# Headwater

> Headwater summarizes the YouTube channels you follow into one morning email digest, readable in the app or on an e-ink reader. Read the argument, watch what's worth it.

Headwater is a YouTube channel summarizer built around subscriptions. Users follow channels; new videos are read and summarized in Headwater's own words; one email digest arrives each morning. Each summary is a complete account of the video's argument, not a list of key points: every key claim and its reasoning, topics with timestamps, the speaker's exact quotes, a named credential for guests, and a flag when the title oversells. Summaries can also be synced to an e-ink reader over an OPDS catalog. Free while in beta. Not affiliated with YouTube or Google.

## Pages

- [About Headwater](https://headwaterapp.com/about): What Headwater is, who makes it, how it works, and what it deliberately does not do.
- [The best YouTube summarizer gives you the argument](https://headwaterapp.com/best-youtube-summarizer): What a YouTube summary has to do to be worth reading, how Headwater's measure up on a real video, and what most summarizers give you instead.
- [Changelog](https://headwaterapp.com/changelog): Dated, user-visible changes to Headwater, newest first.
- [Headwater compared with YouTube digest emails](https://headwaterapp.com/compare-digests): How Headwater differs from SumyTube, TubeReads, Rundown, VideoBrief, Summify.News, Digest, Summate and TubeOnAI, and when each is the better choice.
- [Headwater compared with on-demand YouTube summarizers](https://headwaterapp.com/compare): How Headwater differs from Eightify, Glasp, NotebookLM, Gemini, NoteGPT, summarize.tech and Recall, and when each is the better choice.
- [Frequently asked questions](https://headwaterapp.com/faq): Short answers about what Headwater does, how the daily YouTube digest works, e-reader sync, privacy, and pricing.
- [How to keep up with YouTube without watching everything](https://headwaterapp.com/keep-up-with-youtube): Six ways to follow the channels you care about without watching every upload: pruning, RSS feeds, on-demand summaries, daily digests, speed, and e-ink.
- [Privacy Policy](https://headwaterapp.com/privacy): What Headwater collects, how it is used, where it goes, and how to delete it.
- [Terms of Service](https://headwaterapp.com/terms): The terms for using Headwater, including acceptable use, AI-generated content, fair use, and creator opt-out.
- [What is a YouTube channel summarizer?](https://headwaterapp.com/youtube-channel-summarizer): A YouTube channel summarizer follows the creators you choose and summarizes each new video automatically. How it differs from a video summarizer.
- [How to follow YouTube channels by RSS](https://headwaterapp.com/youtube-rss-feeds): Every YouTube channel publishes a public feed with no algorithm attached. How to find it, what it contains, what it leaves out, and where it falls short.
- [Summarize a YouTube video without installing anything](https://headwaterapp.com/youtube-summary-without-extension): Extensions are the usual answer, not the only one. The no-install ways to get a YouTube summary, including a free manual method using YouTube's own transcript.
- [Following YouTube channels without a Google account](https://headwaterapp.com/youtube-without-google-account): You can follow creators, watch, and get summaries without signing in. What works, what breaks, and what not signing in does and does not protect.
- [Headwater Edition](https://headwaterapp.com/headwater-edition): Free MIT-licensed firmware that turns an Xteink X3 or X4 into a one-button Headwater reader.

## Plain text

- Every page above is also served as Markdown: append `.md` to its path, or request it with `Accept: text/markdown`.
- [llms-full.txt](https://headwaterapp.com/llms-full.txt): all of the pages above in one Markdown file.
- Public summary pages (https://headwaterapp.com/s/<id>) are served as Markdown the same way.

## Contact

- hello@headwaterapp.com