ReelControl

About

Take back control of videos on the web by reversing the (very) annoying trend of social media platforms removing the native progress bar in an effort to keep you hooked. ReelControl adds a progress bar and playback controls anywhere they should rightfully be! That is, on Instagram, YouTube Shorts, or Facebook Reels.

Adding progress bars and video controls back in lets you:

- Know the time commitment before watching
- Rewind when you miss something
- Skip ahead and go back without having to start over

I initially built this for myself and found that not only is it a little bit more enjoyable if I do ever end up on those videos, but I notice myself spending a lot less time on them without having to explicitly block them. I spend less time on my phone too, since I am now used to having that progress bar and just get frustrated and leave immediately when I remember it's not there.

== Platform Notes ==

Instagram

- Instagram has a pretty clean video interface, so we only add the native video controls.

YouTube Shorts

- YouTube does have its own progress bar, but it's proprietary and hidden from immediate view, making it impossible to quickly see the video's length as opposed to the native controls which work _for_ the user.

- YouTube Shorts interface is crazy cluttered, so we have some options to remove most elements from view.

Facebook Reels

- Facebook Reels have a crazy amount of clutter, and also no progress bar or video controls.

- Facebook's HTML structure is extremely obfuscated, so we just removed all the clutter and added a progress bar. If anyone wants to add more fine-grained control, PRs are most welcome here!

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Open source, PRs and issues are welcome @ https://github.com/darajava/reel-control/

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Built with love by Soliloquy Apps ❤️

Like this extension? We also built AudioDiary--a super smart voice-powered journal that's gotten lots of love from its users.

Try it out at https://audiodiary.ai !