Brave is one of the safest browsers on the market today. It blocks privacy-invasive ads & trackers. It blocks third-party data storage. It protects from browser fingerprinting. It upgrades every webpage possible to secure https connections. And it does all this by default.
Brave is available on nearly all desktop computers (Windows, macOS, Linux) and nearly every mobile device (Android and iOS). To get started, simply download the Brave browser for desktop, for Android, or for iOS.
The Brave Browser is available in nearly 160 languages in all, including four different dialects of Chinese. Brave Search is currently available in almost 20 different languages, with support for even more languages on the horizon.
Yes, Brave is completely free to use. Simply download the Brave browser for desktop, for Android, or for iOS to get started. You can also use Brave Search free from any browser at search.brave.com, or set it as your default search engine.
Brave Rewards gives you the option to view first-party, privacy-protecting ads while you browse (these ads are from the Brave Private Ads network). If you choose to view them, you earn BAT, via the Brave Rewards program.
You can keep BAT like any other crypto asset, or use it to tip the content publishers you love. Brave even gives you a secure way to store BAT (and any other crypto asset), with Brave Wallet. And, again, Brave Rewards is a totally optional program.
Brave is available as a fast, free, secure web browser for your mobile devices. Complete with a built-in ad blocker that prevents tracking, and optimized for mobile data and battery life savings. Get the Brave Browser (mobile) for Android or iOS.
Brave is a free and open-source web browser developed by Brave Software, Inc. based on the Chromium web browser. Brave is a privacy-focused browser, which automatically blocks most advertisements and website trackers in its default settings. Users can turn on optional ads that reward them for their attention in the form of Basic Attention Tokens (BAT), which can be used as a cryptocurrency or to make donations to registered websites and content creators.[3][4]
On 28 May 2015, CEO Brendan Eich and CTO Brian Bondy founded Brave Software.[6] On 20 January 2016, Brave Software launched the first version of Brave with ad-blocking capabilities and announced plans for an ad platform that uses "browser-side anonymous targeting".[7] The same week, it was revealed that Brave Software had purchased Android web browser Link Bubble (developed by Chris Lacy, who also developed popular launcher Action Launcher) and rebranded it as Brave.[8][9][10]
In June 2018, Brave released a pay-to-surf test-version of the browser. This version of Brave came preloaded with approximately 250 ads and sent a detailed log of the user's browsing activity to Brave for the short-term purpose of testing this functionality. Brave announced that expanded trials would follow.[11] Later that month, Brave added support for Tor in its desktop browser's private-browsing mode.[12]
Until December 2018, Brave ran on a fork of Electron called Muon, which they marketed as a "more secure fork". Nevertheless, Brave developers moved to Chromium, citing a need to ease their maintenance burden.[13] Brave Software released the final Muon-based version with the intention that users would update to a newer version as its end-of-life approached.[14]
In June 2019, Brave started testing a new ad-blocking rule-matching algorithm implemented in Rust, replacing the previous C++ one. The uBlock Origin and Ghostery algorithms inspired the new logic, which Brave claims to be on average 69 times faster than the previous algorithm.[16]
Brave launched its stable release, version 1.0, on 13 November 2019, while having 8.7 million monthly active users overall.[17] At the time, it had approximately 3 million active users on a daily basis. Brave 1.0, running on Android, iOS, Windows 10, macOS, or Linux, integrated "almost all of Brave's marquee features across all platforms", according to Engadget.[18] In November 2019, Brave launched Brave Ads on a personal computers version, partnering with AirSwap, ConsenSys, eToro, Home Chef, and Vice.[19][20]
In March 2021, Brave built its search engine out of Tailcat, which it acquired earlier that year from Cliqz, a subsidiary of Hubert Burda Media based in Germany. Tailcat was designed to deliver search results without logging user activity or creating profiles.[23][24]
In June 2021, the public beta for Brave Search, Brave Software's search engine, was launched. It exited its beta phase in June 2022 along with an announcement that within its year-long beta testing period, Brave Search surpassed 2.5 billion total queries.[24][27][28][29]
The Brave browser's business model is based on its share of ad revenue. Unlike other browsers that only display websites, Brave earns revenue from ads by taking a 15% cut of publisher ads and a 30% cut of user ads. User ads are notification-style pop-ups, while publisher ads are viewed on or in association with publisher content. Brave expects to generate revenue from selling Basic Attention Tokens (BATs) to advertisers, letting users earn them while viewing ads and content.[3]
