YTFocus

YouTube that shows your subscriptions. Nothing else.

YTFocus strips the feed down to channels you chose — then adds exam mode, a focus timer, a daily watch budget, and study-topic filtering. Built for students, exam aspirants, and anyone whose "5-minute break" keeps becoming 2 hours.

Free forever for everything on-device · No account · Nothing leaves your browser · Chrome (Manifest V3)

What it does

Every feature below runs locally in the extension. The Pro server only handles cloud sync, exam packs, and license checks.

Subscribed-only feed

Home, trending, search, watch-next sidebar: videos from channels you don't follow are removed (or blurred). Collab videos credit every channel — a video stays if any credited partner is subscribed.

Shorts control

Shorts vanish from listings entirely (optional, on by default). Open one directly and the player checks the channel instead, covering it with a block screen and a Next Short button.

Exam Mode

One tap: every filter on, Shorts gone, comments hidden, Trending / Music / Gaming / News / Sports removed from the sidebar. For the weeks that decide your year.

Focus timer

25- or 50-minute sessions with a countdown on the page badge. When time's up, a break screen offers a 5-minute filter pause, another session, or dismiss.

Daily watch budget

Cap actual playback minutes per day. At 100% YouTube blocks with options to extend 10 minutes, snooze, or disable. Resets at midnight automatically.

Study topics

Basic word matching, free forever: a keyword allowlist matched against titles and channel names. Strict mode hides even subscribed videos off your topics. Seed keywords suggested from your subscriptions — you maintain the words yourself.

Stats that sting

Videos hidden, Shorts blocked, focus minutes, watched-today — in the popup, updated live. Watching the hidden counter climb is half the motivation.

Semantic + LLM filtering Pro

Not word matching. Pick a subject theme — Physics (JEE), Modern History (UPSC), Biology (NEET) — and an LLM judge decides what each video is actually about from its title and channel. A vlog titled "thermodynamics of my morning" gets blocked; a lecture with an odd title gets through. Runs on your Firebase project with your own Gemini key — no YTFocus server involved. No key, no problem: curated keyword packs do the job.

Cloud sync & exam packs Pro

Settings follow you across devices via your Firebase project, and curated UPSC / JEE / NEET playlists arrive ready-made. Sign in with Google, check a license key, done.

Free vs Pro

Rule: only features that need cloud (Google) services cost money. Everything on your device is free forever. Pro runs on your own Firebase project — setup takes ten minutes, see firebase/README.md.

FreePro
Subscribed-only feed, collab handlingYesYes
Shorts control, Exam Mode, focus timerYesYes
Watch budget, keyword study topics, statsYesYes
Semantic + LLM theme filteringBasic words onlyYes
Cloud sync across devicesYes
Curated exam packs (UPSC, JEE, NEET)Yes
Price₹0Planned: ₹149–199/mo or ₹999/yr · $3.99/mo or $29/yr

Install (2 minutes)

  1. Download this folder, open chrome://extensions, enable Developer mode.
  2. Load unpacked → select the YTFocus folder (the one with manifest.json).
  3. Open YouTube, click the YTFocus icon → Sync subscriptions.
  4. Optional: turn on Exam Mode, set a watch budget, add study topics.

Pro server (self-host): see YTFocus-server/README.md — Docker Compose, Postgres, Google OAuth, admin dashboard at /admin.

Questions

Does it upload my watch history anywhere?
No. Subscriptions are read from pages you already open and stored in the browser. The server only sees what Pro features explicitly send.
I follow nobody. Will it blank YouTube?
After you press Sync, yes — that's the point. Before first sync it stays idle so a fresh install never nukes your feed.
Why do some videos still show?
Cards the extension can't attribute (some ads/promos) are left alone unless strict mode is on. Hover the page badge — it reports the count.
Which browsers?
Chrome and any Chromium browser (Edge, Brave) via developer mode. Manifest V3, no extra permissions beyond storage and the YouTube tab.