Brave Browser 1.57 released with Forget by Default mode and security fixes
Brave Software has released Brave Browser 1.57. The new version of the web browser is a smaller update, but it includes several new features and also security fixes.
Brave installations should receive the update in the coming days. Users who don't want to wait for this to happen automatically may select Menu > About Brave to run a manual check for updates. The browser should download and install version 1.57 automatically when the page is opened in the browser. The same page lists the installed version, which should be v1.57.47 after the update.
The official changelog for the desktop is available here. The main new feature introduced in Brave 1.57 is the Forget by Default browsing mode. Previously called Forgetful Browsing, Forget by Default adds a new option to Brave to have site data deleted automatically when a website is closed.
A click on the Shield icon in the address bar displays the new option as "Forget me when I close this site". The option is disabled by default and may be enabled on a per-site basis or globally in Brave. It instructs the browser to clear first-party storage of the site, including cookies and DOM Storage, when the last tab of the website is closed.
The global setting is available under brave://settings/shields. Brave will clear the first-party storage of all sites when that option is turned on. Users may then disable the feature for select sites, so that first-party storage remains locally after the site is closed. This option is better from a privacy point of view, but it may require some tinkering until important sites have been put on the allow list.
Brave users who don't see the option yet may load chrome://flags/#brave-forget-first-party-storage and set the flag to Enabled to get it after a restart.
Brave 1.57 includes other changes. The new version adds support for resizing the sidebar of the web browser to customize its width.
Brave users who have disabled Safe Browsing may enable the flag brave://flags/#brave-override-download-danger-level now to get rid of the download warnings and macOs users get a new preference to disable end off support warnings on macOS 10.13 and 10.14. Other changes include improved vertical tab scrolling and a delta updates fix on Windows.
The browser is now based on Chromium 116.0.5845.96, which includes the latest security updates. See the Chrome 116 article for details on those. Work continues on Web3 features, including Brave Wallet, NFTs and related features.
Now You: what is your take on the new Forget by Default option?
no crypto miners by default when ?
LOL, BAT can’t even be mined, as it is not a Proof of Work (POW) coin.
Also, Brave Rewards is opt-in.
Just updated and I don’t see this option :/
Ok, Ok dumb. Had to enable the flag (brave://flags > Enable First Party Storage Cleanup support)
meh
Isn’t this browser a hypocrisy?
It touts itself as being privacy focused, but to install it you have to have access to the google store, one of the least private and most untrustworthy companies on the planet.
Any privacy and safety you think you might have gained using this browser is blown as soon as you give it access to the google store.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, it’s based on Google’s code so there are probably parts of the code that are not open source, and given it’s from Google you can be damned sure it isn’t private.
And aren’t there issues with the install location? If I remember correctly when we did some very brief tests (As soon as it asked for access to Google it got dumped at the speed of light), when you do an offline install it gets loaded to %APPDATA% and there is no way to change that?
@yanta, Well, you know the APK from Github is not the same build that is pushed to Google store, because the Google store version can’t access many of the brave://chrome-urls/, like Sync-internals, while the github version can.
So use that if you want, still, what’s wrong with needing Play Store for some stuff? the only reason I think it would complain is about Rewards, which also is a problem if you had a rooted phone, because obvious reasons. Let’s be honest, most Android phones come with Google play store, so no reason not to use it.
You can still use Mirrorapk or aptoide, and/or something like apkupdater (v3) to get the app to direct you to the mirrorapk or install from aptoide easily in the app.
I guess the APK pushed to them are the same google play one, not github one but oh well.
You can use Brave with no Google play services or store installed.
@yanta
> It touts itself as being privacy focused, but to install it you have to have access to the google store
Not exactly, no. You can fetch the APK file from their GitHub releases as well, it won’t have autoupdates though. Aurora Store exists for anonymous access to the Play Store as well.
The desktop version never needed any store for installation.
> As if that wasn’t bad enough, it’s based on Google’s code so there are probably parts of the code that are not open source, and given it’s from Google you can be damned sure it isn’t private.
Brave Software logically can’t use closed source components of Chrome (that make it different from Chromium), not only because they are closed source, but also because they are intellectual property of Google. So no. It contains the Widevine DRM module for streaming services, which is closed source, but anyway so does Firefox.
As for not private:
https://www.ghacks.net/2020/02/25/study-finds-brave-to-be-the-most-private-browser/
https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/wiki/Deviations-from-Chromium-(features-we-disable-or-remove)
Brave is the most private browser short of the Tor Browser Bundle. It is based on Google’s code, but so are projects like GrapheneOS or CalyxOS, and I don’t hear anything about them not being private, based on that fact. It is insane to me that this is (falsely) claimed for Chromium forks but not for Android forks.
