So youtube started ignoring “request desktop site” requests from mobile browsers again, even from tablets.

This is frustrating for a few reasons, namely because extensions tend to work best in the desktop view, and also because youtube disables certain features (transcripts, notification list) in the mobile view.

I like to avoid useragent spoofing whenever possible as it’s helping chrome’s dominance over the web

If anyone else is looking for a workaround, add &app=desktop to the URL

Anyway, hope this helps someone!