The Brave Browser is considered one of the more privacy-friendly Chromium-based browsers available. It comes with lots of built-in privacy features that other browsers don’t have without adding third-party extensions.
If you’re a Firefox user, you can also see our article Browser Tips: Make Firefox More Privacy Friendly.
If you use Microsoft Edge, check out our article Browser Tips: Make Microsoft Edge More Privacy Friendly.
Make Brave Browser More Privacy Friendly
Navigate to your Settings from the Hamburger Menu.
Appearance Menu:
- Uncheck “Leo AI Assistant” under Autocomplete Suggestions.
Shields Menu:
- Trackers & Ads Blocking – Set to Standard or Aggressive (Aggressive may break sites but offers the most protection).
- Upgrade Connections to HTTPS – Set to Strict (Set to Standard if you host any of your own non-HTTPS services).
- Block Scripts – This will disable Javascript, which will break lots of sites. It is probably best to keep this off.
- Block Fingerprinting – Enable
- Block Cookies – Block Third-Party Cookies
- Forget Me When I Close This Site – This will delete cookies for every site which will require you login again. It offers the most protection, but is not necessary for most.
- Store contact information for future broken site reports – Disable
- Content Filtering – I recommend enabling these filters (You can also use an extension like uBlock Origin instead):
- Social Media Blocking – Disable all of them unless you use them on any sites.
Privacy and Security:
- Security – Safe Browsing – Browser Protection – Standard Protection (should be default)
- Security – Advanced – Use Secure DNS – Enable this if you don’t have a router or OS secure DNS.
- Security – Advanced – Manage JavaScript Optimization & Security – Set to Don’t Allow Sites to Use Javascript Optimization – It can affect performance but offers the most protection
- WebRTC IP Handling Policy – Disable Non-Proxied UDP
- Use Google Services for Push Messaging – Disable
- Auto-Redirect AMP Pages – Enable
- Auto-Redirect Tracking URLs – Enable
- Prevent sites from fingerprinting me based on my language preferences – Enable
- Block Microsoft Recall – Enable
- Do Not Track Requests – Disable – If enabled, this can be used for fingerprinting
- Data Collection – Disable all options
Web3:
- Default Ethereum Wallet – Extensions (No Fallback)
- Default Solana Wallet – Extensions (No Fallback)
- The default settings for everything else is okay unless there’s a feature you need to use
Search Engine:
- Change your default search engine to a privacy-focused one if needed. Brave Search is an okay option but not the best
- Improve Search Suggestions – Disable unless you host your own search engine like SearXNG and have it set to the default
- Web Discovery Project – Disable
