Brave Browser 1.56 launches with Off The Record mode and custom shortcuts
Brave Software released Brave Browser 1.56 to the stable channel today. The latest version of the Chromium-based browser adds support for the recently unveiled Off The Record mode, custom keyboard shortcuts and support for Certificate Transparency.
The release channel version made a jump from 1.53 to 1.56. Brave Software notes that it used the version bump to address an error it encountered.
The update is pushed to user devices automatically, thanks to the built-in updating functionality of the browser. Brave users may select Menu > Help > About Brave to display the current version and have the browser run a manual check for updates. The browser should pick up the update automatically at this point.
Brave 1.56: the changes
One of the main new features of Brave 1.56 is its new Off The Record mode. The new browsing mode allows users of the browser to access certain sites with sensitive information without leaving a record on the device.
Brave notes that this mode has advantages over other options, such as using private browsing mode. One argument for Off The Record is that it is automatic, but it also means that it will work only on sites that are supported.
The mode is applied automatically on sites that use a flag and a premade list of sites. Users see a prompt when the mode is supported on a site to either use Off The Record mode or access the site normally.
Another new feature of Brave 1.56 is support for custom keyboard shortcuts. Brave users may load brave://settings/system/shortcuts to display the list of shortcuts.
There, they find options to remove existing keyboard shortcuts and to add their own shortcuts. Available actions are quite extension, ranging from common operations such as Back, Forward and Reload to closing tabs, selecting the last tab, or exiting the browser.
Actions may be mapped to a single-key or key combinations. Brave warns if a keyboard shortcut is mapped to another action already.
Another new feature of the latest Brave browser release is support for Certificate Transparency. The feature is supported by other browsers already, including Google Chrome and Apple Safari.
Certificate Transparency is an Internet security standard that may reveal certificates that "were given out without them being requested by the genuine owner, such as malicious certificates by a compromised certificate authority".
Brave Software showcased a number of additional features in the past that it planned to include in Brave 1.54, but these are not included in this release. Missing features include the new Forgetful Browsing feature and the Localhost protection. The absence may be explained by the version jump from 1.52 to 1.56. They may make an appearance in the next release.
Software engineers addressed several issues in Brave 1.56, such as a login issue on Live.com, crashes when using side panel extensions or opening a private window under certain circumstances, and more.
You can check out the full changelog of Brave 1.56 here. The page lists the latest downloads as well.
Now you: have you tried Brave browser recently?
Brave does look interesting, I tried it back when it first was released. Definitely discouraged by Edge and Chrome these days. Firefox just can’t get its stuff in order anymore.
For anyone included Martin.
“planned to include in Brave 1.54, but these are not included in this release” it is not accurate information and should have been corrected already or written properly from the start.
Why?
The last stable release was 1.52, so this is 1.53 update, it was only bumped 3 version numbers, to 1.56, to correct the error that wouldn’t have allowed users to update their browsers because it would say “you have a newer version”, that’s it.
It is just a number, they didn’t change any schedule or feature release or anything, everything is planned the same and 1.53 = 1.56 and 1.54 = 1.57.
The article should be corrected further to be more accurate. Localhost protection, was planned for 1.54, so it doesn’t make sense for the feature to appear in 1.53 (1.56) before schedule, when it was just a bump in the version number.
About, Forgetful Browsing, the Brave’s article says:
Brave will incrementally enable Forgetful Browsing for users during the 1.53 and 1.54 release processes. Users who want to test the feature now can visit brave://flags and manually enable the “Enable First Party Storage Cleanup support” flag.
That means, the feature should be rolling out to users eventually with the ‘variations’ feature Chromium browsers have, maybe? who knows, in any case, the feature is already available! it is not turned on by default, which in a way makes the article a quarter right about it, but the article saying ‘rolling out during’ 1.54 means it will not be available for everyone at the same time.
In Nightly for example I have in brave://version Variations BraveForgetFirstPartyStorage:Enabled, and it’s been the default for a while.
But anyway, the feature is available, just not turned on by default, and people can force it with the flag, that’s the point. Which would be better if the Article would have explained that, rather than saying the feature that were planned are not available, when one is just not turned on by default and in the other, it will be available until 1.57 after the version change.
I use Nightly, but as far as I remember people have been able to enable Quick Commands for a while in the flags flags/#quick-commands, they were added to work in the address bar rather than a separate bar as any other Chromium browser, it is a cool feature and people only need to type :> to enable it, then the most of the commands are shared between custom keyboard and quick commands, so people can toggle Vertical tabs collapse and expand state easily by just Ctrl+Space and typing ‘expand’.
Nightly has had this for a very long time, so it is nice it finally appeared in Stable.
