I used Brave for a couple of months, but in the end I had to switch, because it is just not ready to be used in everyday situations.
I actually tried their crypto ads, out of curiosity. I had some BATs collected, then I reinstalled my machine, used their backup code to import the wallet again, but it showed zero value. I contacted them about this, never got an answer.
The sync was causing a crash for some people, so they turned it off for everybody. It was off for at least a week, and maybe even now. But even when it was turned on, it didn't sync properly between my iPhone and my laptop.
The browser frame is rendered weirdly both under xfce and kde. I had to resize the window and maximize again, to get the min/max/close buttons properly rendered, and make some random border disappear.
There were sites where I couldn't log in even after turning off the shield.
On my iPhone for some reason when I searched something in DDG, clicked on it, then went back, DDG was rendered, then tried to scroll, and the previous site started bleeding through from the bottom of the screen. The URL bar showed DDG, but nothing was clickable. Refreshing the page didn't work, so I had to force close the browser and open again to see my search query. Interestingly Google seemed to be working, although I only use it for like 1-2% of my search queries, so I cannot be sure.
In the dev tools the audits tab didn't work at all. Couldn't connect an Android device for remote debugging.
In the end all the little annoyances just made me uninstall it, because for me it is just too much to put up with all these. It definitely has some interesting ideas, but I cannot recommend it just yet.
I'm with you here. I really really want to use brave as my daily driver, but the biggest dealbreaker is buggy bookmark sync.
I'm willing to forgive them making such a drastic and strange requirement like mandating that the all bookmarks folder be moved to the bookmarks toolbar, but when a basic feature like bookmarks syncing (a solved problem in every other browser) is so horrendously broken, I simply cannot use it.
As a counterpoint to this I use Brave on my iPhone, Windows home PC and Mac work laptop. It blocks all ads, I don’t use the crypto at all and never have, and it works for 99% of the sites I visit including ones for various services around work. I never opted in or out of anything, it just works and because it blocks so much nonsense it’s fast. Frustrated by all that negativity when it works great for me as a “download and forget” drop in replacement for Chrome without all the Google tracking.
After reading an article here on HN, I gave Brave a crack for a week but returned to my regular browser. The thrill of dopamine hits from earning a BAT oken for viewing a brave-blessed ad for the underprivileged wasn't worth changing a browser for.
A "drop in replacement for Chrome" just isn't my thing as a Firefox user - I just didn't love the browsing experience otherwise.
If the company were to expand their market for postive-ads and crypto coins by releasing a Firefox plugin as a "drop in replacement for uBlock Origin" it might tickle my fancy.
Yeah I never understood why Brave rewards only works in their own browser. Seems like they're kinda limiting their userbase with this all-or-nothing approach.
Their goal is to change the incentives around web browsing and privacy. It becomes much harder to do that if they help other browsers retain their marketshare.
Yes, to see what the fuss was about with respect to donating those coins to creators.
I didn't view sufficient ads to be rewarded with any crypto in the timeframe (monthly?) and none of the webpages I visit regularly seemed to be eligible for BAT donations. The latter seems a chicken and egg problem; it's an opt-in system for the website administrators who might already have alternative monetization (Google ads, patreon).
How is what the above poster said "that" negative? It was a well-reasoned and well-intentioned post from someone who used it for a substantial period of time.
Seconded! I've been using brave since before you could install chrome extensions directly from the chrome extension page. Brave is no-frills for me. Especially in Android.
I've now given up on Brave on Windows because in the recent times, it has been crashing too many times (with less than 20 tabs open in total). Firefox, on the other hand, has been handling hundreds of tabs across several windows.
I actually tried their crypto ads, out of curiosity. I had some BATs collected, then I reinstalled my machine, used their backup code to import the wallet again, but it showed zero value. I contacted them about this, never got an answer.
The sync was causing a crash for some people, so they turned it off for everybody. It was off for at least a week, and maybe even now. But even when it was turned on, it didn't sync properly between my iPhone and my laptop.
The browser frame is rendered weirdly both under xfce and kde. I had to resize the window and maximize again, to get the min/max/close buttons properly rendered, and make some random border disappear.
There were sites where I couldn't log in even after turning off the shield.
On my iPhone for some reason when I searched something in DDG, clicked on it, then went back, DDG was rendered, then tried to scroll, and the previous site started bleeding through from the bottom of the screen. The URL bar showed DDG, but nothing was clickable. Refreshing the page didn't work, so I had to force close the browser and open again to see my search query. Interestingly Google seemed to be working, although I only use it for like 1-2% of my search queries, so I cannot be sure.
In the dev tools the audits tab didn't work at all. Couldn't connect an Android device for remote debugging.
In the end all the little annoyances just made me uninstall it, because for me it is just too much to put up with all these. It definitely has some interesting ideas, but I cannot recommend it just yet.