The Brave Shield feature allows you to decide, per page, if you want to block ads, cookies and trackers, to allow some of these factors in, or to remove the shield all together. Brave Browser's focus on privacy. Besides blocking trackers and other data-collecting software, Brave wants to take a step further into privacy by adding Tor and DuckDuckGo into their private window mode. Brave browser review This is a good browser at all, but I am more comfortable with Microsoft edge and google chrome. Another thing I wanna say is that the brave logo SMASHED chrome in the trailer. I did not like that too. Also, I used IE in the past and sometimes now too. (My doctor uses IE till now).
Brave Browser Review TLDR:
🖥️ Brave is an open-source browser with a focus on security and speed.
🔋 It uses 35% less battery on mobile.
🔒 It has better privacy by default than Firefox.
💰 Brave browser features Brave rewards and lets you earn BAT, a cryptocurrency you can use to support your favorite web creators. (This site is an official Brave Verified Creator!)
💾 The browser is based on Chromium, which was also used to build Chrome. The interface you love on Chrome is the same interface on Brave.
This post is brought to you by RealToughCandy.io.
Escape tutorial hell!
My video review of Brave browser:
What is Brave Browser?
Brave browser is a free, open-source browser. It was developed by Brave Software and initially released in 2016.
Fun fact: The CEO of Brave Software is Brendan Eich. He is the creator of JavaScript and co-founder of Mozilla.
- It was designed with a focus on speed and security.
- Brave browser loads pages 3x-6x times faster than other browsers.
- Brave browser also has a built-in ad blocker + shields that prevent sites/apps from tracking you.
- You can earn cryptocurrency (BAT, or Basic Attention Token) through their Brave Rewards program.
Brave Browser Review: Why I switched from Chrome to Brave
Let me share a little browser jumping history with you.
I'm actually one of the few people who enjoy Safari for desktop. Well, I should say used to enjoy Safari for desktop.
About two years ago I noticed a trend where more and more sites were breaking on Safari. Many popular apps and sites just would not work.
I was forced to migrate.
I tried Firefox but with no pinch to zoom (they only added inVERY recently), it was off my list.
Does that sound like a petty reason to not use a browser? https://flythalfrontio1971.mystrikingly.com/blog/access-mac-formatted-hard-drive-on-windows.
Perhaps, but maybe I'm just petty like that. In all seriousness, I use pinch to zoom a LOT.
So that was a big critical feature for me that was missing from Firefox.
Simply stated, I was pushed to use Chrome.
Chrome is a memory hog, it's slow and I am not a fan of their privacy policies. At the same time, Chrome offered all the features I needed to have a normal browsing experience.
And so I begrudgingly stuck with Chrome.
Despite not being satisfied, even after a few people suggested I try out Brave, I felt hesitant to try it. (I share why below).
But after about 8 months of resistance, I was fed up with Chrome's non-privacy-minded ways.
And it was just too freaking slow.
And so I begrudgingly stuck with Chrome.
Despite not being satisfied, even after a few people suggested I try out Brave, I felt hesitant to try it. (I share why below).
But after about 8 months of resistance, I was fed up with Chrome's non-privacy-minded ways.
And it was just too freaking slow.
My first impressions of Brave were good.
One of the reasons I was hesitant to try this browser is because I didn't want to learn a new interface. But because Brave is based on Chromium (the same as Chrome), the interface was very intuitive.
But the VERY first thing I noticed was how blazing fast Drive app install. this browser is.
The speed improvement was immediate.
Secondly, with a few clicks I was able to import my browsing history, bookmarks, cookies, and other saved info like passwords from BOTH Chrome and Safari.
This was another big reason why I was hesitant to use Brave in the first place.
My saved info saves me a lot of time on the web, and I just assumed this feature wasn't available on Brave.
But it literally took me less than a minute to import everything from multiple browsers. https://aupygr.over-blog.com/2021/01/multitouch-0-0-4-easily-add-gestures-to-macos.html.
I also really liked that I didn't have to install any extensions to get everything I needed for a fast and secure browsing experience.
Additionally, I like Brave's ad model. What do I mean?
Well, Brave comes with a built-in ad blocker.
And as a consumer, I know how invasive ads are.
But as a creator, I also know how important ads are to creators' livelihoods.
So while I don't enjoy ads per se, I tolerate them on sites like YouTube and blogs.
And with Brave you can easily turn the Shields button off on sites you want to support.
Note however, that when you turn off shields you will be exposed to those ads' trackers, plus any other trackers the site has installed, like Google Analytics.
