There are plenty of multi-platform boutique browsers out there like UC Browser, Lunascape and Sleipnir to name a few. The one which will be covered in this post is Brave, a browser that is different than the rest with a unique value proposition.
Brave gives you the ability to earn a crypto currency coin aptly named BAT or Basic Attention Token just by clicking on an ad notification that the browser serves.
If you are feeling generous, you can tip the earnt tokens to a Brave verified publisher and content creators. Additionally, you can redeem the earnt tokens for gift cards via TAP. This, however, would require you to have a verified uphold account.
What is Brave?
Brave is a standard browser that allows you to do what you usually do when you are surfing the web i.e. watch videos, read content, download files and run web apps. Much like every other browser, it is free to download and use. It remembers your site authentication information and can block those pesky online ads from appearing on websites.
Created by Brave Software, it is a relatively new entry in the browser wars. The company was co-founded by Brendan Eich, the creator of JavaScript and a co-founder of Mozilla.
What makes Brave different from other browsers?
Brave is based on the Chromium web browser, the open-source project Google and others maintain. In order to put things into perspective, Chromium is used by Google to provide the source code for its Chrome browser. Other back-end technologies that power Chrome like the Blink rendering engine and the V8 JavaScript engine are also used by Brave.
Being built based on Chromium, Brave also supports some of Chrome’s browsers like Netflix Party and Lolli. Below are the additional factors that differentiate Brave from the other boutique browsers.
Ad-blocking capabilities
The browser removes all online ads from websites. However, they would replace these with ads from within their own publisher network.
Privacy
Brave also eliminates all ad trackers which means that advertisers and site publishers are not able to track your browser cookies. What does this mean? No more retargeted ads when you’re surfing the web. The company claimed that it does not, and will not, store any user data on its servers. How do they serve their users ads then? According to them, the ads will not be individually targeted but instead aimed at an anonymous aggregate of the browser’s user base.
Speed
Brave boasts one of the fastest browser speeds. On the desktop, Brave loads pages twice as fast as Chrome and Firefox. On a smartphone, Brave loads pages up to eight times faster than Chrome (Android) or Safari (iOS).
This increase in speed is attributable to the elimination of ads and trackers which requires the browser to download less content on a site.
Users earn crypto currency
Brave rewards is a programme that pays Brave users for viewing ads which their users are in control of. Users can control every aspect of Brave Ads; from the number of system notifications that they would like to see, to hiding sponsored images. Additionally, users earn 70% of the ad revenue that Brave receive from advertisers. In exchange for their attention, users will accumulate tokens as they browse.
Users can either contribute these tokens to the sites they love or redeem them for gift vouchers.
Where to download Brave?
Brave can be downloaded via this page. The desktop version supports Windows x86 or Windows x64, Windows 7 or later; macOS 10.9 or later; or Linux x64 for Debian, Fedora, Ming, openSUSE and Ubuntu.
Mobile versions of the Brave browser (for iOS and Android) are available in the App Store and in Google Play, respectively.
