YouTube

Finally, there’s the app you probably already use every day: YouTube. Even though it’s more commonly used for entertainment, this platform is easily one of the best free learning streaming services on the planet. Educational channels cover everything from physics and philosophy to cooking, game development, and music theory.

You’ll find university lectures, crash-course style explainers, animated science videos, language lessons, and deep dives into niche topics like historical fashion or mechanical keyboards. YouTubers have invested a lot of time and effort in turning their channels into dedicated learning hubs and playlists that highlight high-quality educational content.

The key to using YouTube as a serious learning tool is to treat it like a course platform: subscribe to a few high-quality channels, save playlists, use transcripts, and watch on a bigger screen when you can. Once you do that, it becomes much more than a distraction machine.

Of course, the downside to YouTube is that anyone can upload anything they want. And if you’re not careful, you’ll go down a rabbit hole of misinformation and terrible content. The good news is that you can use the comment section to see what other people think, and to help you determine if the channel is worth watching or not.