YT Focus Chrome extension security report

YT Focus turns YouTube from a time-killing machine into a tool you use on purpose. HOW IT SPOTS DISTRACTIONS Instead of matching a single banned word, every video is scored on a dozen signals at once. Distractions subtract points (games and gameplay, pranks, influencer vlogs, drama, reality TV, reaction videos, clickbait, pop music and concerts, entertainment snacks) and worthwhile content adds them (courses, documentaries, concrete skills, podcasts, focus music). The shape of the title counts too — ALL CAPS shouting, strings of emoji, exclamation marks — along with the video's length. Only the sum decides, so one accidental word does not throw a video out: "Learn Spanish with Minecraft" gets through, "Minecraft #47" does not. Every distraction category can be switched off separately. The sensitivity slider has two modes, and this is the important part. On negative values it blocks things with clear distraction signals, and a video with no signals gets through. At zero and above the logic flips: only videos with positive points appear, so anything neutral disappears. Zero is the default. FOCUS MUSIC ONLY A dedicated mode where nothing but work music survives: lo-fi, ambient, instrumental, white and brown noise, nature sounds, and frequency tracks — 432 Hz, 528 Hz, solfeggio, binaural beats, alpha and theta waves. Concerts, music videos and singles count as entertainment and stay hidden. HIDE THIS AND ANYTHING LIKE IT Hover any thumbnail and a small cross appears. One click hides that video plus everything similar — same channel, or clearly overlapping words in the title. It lasts for the current page only; a refresh brings everything back, so you can cut aggressively without permanently editing your settings. WHAT IT BLOCKS Shorts — tiles, whole shelves, the sidebar entry and the filter chip. Clicking a Shorts link opens the video in the normal player, so the infinite scroll is gone. You can also have it bounce you to Subscriptions instead. Home feed — three modes: leave it alone, filter the tiles, or hide the feed entirely. In hide mode you get shortcuts to Subscriptions, Watch Later and playlists instead of suggestions. Minimum video length — hiding anything shorter than a few minutes removes most snacks. Distractions around the video — the suggestion panel, end-of-video tiles, the pause overlay, and optionally comments. Hiding suggestions makes the player wider. Channel and phrase lists — blocked and always-allowed, in every mode. WORKS OUT OF THE BOX Nothing to configure. Shorts and typical junk disappear right after installation. Four one-click strictness levels: Light, Strict, Worthwhile only, Music only. PAUSE INSTEAD OF SWITCHING OFF A "Pause 15 min" button in the toolbar popup. Better than turning it off for good: the filter comes back on its own, so one "let me just check something" does not end with YouTube unblocked for a week. WHEN THE FILTER OVERREACHES Diagnostic mode leaves the tiles in place, greyed out, labelled with the reason and the full arithmetic — for example "-4 pts: −4 games ×2, −2 emoji". You can see exactly which signal went too far and switch off that category or loosen the slider. LANGUAGES Polish and English, switchable in the settings. SCHEDULE AND TIME COUNTER During chosen hours the filter switches to a mode by itself — for example 09:00-17:00 "music only". The toolbar popup shows how long you have spent on YouTube today and over the last seven days; only time with the tab actually visible is counted. PRIVACY The extension has no network access. It collects nothing, sends nothing anywhere, and has no server. Everything runs locally in your browser. Not affiliated with Google or YouTube.