(As a side note, I have had to turn shields off on some apps in order for them to work. So if a site isn't loading for you, put your shields down to see if that is the problem.) Putty ymodem file transfer.
Download Brave Browser For Windows
But here's the cool thing with ads on Brave.
Brave has its own cryptocurrency, BAT, or Basic Attention Token.
And if you decide to enable Brave Ads, you earn BAT every time you view an ad. You do NOT need to select Shields Down anywhere for this to happen.
These ads appear as push notifications:
And you can set the frequency in which you view the ads. In my case, I am satisfied with two an hour:
I can also award creators with my earned BAT.
I can do this automatically (dispersed based on the attention I gave to each site/app):
Or I can manually tip them:
The caveat is, the creator must be a Brave Verified Creator in order to receive BAT.
As you can see, there are some great configurations here, based on your tolerance for ads and creators you want to support.
Brave Browser Review: Features
Brave browser offers a suite of features.
Note: Some features are not available on all platforms (i.e. iOS).
🛡️ Shields
- Ad blocking
- Fingerprinting prevention
- Cookie control
- HTTPS upgrading
- Block scripts
- Per-site shield settings
- Configurable global shield defaults
💰 Brave Rewards
- Earn by viewing private ads
- Tip your favorite creators
- Contribute monthly to sites
- Auto-contribute to sites
- Verify with Uphold and move funds in and out of your wallet
- Become a verified creator and start earning BAT from tips, contributions and referrals
🔒 Security
- Clear browsing data
- Built-in password manager
- Form autofill
- Control content access to full-screen presentation*
- Control site access to autoplay media
- Send 'Do not track' with browsing requests
📊 Address Bar
- Add Bookmark
- Autosuggest URLs
- Search from address bar
- Autosuggest search terms
- Show/hide bookmarks toolbar
- Show secure or insecure site
📑 Tabs and Windows
- Private Windows
- Pinned Tabs
- Auto-unload
- Drag and drop
- Duplicate
- Close Options
- Find on page
- Print page
Extensions
- Brave Desktop now supports most of the Chrome extensions in the chrome web store
Brave Browser vs Chrome privacy
As you can see, Brave's defaults ensure that trackers, invasive ads, http and malware/phishing are blocked:
Brave Browser Review: Conclusion
I recommend Brave browser to anyone looking for a secure, private and fast browsing experience.
In addition, you can support your favorite creators via Brave's cryptocurrency, BAT.
If you're considering switching over to Brave browser, review its features and specs before making the investment. Brave browser has a lot to offer, but it's not for everyone.
You can download Brave for free on Brave's official website.
If you enjoyed this Brave browser review, check out my other reviews – like this one on DataCamp.
- Is Brave Browser Free?
Yes, Brave browser is free. You can download it safely and quickly from its official website brave.com.
- Who owns Brave browser?
Technically nobody owns it, as Brave is an open-source browser. Its source code is on GitHub. Brave browser was developed by Brave Software, Inc. and is based on the Chromium web browser.
- Who invented Brave browser?
Brave browser was developed by Brave Software, Inc. The CEO, Brendan Eich, is also the creator of JavaScript and co-founder of the Mozilla foundation.
- Is Brave browser safe?
Most people consider Brave browser is safe. Brave is open-source and features numerous shields and security measures, including: ad blocking, fingerprinting prevention, cookie control, HTTPS upgrading, block scripts, per-site shield settings, configurable global shield defaults, clear browsing data options, built-in password manager, form autofill,
control content access to full-screen presentation,
control site access to autoplay media, and send 'Do not track' with browsing requests. Some features are pending on some platforms (i.e. Brave for iOS).
Does Brave live up the hype?
Brave browser is a free and open-source web browser developed by Brave Softare Inc that is advertised as a private, secure, and fast mobile and desktop web browser. Brave browser is based on Google's open-source web browser project Chromium.
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| Built-in adblocker | No support |
| Uses Uphold instead of a private crypto wallet | |
| Built-in adblocker breaks sites |
You may have heard about Brave over the last couple of months. Brave browser is becoming quite popular for being ‘somewhat' ad-free and claiming to offer a safe internet browsing experience. But, is Brave browser really offer a safe and private browsing experience? Does Brave live up to the hype? In this Brave browser review, we'll analyze and compare the speed to other popular browsers like Chrome and Firefox, and cover some of the other popular features like the built-in ad blocker.