Thr nature of forks means that Brave is as private as Brave Software wants it to be. Google has no say in what code they add or remove.
> And aren’t there issues with the install location? If I remember correctly when we did some very brief tests (As soon as it asked for access to Google it got dumped at the speed of light), when you do an offline install it gets loaded to %APPDATA% and there is no way to change that?
This is unfortunate but ultimately without consequence. Does it matter where it puts its profile? Either you trust it to be on your PC or you don’t, hard to see how install location changes a thing, unless you e.g. want to put it on an encrypted drive. And it never asked for access to Google to me. Not sure if you are saying nonsense or if you did something wrong, one of the purposes of Brave is it being a degoogled version of Chromium.
https://community.brave.com/t/re-requesting-an-option-to-change-installation-location/64059
I find Brave for most part pretty good, BUT… in some cases super crappy, the “Block trackers & ads” function behind the shield is super crude, the list Brave uses breaks way too many even trivial web sites for me, the only way to get a functional web page is to revert the setting to “Allow ALL(!!!) trackers & ads”, so one still have to rely on an extension to take care of the fine-grained adjustment which Brave lacks.
What to do?
Whatever, Brave is for me just a daily browser for trivial browsing so not much lost, still would have to use another non-chrome based browser when it really counts, but would still wish Brave had better fine-grained adjustment functionality.
Brave uses the same content blocking lists as uBlock Origin, so I am unsure why you would have issues only with Brave.
https://github.com/brave/adblock-resources/blob/master/filter_lists/default.json
– uBlock Origin Filters
– uBlock Origin 2020 Filters
– uBlock Origin 2021 Filters
– uBlock Origin 2022 Filters
– uBlock Origin 2023 Filters
– uBlock Origin filters – Badware risks
– uBlock Origin filters – Privacy
– uBlock Origin filters – Resource abuse
– uBlock Origin filters – Unbreak
– EasyList
– EasyPrivacy
– URLhaus Malicious URL Blocklist
– Peter Lowe’s Ad and tracking server list
– Brave Unbreak
– Brave Specific
– Brave Social
– Brave Android-Specific Rules
– SugarCoat Rules
Unless it’s perhaps the Cookie dialogue blocking list that’s causing issues with some sites? Try temporarily disabling “EasyList Cookie” from brave://adblock and seeing if this is the cause of the site breakage.
Thanks ECJ, I have only briefly tried to disable EasyList Cookie on a web site I just had problem with and it seems solving the problem, there were some css files that popped up under brave shield but not showing up anymore, not sure why they would be a problem if EasyList only blocks cookies, or maybe css files can contain links to other cookies.. hope it works better with other sites too.
So don’t have access to the Chrome store? Chrome extensions aren’t google’s property, each extension has its own set of privacy policys which no browser can control. And cutting off access would break many users.
https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/wiki/Deviations-from-Chromium-(features-we-disable-or-remove) Might be more helpful if you want details on what is removed from standard Chromium.
@yanta,
Brave browser doesn’t necessarily need google store. As such, adding browser extensions is an opt-in feature. And it is possible to get it from the developer’s official site such as GitHub.
This new feature “Forget” is a Brave development (originally “Forget Me Not – Forget cookies & other data” in Firefox) and has nothing to do with Google.
“Forget By Default” feature | brave/brave-browser · GitHub
https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/issues/26465
Google chrome (and Chromium) limits the location of executable files and cannot be changed to any directory. Therefore, it is basically impossible to use the portable version. The only exception seems to be Opera (I haven’t looked into it in detail, so there may be others, but Vivaldi clearly states that it doesn’t support it).
Brave is also not officially supported, but it seems that the community has provided code to add some command line options to suppress the behavior of Chromium and it has been applied to the main unit.
Add brave disable-machine-id and disable-encryption-win switches | brave/brave-core · GitHub
https://github.com/brave/brave-core/pull/795
Therefore, it is not possible by default, but it seems that portable use is possible by starting with some command line options.
There is also an “unofficial” portable version.
Brave portable | Portapps
https://portapps.io/app/brave-portable/
However, automatic update is not possible, so manual update (overwrite installation) is required.
@Martin Brinkmann,
It is about another topic “Get Protected the Right Way with Avast Free Antivirus”,
https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/07/get-protected-the-right-way-with-avast-free-antivirus/
All comments on that topic have been lost.
That page seems to have been superseded by another topic (the topic about spreadsheets).
I would like administrator’s @Martin to deal prudently with this matter.
Thanks for letting us know, we are on it and will hopefully have a fix asap.
