Why I Stopped Using the Brave Browser

Summary

The speaker still considers Brave a strong browser for most people, particularly because it blocks ads and trackers by default and requires little setup. The video explains why he personally stopped using it after years of use, focusing on accumulated annoyances rather than arguing that Brave is a bad browser.

Main Criticisms

• Brave Rewards and BAT: Users can opt into desktop ads, earn BAT, and tip participating creators. However, withdrawing BAT requires linking an account with a supported exchange, such as Uphold or Gemini. The speaker says this involves identity checks and government-issued ID, which he sees as inconsistent with Brave’s focus on privacy. He also says decentralization has been discussed but not delivered. Other issues he reports include glitches, low earnings, limited country support, and past problems with unwithdrawn “virtual BAT.” In his experience, two years of use earned about $20–$30.
• Brave Shields: The built-in ad and tracker blocker sometimes failed to block ads, including on YouTube, until a browser update. The speaker also found that Shields could interfere with logins and other sites, requiring exceptions or adjustments. He says uBlock Origin worked more reliably in his experience, though adding it makes Brave’s built-in blocker less useful.
• Extra features and promotional content: He finds several Brave features unnecessary or intrusive, including Brave News, sponsored images and promotions on the new-tab page, Brave Talk prompts, a built-in torrent client, analytics settings that require extra attention, and a separate crypto wallet. He notes that these features can generally be disabled.
• Tor windows: Brave offers private windows with Tor connectivity, but the speaker cautions that this is not a substitute for the Tor Browser. He references Tor’s advice to use the official Tor Browser when anonymity is important and mentions a past Brave Tor-window bug that reportedly exposed users’ IP addresses and visited onion sites to their ISP.

Recommendation and Guidance

The speaker still recommends Brave to people who want a private-by-default browser without spending time configuring it. For more technically inclined users, he prefers a customized version of Firefox, which he says can be improved with small configuration changes. He points viewers to separate videos about configuring Firefox and browser rankings; the video itself does not provide a full Firefox setup tutorial.

Main speaker/source: Eric Murphy, sharing his personal experience and opinions. He also refers to Brave’s settings and statements, Tor Project guidance, and his comparison with uBlock Origin.