Firefox desktop · Private beta

Purer for YouTube

Fewer sponsor interruptions, across the videos you watch.

Purer analyzes video transcripts to find sponsor reads. No companion extension is required. Detected sponsor reads skip automatically, with a Keep countdown, Undo, and a pause switch.

Get the Firefox beta

Beta access is included with an active PurerPodcasts subscription through Apple, Google Play, or the web. Active free trials are included. Downloading does not purchase or change a subscription.

Checking your sign-in…

This is a temporary, unsigned add-on. Firefox removes it when you quit. Load it again after restarting; permanent installation and automatic updates require a Mozilla-signed release.

Set up on Windows

Use Firefox 142 or later. Purer works independently. You can keep your usual ad blocker too.
Extract the download. Right-click the ZIP in Windows Explorer, choose Extract All, and keep the extracted folder.
Load Purer. Enter about:debugging#/runtime/this-firefox in Firefox’s address bar. Choose Load Temporary Add-on, open the extracted extension folder, and select manifest.json.
Connect your account. In Purer’s setup tab, choose Sign in to PurerPodcasts. Your existing web sign-in is reused. Match the code on the connection page and choose Connect Firefox, then return to setup. If Firefox uses another profile, sign in there with email, Apple, or Google.
Enable sponsor skipping once. Turn on Enable automatic sponsor skipping on YouTube. No channel selection or YouTube subscription is required. Reload any YouTube tabs already open.
Find the controls. Open Firefox’s puzzle-piece Extensions menu → Purer for YouTube. Its gear menu offers Pin to Toolbar. Try Undo, Pause for this video, and the report controls.

Already testing?

0.8.0 makes detected skips visible. See each section’s timestamps, duration, and skip status in the Purer menu, with matching colored markers on YouTube’s timeline. Paused or kept sections use stripes. Purer now works independently and shares the phone app’s visual style.

Replace the files in your existing extracted extension folder with this version, then click Reload under Purer in about:debugging. If it is no longer listed, load the new manifest.json. Check your connection and settings, then reload YouTube tabs.

Playback controls

Detected skips: View section times and skip status in the menu and matching markers on the YouTube timeline. Normal seeking still works.
Time saved: Open Purer’s menu for today and the past seven days. Totals count actual Purer skips, adjust for playback speed and Undo, and count only skips performed by Purer.
Keep countdown: Choose Keep before a skip to hear that section. The warning defaults to five seconds; change it in Settings.
Chapters & transcript: After Purer analyzes a video, open this view from its menu. Search the transcript, see detected sections, and jump to a chapter or passage.
Better corrections: Select a detected section, report early or late timing, adjust and preview the boundaries, then send it for review.
Optional skips: Settings can enable creator self-promotions and production credits. Both are off by default.

These controls require the new extension files and a reload of your YouTube tabs. Chapters and transcripts are available for videos Purer analyzes. When another extension is already handling sponsor skips, Purer avoids overlapping skips.

What to expect

Supported videos are public, completed YouTube watch-page videos up to four hours with a readable transcript. Livestreams, ongoing premieres, private/unlisted videos, Shorts, and embedded players are excluded. Purer explains unsupported videos in its menu.

The first viewer may hear a sponsor while analysis runs; later viewers can reuse the shared result. If another skipping extension is enabled, Purer briefly checks for existing sponsor markers to avoid overlapping skips. Missing or disabled extensions never prevent analysis.

Purer detects creator sponsorships in the transcript. This beta does not remove YouTube-served platform ads.

Data and beta measurement

Once sponsor skipping is enabled, supported videos’ IDs, channel IDs, duration, language, and timestamped transcripts go to the Purer service. Captions go to its AI provider when a new analysis is needed; skip ranges are shared with other users. YouTube cookies and Google credentials are not sent.

Beta measurement is on by default, with an off switch in extension Settings. It records aggregate playback, player ad indicators, skips, Undo, setup/error counts, browser and extension versions, and the enabled state of known blockers. Measurement adds no video IDs, URLs, titles, or transcripts. Counts are associated with a protected account identifier and retained for 90 days.

Measurement data sources and privacy details

If SponsorBlock or uBlock Origin is missing or disabled, Purer checks SponsorBlock community coverage through its service using a short video-hash prefix. Aggregate counts distinguish missing and disabled blockers, potential sponsor skip time, and flagged sponsor content actually watched. These estimates do not change playback or personal time saved, and cannot tell us which YouTube ads uBlock would block.

Firefox’s own technical-data choice is respected. If setup shows Allow measurement in Firefox, use it to participate. Measurement can run while sponsor skipping is off; turning measurement off clears unsent counts. Server reliability and model-usage accounting continue.

Personal time-saved totals stay in this browser and work with measurement off. Reset them in Settings. Transcript search runs locally; search text is not uploaded. Aggregate feature-use counts follow the measurement setting.