using Brave on an iphone for Youtube is a godsend. Almost as good as desktop experience. Youtube app, Safari and Chrome suck enough to be unusable
Does it block ads?
If you browse YouTube on mobile via the Brave browser it blocks all YouTube ads.
I haven't used the YouTube app in a year...
btw: it’s also possible to go to fullscreen mode, then go directly to the home screen so that the pop-over player is activated, then the video keeps playing while the screen is looked, with controls working from the lockscreen.