They also added the ability to resize vertical tabs. Very useful, when you have many cards to manage.
I was expecting the Forgetful Browsing feature, especially for Android. I guess it’s been delayed further, in favor of yet more questionable “automatic / we know what’s best for you” features.
Disappointing.
@Paul
I am sorry, but maybe if you learned how to read, you wouldn’t do the SAME MISTAKE as Martin Brikmann and you would ‘not be disappointed’, and actually correct martin mistake.
First, in the blog, for Forgerful Browsing, they said 1.53 would have it on Desktop and 1.54 on Android, that means enabled by default, because in a note for Android said that you are supposed to enable it in flags “Enable First Party Storage Cleanup support” and it should work, it is just not enabled by default on Android.
Same with the local protection feature, it says “Starting in version 1.54, Brave for desktop and Android will include”
The upgrade was from 1.52 to 1.53, that means THIS IS 1.53 version and not 1.54 version, so how can you and Martin say that it is missing features if this is NOT 1.54 version!!
it is in the next 1.57 version where the features will appear, and where forgetful browsing will be turned on by default, you could enable it anyway on Android as you can see.
So again, please read next time and correct the author of the article instead of talking really terrible comments that only make sense if you didn’t read the articles and used the head to say, oh then 1.53 is 1.56 now and 1.54 will be 1.57, okay!
@stalin
>I am sorry, but maybe if you learned how to read
do not be sorry, teach us the right way.
@giovanni
yeah, you clearly didn’t read my comment, so what do you want me to get you a brain as well? lol… people on the internet… Also, who are you? why are you even in the middle of this? someone was talking wrong crap that could have avoided by reading Brave blog/Community and Github, and the person didn’t do it.
Again, there was NO delay, I don’t get how hard is to read that and understand for you and ‘others’. Everything is happening just the same roadmap and schedule as before, the only difference is Brave version, which doesn’t change anything else.
Next time read and maybe you will prove me wrong about how you are unable to read, maybe you are not smart enough to accomplish anything, I mean, if your goal was to sound dumb, you got it, because ” teach us blabla” when I am clearly explaining why there is no delay in features in this version, then…. I can’t help dumb people further.
you are clearly a brave fan boy, can you explain what this new mode is? like is it even good or just glorified private mode. without leaving sensitive info on device sounds like… ok? i mean brave will still have that info and the site can still access and keep the info what does it matter whats on your device at that point. if everyone can take it anyways might as well leave it here too. unless you have malware i guess. plus it only works on supported sites?…
@Stalin Hat
what was a doubt it’s now confirmed to be a PEBKAC.
again, keep enjoying the way you’re.
>”The upgrade was from 1.52 to 1.53, that means THIS IS 1.53 version and not 1.54 version, so how can you and Martin say that it is missing features if this is NOT 1.54 version!! it is in the next 1.57 version where the features will appear”
Soooooo confusing. They should ditch the numbers and just give them cute names, like “Groovy Gorilla” and “Jammy Jellyfish”.
@Paul
The point is that the feature wasn’t delayed as you said it was, so you are literally telling a fairy tale from the elves forest, 1.57 is what was going to be 1.54 and Forgetful Browsing was promised for android for 1.54, and for desktop since 1.53… so how is that a delay? a change on version number because a mistake that would have caused people not to be able to upgrade, doesn’t change any schedule .
Android hasn’t even got 1.56.x so how can something be delayed if you don’t even know when it is coming to Android?
Also, that’s kind of pathetic failed attempt to not accept you are wrong, pointing out an obvious non intended mistake doesn’t make you smart, just accept you are wrong, and move on. Because I said “Forgetful” in my comments 80 times, and you are only seeing the ‘said it wrong once’ it’s actually laughable how people like you care so much about it, like if an obvious non-intended spelling mistake was going to change exactly how wrong you are and how dumb you sound by making crap up.
BTW, if you want forgetful browsing TODAY, then use Beta or Nightly, if you can’t even understand how Brave roadmap works only because of a mistake that caused them to bump the version numbers, then maybe you need to go back to school and get some education.
@Stalin Hat calm down. There are no “terrible comments” and yes, Forgetful Browsing (not Forgerful – learn how to check before posting) has been delayed. The versioning mess is irrelevant.
Not the end of the world though, I’m sure it will soon arrive in stable form, without resorting to experimental ‘flag’ settings.
Custom shortcuts are good.
paul
so brave an stunning for having better spell checking than stalin
While a seemingly small change, custom keyboard shortcuts is a great addition. When I ditched Edge and moved to Brave, I missed not having a keyboard shortcut to “Duplicate Tab” – with this change it’s now possible to just add it yourself [Ctrl + Shift + K].