With uBlock no longer being supported in Chrome, I’ve started hearing more and more people talk about switching to Brave. I’ve been curious myself and finally started playing around with it.
So far, it feels pretty smooth, but the only thing holding me back from fully switching is that I’m not 100% sure how the settings, bookmarks, and extensions sync work in Brave and how secure it all is compared to Chrome.
Curious to hear from others:
Have you made the move?
What’s your experience been like?
I refuse to use Chrome. The biggest ad-driven, data tracking company on the planet says “here, use our free web browser”.
I typically use Safari everywhere but I really like Brave. I have it installed and find myself using it sometimes instead of safari. It just feels faster.
Brave uses a really cool syncing method - no account required. You just scan a QR code to link everything and it’s anonymous as far as I’m aware.
The naysayers will tell you it’s a bit creepy with it’s crypto pushing but you can easily turn all that junk off.
With NextDNS and Brave, things are clean and fast. No complaints.
Private Relay can slow down Safari. I frequently have to turn it off when streaming video to prevent buffering. I’ve found blocking some trackers can also slow down some sites.
Brave has the best out-of-the-box popup blocking of any browser I’ve ever used. I currently have it as my main browser, although I’m looking into Firefox. I just disabled all of the crypto stuff and such as @AppleGuy mentions.
If I liked Brave’s iOS app better it would be a stronger contender. I’m in education so I still use Chrome for Work because it syncs with my work Chromebook. (Obviously “Bravebooks” do not exist.) I just gave up in terms of doing my own thing on work product, we do all our work on Google Drive and Chrome is the best for it.
My Podcast recording app requires Chromium to use so I have defaulted to Brave for those times. Otherwise all my non work browsing is done on Firefox. I might switch to Brave full time if firefox goes under.
I’ve been using Brave as my dedicated work browser for the past couple of years and it’s been flawless in that regard. As others have mentioned I also disabled the crypto crap and never see it.
I have Velja setup to open google meeting links in Brave, that’s about all I use it for. No complaints as far as that is concerned; I was having issues with safari and Google Meet or some google product I think it was, probably Drive, so no problems for me there.
Safari is my default browser, but I use Brave for those sites that do not work well with Safari. Occasionally, I’ll use Brave if I run into problems using Safari in Google Workspace.
Yes, Chromium is open source and Google is the major contributor to the code. I am a paying Google Workspace user and use Google Chrome on Mac with that account.
My data is already on Google servers, why expose it to other browsers?
It’s a good question. I recall researching this a while ago and feeling comfortable enough to use Brave/Chromium. I asked ChatGPT if Brave/Chromium browsers give the same level of access/tracking as Chrome:
No — just because a browser is Chromium-based doesn’t mean Google gets the same level of access as if you were using Chrome.
Here’s why:
Chromium is open-source and doesn’t automatically send your browsing data to Google. Browsers like Brave, Vivaldi, and un-Googled Chromium use the Chromium rendering engine but strip out or replace Google services.
Chrome adds proprietary Google code on top of Chromium — things like automatic sign-in to your Google account, usage metrics, crash reports, and integration with Google services.
In a non-Google Chromium browser, Google can still see your activity if you interact with Google services (e.g., you’re logged into Gmail, search with Google, or visit sites that use Google Analytics/Ads). That’s independent of your browser choice.
Sync and account linking: In Chrome, if you sign in, your bookmarks, history, and other data are synced to Google’s servers. Most Chromium-based browsers that aren’t Chrome have their own sync systems or none at all.
So:
If you use Chromium but avoid Google services, Google can’t track you like it does in Chrome.
If you’re logged into Google services or visit sites using Google trackers, you’re still giving them data — regardless of browser.
I tried switching to Brave from Google Chrome a few months back, but it wouldn’t download files. I didn’t have any patience with the problem and switched back to Google. An Internet search shows that this had been a recurrent problem with Brave in recent years.
Yes, I’ve been using Brave successfully on Macs and iphones for years now. It’s performed very well for me and virtually problem-free. The settings pages are quite intuitive, IMO, and I rarely have to do any maintenance. Bookmarks also are a piece of cake. Very intuitive. The password manager is protected (touch, in my case) to some degree and easy to manage.
I have had many more website incompatibility issues with Safari than with Brave. By a lot. I tried out Brave simply for practicality reasons (I don’t understand the software fanboy thing) and it does a better job for me, plain and simple. Once in a blue moon I will have some difficulty, usually with a popup or a form, that Safari will handle, and that is the only reason I have it around still. But the ratio is strongly in Brave’s favor, IME.
I have sync features turned on, and I’ve never noticed any issues due to that, although to be honest, sync in this case isn’t really mission-critical to me so I’m not sure I’d notice if there was a problem.