Is Brave Browser Good on Mobile? An Honest Review

We will examine Brave Browser as a mobile application in this article. What are the pros and cons of the brave browser for mobile devices? Is Brave Browser good on mobile devices? How does it compare to Google Chrome? Here’s what we found out.

Brave Browser prevents advertisers and trackers from collecting information about you without your consent. The browser promises greater privacy and faster loading times without ads and trackers. As a result, you can save not only on battery but also on carrier charges. Additionally, Brave themselves claims to be up to 8 times faster than other browsers. Users can access the browser on desktops and mobile devices.

Table of Contents

Brave Browser: A Short History

Despite initially being launched at the beginning of 2016, Brave Browser took almost 4 years to develop a stable version. The stable version, released on November 13, 2019, is a privacy-focused browser that blocks online ads and website trackers. Free and open-source, the brave web browser is developed by Brave Software, Inc. Brave Browser, similar to Google Chrome, is built on top of Chromium, a free and open-source codebase.

Brave Browser: Aggregated Consumer Reviews

With apps available for both iOS and Android mobile devices, Brave Browser ranks quite high in the list of browsers available on both app stores. As of November 2021, the Brave Private Browser has a 4.6 out of 5 rating on the Google Play Store (623k ratings) and a 4.8 out of 5 on the Apple App Store (10k ratings).

If you compare the rating with other browsers on Google Play Store, the app store for Android mobile devices, Brave Browser fares better than Chrome (4.2 out of 5), Opera (4.5 out of 5), and Firefox (4.5 out of 5).
If you compare the rating with other browsers on the Apple App Store, the app store for Apple mobile devices, Brave Browser fares better than Chrome (3.7 out of 5), Opera (4.5 out of 5), and Firefox (3.9 out of 5).

Brave Browser generally has excellent reviews across the 2 main mobile operating systems. It even fares better than well-known and more established browsers like Chrome and Firefox. Users generally agree that it performs as promised and rates it well above average.

Brave Browser: Advantages in a Nutshell

Browse the Internet privately on your mobile phone without websites tracking your every move.
Avoid ads while browsing. This will allow you more screen space on your already valuable mobile phone.
Reduce mobile data costs as more of it will be blocked by Brave.

Brave Browser: Disadvantages in a Nutshell

Compared to other established browsers such as Google Chrome, there are some issues (as detailed below in my personal review).
Those who prefer personalized advertisements based on their demographics and preferences will not see it on their mobile phones.

Brave Browser: My Personal Review

It’s been a few days now since I’ve been using Brave Browser, and I really like it. I alternate between Brave and Chrome to be able to compare both apps on my mobile phone.

A couple of points that I noted are the following while using Brave Browser on my mobile device:

Built on Chromium – Like Google Chrome, the Brave Private Browser is built on Chromium. Consequently, the browser is based on much the same code. The compatibility support will be on par with Chrome. This is practical since it makes it easier for the team to support the browser. The mobile UX experience is also similar to that of Google Chrome.
Integrated Advertisement Blocker – A built-in advertisement blocker in Brave for Android effectively removes all advertisements. Brave Shields automatically blocks advertisements, tracking, and third-party cookies on all sites you visit. You can further enhance the protection by enabling script blocking and fingerprint protection. The ad-blocking feature worked quite well. While using the Brave Private Browser, I didn’t notice any ads.
Blocker Settings – You can still customize the block settings on your phone’s browser by specifying how aggressively or conventionally you want to block trackers and ads. Or you can choose not to block the trackers or ads at all.
Privacy Report – A privacy report shows how many trackers and ads were blocked by Brave on your mobile phone. It also displays how much data (in MB) and time was saved. Additionally, it displays which trackers and ads were blocked for each website.
Basic Functions – The basic browser functions are available such as New tab, New Private tab, History, Downloads, Bookmarks, Recent tabs, Desktop site, Settings, Set as default browser, and Exit.
Brave Rewards – Brave Browser compensates creators differently than almost all other browsers with ads. It uses a feature called Brave Rewards. In this feature, you earn BAT (Basic Attention Token) currency, which you can then use as currency to tip creators and sites directly, rather than relying on ad networks. It allows you to directly support the creators and remove sites you do not wish to support.

These are a few issues I found with Brave Browser:

Crashes – Immediately following an update for my Android phone, the Brave Private browser kept crashing.
Unable to open PDF – The browser was unable to open PDF files that were linked from another app. I had to download the PDF file first, then open it directly in the Downloads section.
Too much white space – White space filled the blocked ads. Due to the excessive whitespace, this could sometimes look odd on the website.

Brave Browser: My Usability Review

Everything is clearly labeled and the buttons are easy to understand. As the user acts and the system status changes, the browser provides clear visual and text feedback. The font size and spacing ensure good readability.

Mobile users will have an easy time navigating Brave Browser

The URL bar in Brave appears on top, which makes navigating it straightforward since most other browsers display the URL bar in the same location. Like Google Chrome, you can also open a new tab or a new private tab in your app. The three dots on the bottom right corner of the screen can also be used to access settings and functions.

It does, however, lack the contrast of other browser apps such as Chrome and Firefox. Nevertheless, the readability remains intact.

Overall, Brave Browser is easy to use. It is intuitive to use the mobile app, and messages (status and error messages) are clearly stated. As compared to other browsers, the contrast is not that great, and it takes a little while to get used to the overall dark theme.