[Request] Remove ?si=xxx param in shared urls

[ego-lay-atman-bay]

Have you read the FAQ?

• Yes, I did read the FAQ

Is there an existing issue/question for this?

• I have searched the existing issues

Do you think this is a bug?

❌ No, I don't think this is a bug. I will explain below

My question

I noticed that youtube started adding an ?si=xxx param to the end of urls when sharing a video / playlist. This is most likely tracking info, because it's not necessary. It would be great if there was an option to sanitize links, removing unnecessary url params from shared links.

Additional context

Here's an example url
https://youtu.be/zrQldlvovhc?si=4WMQXL9YX3jG9kT6

This makes urls longer, and takes more time for users to remove the tracking param, so it would be nice if there was an option to remove these.

[arichornlover]

That’s new. I never seen a url with ?si=xxx
youtube is really messing with the urls. I’ll look for a way to stop that hopefully

[ego-lay-atman-bay]

Yeah, I first noticed it yesterday.

[arichornlover]

Hey I think I found a workaround for your problem. Go to Settings > uYouPlus > Video Controls Overlay Options and enable the option Enable Share Button, this button inside the video player wasn’t modified by google so therefore that version of the share button doesn’t have the ?si=xxx I just found out about it just now 😁

[ego-lay-atman-bay]

Nice.

I just went to turn it on, and I already have it on. I guess I just never used it (I instead use the share button under the video).

[arichornlover]

I just made this recently

%hook YTIReelPlayerOverlayRenderer
- (BOOL)hasTrackingParams { return NO; }
%end

I found a possible cause I think. Next Release this will be implemented to help remove some of these parameters around the app.

[ego-lay-atman-bay]

That's amazing!

(Also, why does youtube use NO instead of false?)

[arichornlover]

That's amazing!

(Also, why does youtube use NO instead of false?)

well I have no clue. it’s just a different code format and btw I’m not finished with the code above. There are more tracking params that I gotta find around the app in order to make it work correctly.

[yodaluca23]

This is kinda related to this qnblackcat#1178, if you could do these too that'd be great!

[arichornlover]

the new tweak YTNoTracking is basically YTNoStripping

and I did attempt to remove the ?si=xx param in shared urls using NSURL but failed to have the knowledge to do that right.
and the code above isn't working currently because I recently found out it's been forced-enabled by Google when I was testing out the new ipa of uYouPlusExtra.

[yodaluca23]

Maybe intercept it before it goes to the share sheet and strip it then send it along? I've just realized the severity of this, if we could kind of get this expedited that'd be great!

[yodaluca23]

Any progress on this?

[arichornlover]

I’m trying, I did try to use UIApplication but seems like Google is smarter then I thought.
I am also trying to see if I can recreate the one from YouTube Revanced (android) because they are doing a better job then what I am.

[yodaluca23]

Sorry to bother, but any progress?

[arichornlover]

I completely forgot about this, but the progress wasn’t really there. But wait. There is a workaround that can be used.
go to uYouEnhanced Settings and enable Enable Share Button because what I believe is that version of the button has no ?si= string.

[arichornlover]

Next release, I will include a new button YouTimeStamp
and not only it copies the url with the timestamp
it completely removes the tracking! ?si=xxx
heres a video of the button and how it works

RPReplay_Final1716691127.mp4

Special Thanks to bhackel for helping out with it!

[yodaluca23]

Next release, I will include a new button YouTimeStamp

and not only it copies the url with the timestamp

it completely removes the tracking! ?si=xxx

heres a video of the button and how it works

https://github.com/arichornlover/uYouEnhanced/assets/78001398/84b35450-c55c-4d08-b02f-b80d1d240e00

Special Thanks to bhackel for helping out with it!

That's cool! But since this is possible, I wonder if can you just hide the share button and then make add in your own share button that would get the link from the YouTube video without the tracking parameter and then send it straight to the iOS style share sheet also incorporating a direct native iOS share sheet.

[arichornlover]

Next release, I will include a new button YouTimeStamp
and not only it copies the url with the timestamp
it completely removes the tracking! ?si=xxx
heres a video of the button and how it works

RPReplay_Final1716691127.mp4

Special Thanks to bhackel for helping out with it!

That's cool! But since this is possible, I wonder if can you just hide the share button and then make add in your own share button that would get the link from the YouTube video without the tracking parameter and then send it straight to the iOS style share sheet also incorporating a direct native iOS share sheet.

It’s possible. I have the code to add the button in thanks to NguyenASang but there would be an issue. It would overlap PoomSmart’s YouPiP button under the video player if YouPiP’s was enabled. Overrall it would be possible to add it in.

[yodaluca23]

Found this tweak, that not only removes the "si" URL parameter, but also forces the native iOS share sheet, if you could implement the code from here in two options, one to remove the "si" parameter and one to bypass the YouTube share sheet... that'd be amazing it possible.

[arichornlover]

Found this tweak, that not only removes the "si" URL parameter, but also forces the native iOS share sheet, if you could implement the code from here in two options, one to remove the "si" parameter and one to bypass the YouTube share sheet... that'd be amazing it possible.

I was about to implement something to filter it out but seeing this tweak made me realize mine wouldn’t had worked. I will definitely implement this. Thanks Yodaluca23!

[yodaluca23]

Hey, since this commit, 59cc391 the share button just completely doesn't work... I think something was implemented wrong... Also, I couldn't find a switch in settings, is their supposed to be, or is it just not going to be controllable?

[arichornlover]

You are correct. It was implemented wrong. I removed the 2 lines of unnecessary code in the new commit 95477c6

[yodaluca23]

Yep, can confirm it works now! Thank you so much, this is going to save me so much time manually stripping it! 😃

[arichornlover]

You are correct. It was implemented wrong. I removed the 2 lines of unnecessary code in the new commit 95477c6

It was planned on being an option aswell but not sure if I should go forward with it

[arichornlover]

I have reopened the issue, although it does work but however on iPad Devices it doesn’t use the system share sheet or sanitize the url.

Possible Workaround

1. Search for “iPhone Layout” and enable it in uYouEnhanced.

ALT. Copy the key to the clipboard below and enable it using Paste Settings in uYouEnhanced.

iPhoneLayout_enabled: 1

Edit: it’s fixed in v0.1.0.