Just be patient for the inevitable uBlockOrigin update that will fix it.

True aha. yt-dlp still works mostly, so I suppose I could just use it to download my subscribed and watch offline. There’s always a way

With or without cookies?

I’ve recently been told to sign in when trying to access YouTube videos not just on a VPN, but now at my own residential location

you can add “–cookies-from-browser firefox” or whatever browser you use, to the end of the yt-dlp target

I’m personally just not that excited about needing a YouTube account to be signed in, in order to view/download videos. I imagine they wouldn’t take too kindly to that if they caught me. My existing account kind of matters, and apparently now you need a phone number to register a new one

Downloading a video is functionally identical to watching the video. I’m not 100% sure they can’t tell, but they certainly shouldn’t care… You’re not circumventing anything by downloading a streamed video, they just obfuscate the download functionality.

I imagine they might care because advertisements are their source of revenue on that platform, which I believe loses money regardless. They’re also getting increasingly adamant about breaking people’s ad blockers.

It also appears to me that every combination of functional use requires some form of identification:

• If you’re logged out, they’re okay with you browsing from an identifiable home IP address.
• If you’re on a VPN, they’re okay with showing your videos if you log in so they can track your viewing habits.
• If you’re on a VPN and make a new account, they want your phone number so they can tie your identity to an actual human being.

It might be a bit paranoid, but these factors combined suggest that Google does not want us to watch videos without providing some form of (inferrable) personal identification. And if Google can’t get what it wants, specifically data and ad revenue, they might be very willing to terminate an account that’s draining their coffers.