PocketTube: How to Manage Your YouTube Subscriptions

I have said it several times: the YouTube interface has a lot to optimize. Its current design might be fine for most users, but nothing stops Google from adding features that make life a little easier within the service. One of those features is a more polished subscription manager, with category creation and quick assignments in a couple of clicks. The best alternative comes in the form of a Chrome-compatible extension, and it's called PocketTube.

Personally, I consider myself a frequent YouTube user, but the truth is I don't have that many subscriptions. Just a few channels dedicated to DIY, restorations, retro, and of course, the latest in technology. However, there are users out there with hundreds of subscriptions, and the desire to manage them a bit better. As expected, official options are sorely lacking. Mountain View lets us delete subscriptions and confirm notifications, but nothing more than that.

Why can't we create folders? Separate channels by content type? Well, actually we can… but we need an additional resource. A Chrome-compatible extension, to be more precise. That extension goes by the name of PocketTube, was recently updated, and I must admit it works very well.

How to manage YouTube subscriptions with PocketTube

The first thing we notice after installation is a new section in the YouTube interface identified as Subscription Groups. There we can type a name and click the + sign to add a new group, but it's better to click on Subscription Groups and enter the dedicated menu. The rest is a matter of creating more groups, and dragging channels from right to left to save them in the correct category.

When you type a group name, PocketTube tries to assign an appropriate icon automatically, but the extension allows you to replace it, either by choosing another from the list, or uploading your own design. When it comes to playback, PocketTube can combine all videos from a category, sort by alphabet or publication date, and apply filters to limit results. Another organizational advantage is hiding videos that have already been watched, although this is optional.

In short, I think all YouTube users, whether casual or very frequent, need to download a copy of PocketTube. It offers a feature that should already be official at this point, but it's clear that Mountain View's timing is not our own.

Official site: Click here.