Use LibRedirect. It's a browser extension that redirects to an alternative frontend for a bunch of services. Not sure about other browsers but definitely works on Firefox on desktop and mobile.
this post was submitted on 31 Jan 2026
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Dunno app, but for Instagram, I had found the site https://imginn.com/, which acts as a frontend for it, similar as Nitter for Twitter. Just not FOSS, in case it's a problem for you. Instagram videos you should also be able to download with yt-dlp.
Also, dunno if it's working as I very rarely consume shorts-type videos, but for TikTok, maybe Grayjay's an option? Also regarding Grayjay, it has a few more sources, both from FUTO and the community, as listed here.
Facebook I vaguely remember having seen mentions of a frontend similar to Nitter / Imginn but can't remember if I'm misremembering.
Other solutions depend on the respective sites. Bluesky for example there's RSS, embedded, fixed embeddeds and Skyview. DeviantArt and Imgur you can somewhat circumvent issues with embeddeds. Posts from fediverse sites with bad UI you can circumvent by pulling the link into your preferred instance's search. And so on.
For links from X/twitter you can use xcancel.com.
Just take any link and replace domain x.com with xcancel.com and you can read content without logging in
yt-dlp with termux, you can setup a wrapper script/shortcut with termux widget and termux gui too
A web browser.
It's not enough now. Modern social media require you to create an account to see content.
not if you use frontends like proxitok or imginn or invidious ect
Yup. I haven't had any issues seeing shared content in a browser when logged out.
Yeah at most you need to go to desktop mode in the browser setting and refresh. But I guess its because I don't like installing any apps so I'm used to using the browser for most things especially shared links
I always just open links to twitter meta Instagram etc in Firefox focus browser. For tiktok I normally have to switch to desktop mode and refresh or else it will redirect me to a broken page if I hit play. Instagram just need to open each link in a new tab or else it will ask to login to view more but thats not normally something I do
i meant an android app,
I think Firefox focus is only available on android
YTDLnis is a downloader for videos posted on all kinds of social media (started as YouTube Downloader, hence the name). It's available on F-Droid. See https://ytdlnis.org/ for details.
No, I don't think you're going to find a solution that will satisfy your need. Google, Meta, tiktok, etc. all have the ability to gatekeep their content. Just as an example, when Youtube locks you out of viewing a video unless you are on their platform and sometimes, also logged in.
They are as big as they are for a reason and choosing not to use them will result in truly not using them instead of using them on your terms.
Regarding frontends like newpipe, Freetube, etc., those are all trying to get by on embed links, which are still controlled by Google and they fail at displaying a video more often than not with the never-ending changes that are made upstream.
I'm going on a limb, but couldn't an app pretend to be a chrome browser and only display the video part?
an app like that would be so fucking convenient
You could try a dedicated web browser just for those videos? Brave is a bit dodgy but you could keep it around only for those sites.
A ton of developers have tried it but not only are they failing at acting like these apps, the apps are also forcing logins more and more often for more content. So even if you faked the app, you still wouldn't have access to that content unless you also logged in. Just like if you opened tick tock it's going to force you to log in. If you open Facebook, it will eventually force you to log in a YouTube hides a lot of videos behind a login.
Also, as more and more countries adopt the age verification farce, all of these apps are just going to keep getting more and more restrictive as to when they will finally show you a video.
It really is unfortunate as I would love something like this as well because my entire family shares content fear these platforms and if I want to see it and then talk to my wife about it or whatever, I have to log in on that platform to see that content.
I'm old enough to remember a time before any of this crap existed. Increasingly, I'm just going back to that. When I click a link and it says please log in, I just leave. Fuck 'em. I don't do bait and switch.
I'm with you. I hail from the days of dial-up BBS. I've gotten to watch online devolve from a genuine community of people that often disagreed but knew how to talk about it and could trust that a human sat on the other end.
I've been stripping elements from my online life and working my way towards reclaiming some semblance of an internet that betters my life; no corporate social networks, no lowest common denominators at either extreme end and no psychologically-tuned engagement triggers.
We will never get an honest Internet back but like you, I can reclaim my use of it on my terms.
I hate all this enshitification.
You will still need to go through the login page.
My sister knows my "stubbornness" on my phone. She sends a screen recording of the video
Yt-dlnis app
interesting. there are a few websites, not sure if they are all the same website or one is real and the rest are malware, which is the real one?
i got it from fdroid