A free profanity and blasphemy filter for YouTube TV, YouTube and DIRECTV Stream

Blast Phemur*

Sounds like blasphemer. Mutes blasphemy and swearing.

It lowers the sound for the moment each word is spoken on streaming video, and masks it in the captions. Into the jar, out of the room.

Coming soon to the Chrome Web Store

Free No account Chrome, Brave and Edge

A sea-glass swear jar with a copper lid and a paper tag. One caught word sits inside, drawn as an asterisk.

One word goes quiet. The scene plays on.

Blast Phemur finds the words in the show's own captions and lowers the volume for the moment each one is spoken. The same word is masked in the captions. It cleans up the language in TV shows without cutting a single scene.

Oh, f***. We're late.

On the timeline, the sound goes flat for the one word while the caption shows it masked as f***. Timing comes from the captions, so it is close, not exact.

Eleven seconds of the real thing

Recorded from the 0.2.0 build in Brave, not an animation. The film is Sintel, © Blender Foundation, CC BY 3.0; its captions were written for this demo, since Sintel has no such dialogue.

Three steps. The last one is watching.

  1. Install

    Add it to Chrome, Brave or Edge on a computer. There is no account to make.

  2. Choose

    Set Blasphemy and Swearing each to Off, Worst, Most or All. New installs start at All for blasphemy and Most for swearing.

  3. Watch

    Play a show on YouTube TV, YouTube or DIRECTV Stream. The toolbar button says what it is doing on that tab.

Two dials, four steps each.

Each step says in plain words what it mutes and what it lets play. These are the extension's own lines, so try a step and read what it does.

Blasphemy

Sacred names are not muted.

Only the worst, said as a curse, such as “go*****”. “oh my G*d” plays.

Most misuse, such as “oh my G*d”. Mild ones such as “oh G*d” and “je**” play.

Every misuse, even “oh G*d” and “je**”. If it catches a prayer, pass that moment.

Swearing

Swearing is not muted.

Only the strongest words, such as “fu**”, and slurs. “sh**” plays.

Swearing, slurs and sexual words, such as “sh**”. Mild words such as “da**” and “he**” play.

Everything, mild words too, such as “da**”, “he**” and “cr**”.

Under the dials, you can fine-tune any kind of word, or a single word, and keep your own Always mute and Never mute lists. Masking the captions has a switch of its own.

When it gets one wrong, you fix that one moment.

A false alarm is one moment, so that is what you fix. Tap “That was fine here” in the toolbar button, or press [ on the player, and that moment plays from now on while the word stays muted everywhere else.

Blast PhemurProtected

Just muted

  • sh**
  • J*sus

A pass lifts that moment only.

The “Just muted” rows from the toolbar popup, drawn for this page. Try the buttons.

A prayer caught by the blasphemy filter is passed the same way.

When the only word caught is a sacred name, the button reads “That was a prayer” and passes that moment. A sacred name is never allowed everywhere, so that row has no “Allow everywhere”.

Keys on the player

[
That was fine here: this moment plays from now on.
]
That got through: mute it from now on.
\
Undo the last one.

It collects nothing and sends nothing.

  • No account
  • No analytics
  • No server of ours

Your settings stay in your browser. The only network request is the caption file the YouTube player already uses, fetched from YouTube the way the player fetches it. Removing the extension removes all of it.

Read the privacy page

This page keeps the same promise. It loads nothing from anyone else and runs no analytics. If you switch it to light mode, that one choice is kept on this device.

Where it works today

Three streaming services, in Chrome, Brave or Edge on a computer. More as each one is tested.

Questions

Anything else, write to mediatrixdev@proton.me.

Is it free?

Yes. There is nothing to buy, no paid version and no account.

Which browsers does it work in?

Chromium browsers on a computer that install from the Chrome Web Store: Chrome, Brave and Edge. It needs Chrome 116 or newer, or a browser built on it. In Edge, turn on “Allow extensions from other stores” first. It does not run in Safari or Firefox, on phones, or in the apps on a smart TV.

Is it for kids?

It is made for families. It collects nothing from anyone, children included. It has no lock or password, so anyone at the computer can change the settings or turn it off.

Does it skip scenes?

No. It works on words only. It changes the volume and the caption text, and nothing else in the show. At the start of each title, a short notice in the player says the showing is altered from the original.

Do I need captions on?

On YouTube TV and YouTube, it reads the player's own caption track. On DIRECTV Stream, turn captions (CC) on. Either way it works from the show's own captions, so a show needs captions, or a subtitle file you add, to be filtered.

Will it catch every word?

It catches the words on its lists when the captions carry them. Timing comes from the captions, so it is close, not exact. If something gets through, press ] on the player and that word is muted from now on. Press \ to undo.

Why the name?

Say it out loud. Blast Phemur sounds like blasphemer, and the asterisk on the end is its own censor mark, the same one that masks a word in the captions.

Who makes it?

Blast Phemur is published by MediatrixLibre. Write to mediatrixdev@proton.me.

Put a swear jar by the TV.

Coming soon to the Chrome Web Store

Free No account Chrome, Brave and Edge