Depending on your configuration, your experience will differ greatly.
As mentioned in another comment I made, Freetube relies heavily on either directly connecting to YouTube’s API or proxying through an Invidious instance, perhaps try a different Invidious instance, but in my case Freetube + Invidious works 9 times out of 10 for me.
There are two ways of using Freetube, either with YouTube’s APi or with Invidious’s APi.
When using YouTube’s APi you won’t get the same ad-blocking and proxying benefits compared to Invidious’s API.
One bonus of using Invidious is that your traffic is combined with everyone else’s who use that same instance, for example if you use https://inv.nadeko.net/ your traffic will be masked along side everyone else’s who happens to use that same instance making it harder for big corporations to track you, in this case Google.
Freetube + Invidious
For me freetube usually only works about 30% of the time.
Depending on your configuration, your experience will differ greatly.
As mentioned in another comment I made, Freetube relies heavily on either directly connecting to YouTube’s API or proxying through an Invidious instance, perhaps try a different Invidious instance, but in my case Freetube + Invidious works 9 times out of 10 for me.
Do you have any instances you can suggest?
I can really only recommend what the Invidious developers recommend, unfortunately some instance admins have chosen to disable their public APi to prevent abuse or (in my scenario) have restricted their instance to certain geolocations.
If you have a Canadian IP I don’t mind letting people leech off of my instance, shoot me a DM and I’ll give you my domain.
I use Freetube, what does Invidious do?
There are two ways of using Freetube, either with YouTube’s APi or with Invidious’s APi.
When using YouTube’s APi you won’t get the same ad-blocking and proxying benefits compared to Invidious’s API.
One bonus of using Invidious is that your traffic is combined with everyone else’s who use that same instance, for example if you use https://inv.nadeko.net/ your traffic will be masked along side everyone else’s who happens to use that same instance making it harder for big corporations to track you, in this case Google.