@Martin Brinkmann,
I subscribe to Ghacks articles and comments with “Feedly Classic” on my regular iPad and with the desktop app “RSS Guard” on my Windows machine.
Now, Tachy and John G. pointing out that “something is wrong with the Ghacks Technology News commenting system”, I also confirm.
https://www.ghacks.net/2023/04/17/how-to-remove-androids-discover-page/#comment-4572372
https://www.ghacks.net/windows-11-update-stuck-fixed-for-good/#comment-4572379
Indeed, as they point out, “articles and comments are not properly linked, leading to completely different article topics”.
For the time being, it would be better to temporarily “reflect the comments manually instead of mechanically”.
I Confirmed Abnormal Links:
#1. Get Protected the Right Way with Avast Free Antivirus
https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/07/get-protected-the-right-way-with-avast-free-antivirus/
#2-a.Android: how to disable 2G cellular connections to improve security
https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/18/android-how-to-disable-2g-cellular-connections-to-improve-security/
#2-b. How to remove Android’s Discover page?
https://www.ghacks.net/2023/04/17/how-to-remove-androids-discover-page
#3-a. Soon, Windows 11 users may uninstall more Microsoft Stock Apps
https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/17/soon-windows-11-users-may-uninstall-more-microsoft-stock-apps/
#3-b. Windows 11 Update Stuck: Fixed For Good
https://www.ghacks.net/windows-11-update-stuck-fixed-for-good
@Martin,
It would be nice if the current situation was shared and corrected.
However, my question is more specific.
Can’t you mention them clearly?
It seems that the number of authors has increased, @Martin and @Ashwin are passing grade, but the other authors’ skills are inexperienced and the quality of the articles is low level.
Are they human?
Furthermore, Is @Shaun an outside advertising man?
@owl I too would like to know the answers to your questions
@Martin,
It’s been a day since I pointed this out, what’s going on?
Even now, the comments on that topic are remains altered (all original Comments are deleted and Comments on a completely different topic are displayed).
Isn’t Martin Brinkmann no longer the admin of ghacks.net?
Is each author the final authority on the article?
For the author (or Softonic International S.A.), will inconvenient content and unpleasant comments be unilaterally deleted?
Even so, I don’t understand the situation where all of more than 10 Comments are deleted unilaterally.
It is an abnormal situation related to “faith”. request an explanation.
I’ve been testing it for a little while and it works great. I don’t have to use Cookie Autodelete with it any longer. I also enabled the First Party storage removal.
You can test it’s effectiveness by going to “brave : // settings / content / all” and seeing what remains.
Well, there was already “Sites that clear cookies when you close them” in brave://settings/cookies.
Which does the same thing, but uses Ephemeral Storage, and the deletion of data is immediate, not 30 seconds of whatever like forgetful browser. Of course, this feature uses persistent storage which can be useful just like using an isolated Ephemeral Storage can be useful as well in other cases.
@Tony,
> I’ve been testing it for a little while and it works great. I don’t have to use Cookie Autodelete with it any longer.
The new feature “Forgetful Browsing” takes care of cleaning up when you closed your browser.
On the other hand, the browser extension “Cookie Autodelete” can be controlled even when the browser is opening.
They look similar, but they are actually different.
But from a fingerprinting resistance point of view, adding browser extensions is not desirable.
The need for them will depend on the user’s measures (whether or not they use a VPN, etc.) and their values.
I use AdGuardVPN, so I don’t need browser extensions like Cookie Autodelete in terms of fingerprint resistance.
@owl
> The new feature “Forgetful Browsing” takes care of cleaning up when you closed your browser.
No, deletion of cookies and cache upon browser shutdown has been avaliable before. Forgetful Browsing does what Cookie AutoDelete does.
Further, management of locsl state does not become a non-issue just because you are using a VPN. Things like cookies and eTags can uniquely identify you even if your IP address rotates to something else.
@Iron Heart,
Thanks for correcting my comment.
Regarding the new feature “Forgetful Browsing”, I had a lack of understanding.
To be honest, I noticed it when I posted on another topics, so I didn’t want to spend time on the web and posted it briefly.
Thank you for your continued support.
I was initially confused. To set it up to remember only a few sites:
(Still untested and assuming my logic is right)
1) Navigate to brave://flags/#brave-forget-first-party-storage and enable the option.
2) Go to settings and switch on ‘Forget me when I close this site’
3) Still in Settings, find ‘Clear cookies and site data when you close all windows’ and switch it off (the new option should do this for you).
3) For individual sites you want remembered, navigate to the site and use the Brave shield option to switch off ‘Forget me when I close this site’.
I could never get Brave to remember the two sites I want and forget everything else. Assuming they have this right,
How you add rss button in address bar? Extesion?