Yeah, if you self-host only for yourself you lose the privacy feature public instances provide. The purpose when self-hosting is to watch youtube with no-ads, sponsor block…

As you guessed it, YouTube went on frontend crusade and only a few public instances remain (if any?) and those who still work are kinda janky, unstable.

If privacy is an important feature you’re looking for, you need to wait until those btillant people behind those frontend find a working workaround :)