All About Brave: What Is Brave & How It Works?

You might have heard about many common web browsers such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Safari, Opera, and much more. But, what is common about these browsers is they usually suggest you frequently update, or have other functionality issues.

However, Brave is an open-source browser that is originally built on Chromium. Unlike Google Chrome, it focuses mainly on performance and consumer privacy. Undoubtedly, Google Chrome is an outstanding online browser—but for almost a decade now, it has been the dominating choice for a modern web browsing experience. So, to present a distinct approach to what Google offers, you will find various chrome alternatives available. And Brave is one of the popular ones.

So, what exactly is Brave, what it does, and how does it work? In this blog, you are going to discover all you need to know about the Brave browser to decide if Brave is right for you.

What Exactly Is The Brave Browser?

Brave is a fairly basic web browser that enables users to navigate to websites, perform web applications, and view online content. As with other browsers, it is completely free to download and use, and it remembers site authentication information, and can prevent websites from displaying online advertisements.

Brave Software, the browser's creator, is a relative newcomer to the browser wars, having previewed the browser in January 2016. By comparison, Google's Chrome browser debuted in September 2008, while Microsoft's Edge debuted in July 2015.

Brendan Eich, the developer of JavaScript and a co-founder of Mozilla, co-founded the company after resigning from Mozilla in response to pressure over his support for California's 2008 Proposition 8, a ballot proposition that prohibited same-sex marriage.

Is It True That Brave Blocks Ads Within Online Search Results?

The answer is no! Brave makes no mention of blocking ads, including the ubiquitous Google Ads that appear alongside Google's search results. That's unsurprising, as ad blocking add ons have little effect on search ads.

What Lies Beneath The Hood Of Brave?

Brave is built on top of Chromium, an open-source project maintained by Google and others. Chromium is the project that provides the source code for Google's Chrome browser. Chrome's back-end technologies, such as the Blink rendering engine and the V8 JavaScript engine, are also used in Brave.

Brave relies on WebKit instead on iOS, the open-source foundation that also powers Apple's Safari browser. WebKit is required as the foundation for any third-party browser submitted to the App Store by Apple. Additionally, Edge, Opera, Vivaldi, and Qihoo 360, one of the most popular Chinese-made browsers, all rely on Chromium.

Is Brave Compatible With Chrome Extensions?

The simple answer is yes! After selecting "Extensions" from Brave's Window menu, the browser navigates to the Chrome Web Store, the official marketplace for Chrome-compatible add-ons and customizations (and some, though not all, Chromium-based rivals). There, users have a choice to use whatever extension they want.

What's Brave's Pitch?

Brave is known for two things: its speed and its privacy. Both are a product of the company's ad-stripping policy. Brave Software claims that its browser on the desktop loads pages three times faster than Google's Chrome, the world's most popular browser. The increases in speed are unsurprising. By removing advertisements and ad trackers, Brave downloads far less content from a website than any other browser that does not include an ad-blocking addon.

By disabling ad trackers, Brave prevents advertisers from identifying and subsequently following users. According to Brave Software, this increases the anonymity of Brave users. Additionally, the corporation has sworn that it does not now store any user data on its servers and will not do so in the future.

What Makes Brave Different From Other Browsers?

What distinguishes Brave is its adamant anti-advertising stance. The browser was created to remove online adverts from websites, and its creator's business strategy is based on not only ad blocking, but also on replacing scratched-out banners with those from its own network.

It's as if a new sports cable network said it would employ technology to remove advertisements from another network's programming, say ESPN, and then rerun those programs with its own advertisements, with the revenue from those advertisements going to the new network's coffers, not ESPN's.

Additionally, Brave disables all ad trackers, the frequently-invisible page components that marketers and site publishers employ to identify users and determine which other websites those people visit or have visited. Ad networks utilise trackers to display products that are comparable to those purchased or evaluated, resulting in the meme of seeing the same ad regardless of where one navigates.

Since the launch of Brave, several popular browsers — Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari, among others — have added various anti-tracking measures. In reality, where performance was once the battleground for browser skirmishes, with page rendering speeds serving as the barometer of success, privacy features now serve as the battlefield, with tracker blocking serving as the barometer of success.

What's New With Brave?

In the second half of 2021, Brave Software announced the acquisition of Tailcat, a search engine that, according to Brave, will serve as the backbone for Brave Search.

According to Brave, their Search will avoid user monitoring and profiling and will not utilise secret methods or algorithms to bias results, a dig at Google's under-the-radar algorithmic rearranging of search results that can dramatically diminish a site's visibility in the rankings with a single adjustment.

As with Brave's browser, the search will compensate users for seeing search-related advertisements. However, the firm stated that it will also offer options for ad-free premium search, which would serve as a clear differentiation from other search engines.

How Do I Download Brave?

Brave is available for download from this page on the Brave Software website. The page should automatically detect the operating system of the device and present the proper version. The Brave browser is also available for iOS and Android devices via the App Store and Google Play, respectively.

The Final Verdict

The Brave web browser aims to revolutionise the way you use your boring old browser. Brave is pitching itself as the latest front in the conflict between ad makers and ad blockers.

Brave is based on the promise of faster load times and enhanced privacy protection through the disabling of web trackers and targeted advertisements. In sum, Brave is gaining sufficient traction, user engagement, and downloads to sustain this radical business model in the future.