YouTube redesign, tell us at info@tubeblock.app which page it was (Home, search, Up next, Subscriptions) and we will fix it in the next version.

The extension was switched off

Browsers sometimes switch off extensions that were loaded in developer mode, for example if you clicked "Disable" on the developer mode warning, or after you moved or renamed the TubeBlock folder.

  1. Open chrome://extensions (or edge://extensions, brave://extensions, opera://extensions).
  2. Find TubeBlock and turn its switch back on. If it shows an error that files are missing, the folder was moved or deleted: put it back, or load it again with Load unpacked as described on the install page.
  3. Reload your YouTube tabs.

New channels or keywords are not saved

TubeBlock saves your lists in the browser's sync storage, which has a size limit set by the browser. When the limit is reached, TubeBlock switches to local storage on this computer, so your lists keep working but are no longer synced between your computers.

  • Remove channels or keywords you no longer need, especially long phrases.
  • Use Export in TubeBlock's settings to keep a copy of your lists as a file, and Import to restore it on another computer.
  • If you just added something on another computer, give browser sync a minute, then reload YouTube.

I forgot my PIN

The PIN protects TubeBlock's settings, and we cannot recover it: it is stored only as a scrambled value in your browser, and we never receive it. To start over, reset the extension:

  1. On the extensions page, click Remove on TubeBlock.
  2. Load the folder again with Load unpacked. TubeBlock starts with empty lists and no PIN.
  3. If the old PIN comes back, your browser's sync restored the old settings. Turn off syncing of extensions in the browser's sync settings, repeat the two steps above, then turn sync back on.

Resetting also clears your blocked channels and keywords. If you exported them earlier, import the file afterwards.

Where TubeBlock works

Other questions

Does TubeBlock slow YouTube down?

It checks each video card that YouTube adds to the page against your lists. That work is small, and it happens in your browser without any network requests.

Can I move my lists to another computer?

Yes. With browser sync on, the browser may sync them for you. Otherwise use Export in the settings on one computer and Import on the other.

Why is TubeBlock not in the Chrome Web Store?

The listing is coming soon. Until then the zip file on the install page is the official way to get it.

Something else is wrong

Write to info@tubeblock.app. The contact page lists what to include so we can reproduce the problem quickly.

Last updated

See also