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Opening a YouTube link in Cloaki

Hold down any YouTube link in Safari, Messages, or another app until the share sheet appears, then tap Cloaki. The video will open directly in the private player. If Cloaki doesn't appear in the share sheet, tap More and make sure Cloaki is switched on in the list of apps.

Sharing a video

Tap the share button (top-right corner) while a video is playing. This copies a cloaki.app/watch link to your clipboard or lets you send it via Messages, Mail, or any other app. Anyone who taps the link on an iPhone or iPad with Cloaki installed will be taken straight into the player. On other devices, they'll see the video title, thumbnail, and a link to download the app.

Previewing a video before opening it

In card view, press and hold any video thumbnail for about half a second. Cloaki will cycle through alternate preview frames from the video — the same way YouTube desktop previews work. Release your finger to dismiss the preview without opening the video, or tap normally to open it. Preview frames are fetched through the Cloaki proxy, so they never expose your IP to Google's CDN.

Opening a related video from the player

Tap any related video suggestion shown by the YouTube player and it will open directly in Cloaki — the video is added to your watch history and stays fully private. Previously these taps did nothing; they now work as expected.

Saving and playing playlists

Find playlists with the Playlists tab in search results, or tap a playlist link inside the player — either way it opens in Cloaki, never the YouTube app. Tap the bookmark icon to save a playlist; saved playlists appear in the Playlists tab at the bottom of the app, next to Favorites.

Opening a playlist shows all of its videos, each with the same favorite and note icons as everywhere else. Tap any video to start playing — Cloaki plays through the playlist automatically, advancing to the next video when one finishes, and you can skip forward or back with the on-screen controls. Saved playlists stay on your device and can be removed with Clear Saved Playlists in Settings.

Adding notes to a favorite

Every video in your Favorites has a note icon next to the bookmark. Tap it to open a simple editor and jot down whatever you like — the icon fills in once a note exists. Notes are saved automatically when you close the editor.

While watching, the note button in the player (a Cloaki Premium feature) saves a tappable timestamp link at the exact moment you tapped it, so you can jump back to that spot later. Tapping a timestamp inside a note opens the video right at that time. Adding a note from the player also saves the video to your Favorites if it isn't already.

Notes stay on your device. They're included in your iCloud backup only if you've turned on the backup setting, and they're removed if you remove the favorite (or use Clear Favorites in Settings).

Video won't play

Not every video can be played in an embedded player. When one can't, Cloaki tells you why rather than just failing — for example that the video is unavailable in your current region, has been made private or deleted, is age-restricted, or has been restricted to YouTube by the uploader.

Region restrictions when travelling. Some videos are blocked in certain countries, and this is enforced by your current internet location, not your device's Region setting. So a video you watched at home may stop playing when you're abroad (the preview thumbnails still load, since images aren't region-restricted). This is a restriction set by the uploader or rights holder; Cloaki can't bypass it.

If a video you expect to work still won't load, try turning off Privacy Protection in Settings — this disables tracker blocking, which could in rare cases interfere with certain embedded players.

Search limit reached

The free tier allows 5 searches per day. This is because YouTube API keys have a specific daily allotment and each search request uses up a portion of that allotment. The limit resets at midnight in your local time zone. To remove the limit, upgrade to Cloaki Premium from the paywall screen or from Settings, or supply your own YouTube API key for a separate daily quota — see our guide to getting a key.

Restore a purchase

If you reinstalled the app or switched devices, tap Restore Purchases on the paywall screen. Make sure you're signed in to the same Apple ID used for the original purchase.

Subscriptions and billing

Subscriptions are managed entirely by Apple. To cancel or view your subscription, go to Settings → [your name] → Subscriptions on your iPhone or iPad.

Privacy questions

See the Privacy Policy for a full explanation of how Cloaki handles your data. The short version: everything stays on your device, nothing is linked to your identity.