A Fix the Web project
Watch on purpose.
Keep the YouTube you value. Build a feed from channels you choose, set boundaries around watching and discovery, and see which videos felt worth your time. Entertainment, learning and rest all count. You decide what worthwhile means.
- Free and open source
- Run your own private Villow, or join one run by someone you trust
- Villow adds no ads and sells no viewing data
Catch up, then be done.
A chronological feed from channels you choose, with a size you control and a real end. Keep what interests you, skip the rest, and leave when you've caught up.
Keep discovering. Choose how much.
Explore country charts and friends' picks in Villow. For YouTube's personalized recommendations, browse YouTube itself with the extension's daily ceiling on recommendations seen. Those recommendations stay on YouTube; Villow's own suggestions help you adjust your habits and settings.
How it feels
Choose, sort, watch, reflect.
Choose
Pick your channels, filters and how often each channel checks in.
TBDImage to comeChannel filters and check-in cadence4/5Sort
Swipe to skip or save. Your library can have limits too.
TBDImage to comeMobile swipe (short recording)4/5Watch
Enjoy a calm player. Stop now and pick up where you left off.
TBDImage to comeThe calm player4/5Check in, if you like
One quick, optional question: was this worth your time? You never have to rate.
TBDImage to come"Was this video worth your time?" on mobile4/5Reflect & refine
See patterns in your time and ratings, with explained suggestions you can accept or dismiss.
TBDImage to comeWhere the time went, with a suggestion4/5
What's inside
More say over your day.
Channels, on your terms
Keep a channel's tutorials, exclude a series you skip, choose a duration range, or catch up with it weekly. A few choices shape the feed around you.
Your limits follow you
Your limits follow you across Villow and connected browsers. Count Villow usage and YouTube pages in browsers with the linked extension; native YouTube apps and unconnected browsers are outside that coverage.
Stop now. Pick up where you left off.
Saved progress gives a video somewhere to wait. Optional Watch Later size limits, expiry and pinning help keep the library manageable.
Suggestions that show their reasons
Your ratings, skips and usage can point to an adjustment. Villow waits for a sufficient pattern, explains it, and leaves the decision to you.
Built for friends, not followers
Recommend a video, share what you choose, or watch together in a private room with synchronized playback, a shared queue and chat.
Something else you'd enjoy
Bring in your own activities from Google Tasks or Todoist. At a natural stopping point, they're an invitation to do what matters to you, including rest.
An algorithm that works for you
Not just how long. Whether it was worth it.
Time alone can't tell you whether a video was worthwhile. Optional reflections add your perspective. When enough of your ratings and usage show a pattern, Villow suggests a change, such as checking a channel less often, and shows why. You choose whether to act. It never suggests raising a limit.
Boundaries you choose
A good place to stop.
Daily and per-channel limits, schedules, bedtime and enforced breaks help you keep the boundaries you chose. A finish-current-video allowance is available for some limits when the app offers it. Streaks count days without raising or extending limits, rather than simply days below a time threshold.
Your own private Villow. Your people.
One person sets up a Villow on hosting and database accounts they control, then friends sign in. You can run your own or join one run by someone you trust. The owner controls the database; your member sharing choices decide what other members see through the app.
YouTube could offer these controls to everyone.
Villow demonstrates that these controls are possible. YouTube could offer them directly to everyone. Fix the Web is building the case through working tools and voluntary feedback. Villow is a prototype we can learn from; better outcomes need evidence, and private viewing data isn't automatically sent to the movement.
Make room for the YouTube you value.
Create a private Villow, join a friend's, or start with the standalone extension. Villow adds no ads and sells no viewing data. Embedded videos may still show YouTube ads.