Some critics considered the model controversial. In January 2016, in reaction to Brave Software's initial announcement, Sebastian Anthony of Ars Technica described Brave as a "cash-grab" and a "double dip". Anthony concluded, "Brave is an interesting idea, but generally it's rather frowned upon to stick your own ads in front of someone else's".[30] TechCrunch,[31] Computerworld[32] and Engadget[33] termed Brave's ad replacement plans "controversial" in 2016. In April 2016, the CEO of the Newspaper Association of America, David Chavern, said that Brave's proposed replacement of advertising "should be viewed as illegal and deceptive by the courts, consumers, and those who value the creation of content".[34][35]
Since April 2019, users of the Brave browser can opt in to the Brave Rewards feature. Users can earn BAT by viewing advertisements that are displayed as notifications by the operating system of their computer or device or as a native pop-up window. Advertising campaigns are matched with users by inference from their browsing history; this targeting is carried out locally, with no transmission of personally identifiable data outside the browser.[36]
Users may choose to send BAT micropayments to websites and content creators within the ecosystem. Site owners and creators must first register with Brave as a publisher. Users can either turn on auto-contribute, which automatically divides a specified monthly contribution in proportion to the time spent, or they can manually send a chosen amount (referred to as a tip) while visiting the site or creator.[37] In addition or alternatively, users may withdraw their BAT to a verified Uphold[38] or Gemini wallet.[39]
In December 2018, British YouTube content creator Tom Scott said that he had not received any donations collected on his behalf by Brave.[42][43] Two days after the complaint, Brave issued an update to "clearly indicate which publishers and creators have not yet joined Brave Rewards so users can better control how they donate and tip"[44] and in January 2020 another update to change the behavior of unclaimed tips. They are now held in the browser and transferred if the creator signs up within 90 days; otherwise, they are returned to the user.[45][46]
On 6 June 2020, a Twitter user pointed out that Brave inserted affiliate referral codes when users navigated to Binance.[47][48] Further research revealed that Brave also added referral codes to the URLs of other cryptocurrency exchange websites. In response to the backlash from the users, Brave's CEO apologized and called it a "mistake" and said "we're correcting". He remarked that Brave seeks affiliate revenue while trying to build a viable business, adding that "This includes bringing new users to Binance & other exchanges via opt-in trading widgets/other UX that preserves privacy prior to opt-in. It includes search revenue deals, as all major browsers do."[49][50]
Brave keeps financial reserves in the form of BATs for itself, with 200 million BATs (valued at $240 million) kept for building its blockchain-based digital advertising system and 300 million BATs allocated as seed for browser users' wallets as of 2021[update].[3]
By August 2016, the company had received at least US$7 million in angel investments from venture capital firms, including Peter Thiel's Founders Fund, Propel Venture Partners, Pantera Capital, Foundation Capital and the Digital Currency Group.[31]
In October 2023, reports emerged that Brave Browser was installing its $9.99 VPN service on Windows machines without the user's consent.[58] The developer later announced it intends to reverse its decision, promising to not install the VPN unless it's enabled or purchased by the user.[59]
Brave Search is a search engine developed by Brave and released in Beta form in March 2021, following the acquisition of Tailcat, a privacy-focused search engine from Cliqz.[60] Since October 2021, Brave Search is the default search engine for Brave browser users in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France and Germany.[61]
Brave Wallet is a native crypto wallet with no extensions required. It supports all EVM-compatible chains (Polygon, xDai, Avalanche, etc.) and L2 chains. In addition, Brave Wallet can be used to store non-fungible tokens. Desktop edition supports also hardware wallets such as Ledger and Trezor, while mobile support is planned.[62][63][64]
Brave Swap is an aggregator for cryptocurrency DEX's based on 0x.[65] It lets users swap Ethereum tokens for other tokens from within the browser. Brave makes money off this by taking a small "router" fee. It plans to return 20% of this fee to the user in the form of BAT tokens.[66][67]
A 2021 research study analyzing the data reported by browsers to their back-end servers by Douglas J. Leith of the University of Dublin reported that Brave had the highest level of privacy of the 5 browsers tested.[68]
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