Chances are you use Chrome for your browser, or perhaps Safari if you’re an Apple user. Realistically these days, these are the first choices among browsers, and though there are competitors – Edge, Firefox, and so on – analytics tell us that not many people actually use them compared to Chrome.
Our own analytics over the last week show us 76% of our traffic is Chrome (or Chrome Webview in an app). That’s a big number, and there’s a reason for it – Chrome is the default browser on most Androids, but it’s also one of the best browsers.
There are some downsides though, and that’s where Brave fits in.
I’ve been using the Brave browser for a couple of months now, and I’m convinced. It’s based on the same Chromium core, and so in many respects it works like Chrome. It supports Extensions, has a cross-browser bookmark sync (in beta), and allows you to install Chrome-based apps such as Authy Desktop as well.
Brave does a few things differently, though. For a start it offers Brave Shields, which blocks tracking cookies, advertising, annoying popups and advertising. In short, it takes the web experience back to where it probably should’ve been. Internet advertising quite literally makes the online world go round, but executed poorly, it can ruin a good experience.
Brave’s Shield allows you to whitelist sites that you trust and wish to support – for example, ours – so that you can still view ads etc while still blocking tracking code. For sites you don’t trust, you can (and by default will) block all of that stuff. It’s an opt-in experience (rather than say AdBlock for Chrome where you’ll get all ads by default).
The other benefit you get from Brave is speed. Yes, it’s still Chrome-based – so there’s only so much faster it can be – but there is a noticeable speed increase in Brave vs Chrome, as you can see in this video below:
The reality is, Brave is quick and offers the features I want. If it didn’t, I wouldn’t bother writing about it because it would be just another browser.
I’ve recommended Brave to many before today, and having met the team behind Brave at MWC 2019, I’m even happier to recommend it; the team and its developers are genuinely concerned to make the web experience just that little bit better, and they also support the needs of publishers.
You see, if you block ads, websites’ revenue will effectively be cut off, and that’s a dangerous place to be. However has two answers here; you can whitelist websites – as we’ve mentioned above – but you can also sign up to support publishers using Brave’s Rewards platform.
In a nutshell, if you download and install Brave using our affiliate link, and sign up for a Brave wallet (basically a free exercise that takes a few seconds), Ausdroid receives a small commission. You can also use the Brave Rewards feature built into the browser to provide fractional income to Ausdroid as you read the site. It costs you nothing, it blocks your ads, and we receive some support from Brave for the whole endeavour.
Lastly, but not least, you can even tip us using Brave Rewards for content you’ve especially enjoyed.
So, here’s the pitch if you’d like to try our Brave, and we think you’ll like it:
- Install Brave using our affiliate link: https://brave.com/aus392
- Import all your Chrome data into Brave to migrate across – you lose nothing in the process and it takes mere seconds
- Whitelist Ausdroid in Brave Shields when you next visit the site
- Set up Brave Rewards and you can reward your favourite publishers (not just us!) with your patronage.
Brave isn’t just for Android, with support for Windows and MacOS users as well – and it works great on all these platforms. More than 10 million Android users have made the switch, and many more in Windows and Mac OS land.
I’m convinced it’s worth your time taking a look and seeing whether you, too, might switch from Chrome to the better privacy focused web browser that’s twice as fast.
Disclaimer: Ausdroid may receive a small commission from your installing Brave from our website.Â
Excellent. I’ve been using Firefox Focus but was looking for a way to still support you guys. First impressions of Brave are positive!
You mentioned that it’s available on Android, Windows and MacOS. What about Linux distros, such as Fedora or Ubuntu? Because it’s based on Chromium, it should work.
FYI, I use Firefox with the DuckDuckGo search engine and AdBlock Plus (disabled for Ausdroid, of course).
are you able to advise if it is as resource hungry as chrome is on a windows machine?
Yes in my experience much less memory and cpu usage in Brave as compared to Chrome
I like Yandex browser with its bottom focused interface and chrome extension support. But thanks for the heads up I’ll have a look at Brave to see how it compares.
I totally agree with this article, I’ve been using Brave for a few weeks now and its by far the best browser I’ve come across! I especially like the sync function so you can sync bookmarks between devices. Oh and the whole approach to rewards/advertising really puts the power back in the users hands.