Site loading speed
Is Brave browser as fast as it claims to be? Well, Brave browser is a Google-based Chromium browser so is that really much of a feat? However, we still tested the load speed of websites and compared or research to third-parties. We conducted that Brave browser is faster than Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox on some websites. When we paired up Brave browser and Google Chrome against each other in a speed test we noticed identical loading speeds on most pages. But, in some tests, Brave was faster.
Websites simply load at a faster rate because the Chromium-based browser has a built-in ad-blocker that blocks advertisements and trackers without the use of third-party plugins that burn through resources and slow down browser performance in some cases.
Built-in adblocker
Many in-development and newly released internet browsers have been adding built-in ad-blockers to their browsers to block advertisements and stop trackers by default. Brave is no different; Brave has a built-in ad blocker that automatically blocks advertisements and tracking scripts. The ad-blocker, or 'shield' as they call it, is enabled by default and can be disabled manually.
Although the addition of an ad-blocker is great and can even make the browser perform better than Chrome or Firefox, the feature is not as seamless as it is with other web browsers that block ads by default or provide extensions to do so. In some cases, Brave's ad-blocking feature will break a site and make pages hard to navigate (shown in the image below).
Brave browser still shows advertisements if you sign up for the Brave Rewards program. The Brave Rewards program allows you to earn tokens for watching privacy-respecting advertisements.
Brave Rewards
A feature that makes Brave a little unique is Brave Rewards. The Brave Rewards program allows you to earn Basic Attention Tokens (BAT; Ethereum cryptocurrency) which are loaded to your Brave wallet when you view specific advertisements and add personal funds. With Brave Rewards you can earn tokens by viewing ads in Brave (called Brave Ads), automatically contribute to publishers and content creators, and send tips to a website. Keep in mind, you cannot send tips or contribute to sites that have not been verified. If you do, your funds will not reach them over an allotted amount of time and will be used elsewhere.
The bad side to this is that it's not private for a website or content creator to sign up to receive payments from Brave. Since we're not talking about P2P payouts, in order for a website to be verified by Brave to receive donations, the website owner needs to be aware of Brave Rewards in the first place, make a Brave account to become a publisher, install a plugin developed by Brave (to their website), copy a verification code into the plugin, verify the code has been added to the plugin, create an Uphold account, verify the Uphold account by surrendering all of their personal information, send Uphold a picture of their driver license being held next to their face, install a phone application called Authy 2-Factor Authentication, get a code from the app by surrendering even more personal information to another party, finally connect the Uphold account to Brave, create a channel to add the website, and then finally the website is verified… but not really. You see, we've done all of this and we're still not verified to receive donations from Brave.
Other issues with Brave
A big rumor about Brave is that they steal money from website owners and content creators. Whether or not this theory is true is up to debate and we're not here to make a case for any side. However, there are reasons why many people think that Brave and Brave browser steals from websites and creators:
- Some people describe Brave's model for generating revenue as pirating because their product is to ‘stop' websites and content creators from making money so that they can make money off their content instead.
- Brave users have complained that the ads they viewed weren't registered which means that sites and creators lose money and Brave was still able to advertise to you.
- Brave uses Uphold. As you may know, Uphold is basically a crypto wallet that Brave uses to payout their users and registered site owners and content creators; However, Uphold is not private and most people do not want to use Uphold because they'll have to do things like send images they wouldn't even post on social media to them.
On top of this, Brave has very bad support and that is a fact. Many people have complained that Brave does not respond to users, website owners, or content creators who contact them and need support so we tested this out. We attempted to contact Brave on January 29th concerning our Uphold account and did not receive a reply. We contacted Brave again on February 22nd, March 14th, and May 7th and still no reply. However, we did notice Brave CEO Brendan Eich arguing with Twitter users over their distaste for Brave.
Brendan Eich is the CEO of Brave and Brendan Eich is someone with a questionable past and who is often surrounded in controversy for his political views and public comments. If you do not know much about Brendan Eich, I suggest that you research him. You will find numerous articles about the former Mozilla CEO and current Brave CEO and his homophonic past on the internet. Is Brendan Eich someone that you want to support?
Brave Browser Review 2017
Conclusion
Brave browser is 'just another desktop-cum-mobile-browser' (as described by Sophos) for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS that like other browsers, blocks advertisements and trackers. However, unlike other browsers the built-in ad blocking feature breaks sites, making it hard to browse the web for some people. The company behind the browser also has issues they need to hammer out including the unnecessary (but probably lucrative for them) use of Uphold to payout website owners and content creators which may violate their privacy. Brave can and should dump Uphold to use a safer and private system for members to receive payouts, but they have chosen to firmly stand with Uphold.
Brave browser is available at Brave.com.
