Support
Something not working, or a question the answers below don't cover? Email nick@nickjones.tech. Boring is made by one person, Nick Jones, who reads every message. Saying which iPhone or iPad you have and what you were doing helps.
Following a channel or feed
Tap + in the inbox or in your list of follows, then paste a YouTube channel link, an @handle, a link to any of the channel's videos, or the address of an RSS or Atom feed. New videos from it appear in the inbox on the next refresh.
Bringing your YouTube subscriptions across
Connect your YouTube account at the top of your list of follows and Boring follows every channel you subscribe to, then picks up channels you subscribe to later. Boring only reads your subscriptions; it never changes anything on YouTube. You can disconnect at any time.
Where are the Shorts and livestreams?
They're hidden until you ask for them, from the filter menu at the top of the inbox. Telling a Short from a normal video is a guess, so if Boring gets one wrong, long-press it and correct it.
Can a video keep playing in Picture in Picture?
Not in Boring's own player. Videos there play in YouTube's player, and YouTube only lets a video carry on in Picture in Picture or in the background for viewers it knows are YouTube Premium members. Boring's player can't be signed in to your YouTube account, so YouTube treats everyone as a viewer without Premium, and its rules don't let apps work around that.
To keep watching in Picture in Picture, tap Open in YouTube in the player. The video carries on in the YouTube app from where you were, signed in as you, and with Premium you can then leave the app and watch it in Picture in Picture.
Syncing between devices
What you follow and what you've watched sync through your own iCloud. Sign in to iCloud with the same Apple Account on each device and make sure iCloud is turned on for Boring in Settings. Changes can take a little while to reach your other devices.
Super Boring mode
Super Boring mode swaps titles and thumbnails for a short summary of each video, made on your device by Apple Intelligence. It needs an iPhone or iPad that supports Apple Intelligence, with Apple Intelligence turned on.
Your data
Boring has no account and no server of its own. The privacy policy says exactly what the app does with data and how to delete what's in your iCloud.