Brave promises privacy, but a fresh Android install had five of its own data and ad settings on. Here is where they are and how to turn them off.
Brave is a browser sold on privacy, but a new install on Android came with five of its own data and ad settings switched on. Android Police tested it and found that setup asked about only two of them. The other three sit in Settings, and all five can be turned off for free.
Brave blocks trackers from other companies by default. On a busy news page, it reported blocking nine ads and trackers. But the settings that send data to Brave or show its own ads were on too.
Only the first two appear on the setup screen called Help make Brave better. The daily usage ping and both ad settings do not. Brave says the ping helps it estimate active users and measure sponsored-ad performance privately, without identifying you.
Brave has a feature called Shred, which can delete a site's data when you close its tab or the app. On the test phone, it was set to Never, and Clear data on exit was off. That means sites can keep data between visits. PrivacyTests.org ranks Brave first among Android browsers, yet Brave still fails 24 tests on this kind of tracking. Firefox Focus and Tor Browser pass them. The site's operator works for Brave.
Private tabs have a gap too. Brave's private page says "Leave no trace on your device," but its help page says downloads from private tabs are kept. A test image downloaded in a private tab was gone from Brave's downloads list after the tabs closed. It was still in the phone's files and opened in Gallery.
To turn off the first four settings, go to Settings > Brave Shields & privacy. Switch off the analytics, diagnostic reports, daily usage ping and Sponsored Ads. Then go to Settings > New Tab Page and turn off Show New Tab Page Ads.
To turn on Shred, go to Settings > Brave Shields & privacy > Shred. Set Automatically shred browsing data to Site tab closed or App close.
Brave's privacy policy says it does not collect or store browsing history, and none of these five settings involve it. Still, the tester notes that Brave asks you to opt in for other features, such as Brave News and the Web Discovery Project. It could do the same here. Brave also offers a stricter Aggressive blocking level, but it is off by default and tests found it broke checkout pages and logins.
If you use Brave on Android, spend a few minutes in Settings to turn off its data and ad options and set Shred to clear data when a tab closes.
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