It’s exactly as the title says; I switched to Brave Browser for only five days for my regular browsing. I originally wrote about how I planned to switch for seven days, and I tried my best to take full advantage of the browser.
Sadly, I ran into persistent, grating snags repeatedly, so I eventually gave up after only five days. Here’s how everything went in this span of time starting on the day I published the first post.
Day 1
I was very pleasantly surprised over how easy it was to migrate everything (and I do mean everything) from my existing Vivaldi Browser setup. After installing Brave from the AUR, I started it up for the first time and was given the option to import from Vivaldi (as opposed to “Chrome” or “Chromium” like many browsers or websites see Vivaldi as). That alone gave me a rather good impression of Brave, as if it had some little attention to detail here and there put into it.
I was up and running with my settings, history, bookmarks, and extensions in no time. Unfortunately, I had to configure all of my extensions manually again, but that’s not really something Brave can help, I suppose. I had the exact same issues when trying to switch back to Firefox several months ago.
The Brave Creator program has been a thorn in my side for the time being. I signed up and tried to use Uphold for verification, but they refused to offer me an account shortly after signup. I opened a support ticket, but they’re taking their sweet, sweet time to get back to me.
Regardless, I’m somewhat impressed with the browsing experience. Controls and UI look polished, and I can find everything quite easily. I also set the device sync up on my phone and iPad. It might be pointless considering I rarely ever browse sites on my phone (outside of quick searches here and there) and I almost never browse sites on the iPad, but the options are there, and setting the sync up was pretty easy.
Overall Impression: Cautiously Optimistic
Day 2
I started getting Brave up and running for my daily browsing and hardly notice a difference overall compared to using Vivaldi. The browser itself might be faster, but it could be a mere placebo. I could run benchmarks or something, but I feel like measuring that fraction of a second difference is not worth my time.
Of course, the biggest difference here is that I can earn BAT (Basic Attention Token) crypto from my regular browsing. I took a little extra time to set my wallet up because I really insisted on connecting my existing Ledger wallet to my browser.
Unfortunately, it looks like I’m still not able to earn any BAT because Uphold is shockingly bad at getting back to their customers. I eventually got an automated email saying they were dealing with “an unusually high volume of inquiries.” I’m thinking of trying Gemini soon, but I’ll have to remember to not sign up while connected through a VPN this time.
Aside from that, my browsing experience has been pretty smooth overall. Something I’ve noticed when searching through the Chrome Extensions store, however, is how buttons say “Add to Brave” instead of a generic “Add to Chrome” like I would get on Vivaldi. Just a minor thing I see that makes it feel like I’m using a browser that is well-recognized by the web for what it is.
Something neat I’ve noticed when browsing Github is how forum posts on Brave will have a BAT tip button show up. If I find a Github post in particular helpful, I can click the button and tip said user in BAT to support them. That’s such a cool idea.
Overall Impression: Somewhat Positive
Day 3
Yeah, Uphold never got back to me. Friendship ended with Uphold; now Gemini is my best friend! Signing up with them to get started with BAT was a lot smoother. I may not be able to use the gift card redemption options, but I’m done with Uphold.
Uphold only finally got back to me late in the day moments before I went to bed, and all they had to tell me was that they were going to send my ticket to an agent and get in contact with me “shortly.” I’ll update if they decide to make things right and start a redemption arc.
I started browsing more sites with the Brave shields down if they happen to be creators I care about. Some of my favorite YouTubers even have Brave Creator accounts setup already, which is a nice plus. The BAT I can earn from regular browsing can also be contributed to their Brave Creator accounts and support them directly. Speaking of all this, if any Brave users happen to be reading this on their browser, I certainly wouldn’t mind if you lowered shields when browsing my site! Heh heh… yeah, I know at the end of the day that nobody is obligated to do that, but it’s always appreciated.
While I have enjoyed day-to-day use with the browser, I’ve run into an issue trying to add my site to the Creator program. I don’t know what else to do, as my VPN wasn’t the issue here this time. Troubleshooting proved to be a waste of time, too.
Overall Impression: Slightly Soured
Day 4
After more fruitless attempts of trying and searching online, I am still unable to add any channels to my Brave Creator account. In fairness, I’ve only wanted to add this blog to it, but I can’t even have that. So far, I’ve tried the following:
- Disconnecting my VPN
- Logging in on different browsers to try and add channels
- Trying to login on different devices to add channels
- Removing my Gemini wallet and adding channels without it connected
I’m still not sure what the issue is with the infuriating 500 error I’m always getting. It’s such a vague, useless, and flat-out unhelpful error message that doesn’t help with troubleshooting in the slightest. Many users on the Brave forums seem to get the exact same error for many other issues like connecting Uphold or even merely trying to login to their Brave Creator account.
Of course, Brave itself is serviceable for everyday browsing like any Chromium-based browser these days, but the fact that I can’t even take full advantage of the BAT features is really making the experience feel incomplete. What’s the point of using Brave then?
At the end of the day, right before I went to bed, I checked again to confirm that Uphold never got back to me. On another note, I thought I would attempt to add a site that I knew I didn’t own just to see if it would do something outside of another 500 Server Error message. Turns out that something did change this time!
Unfortunately, it only led me to get a message nagging me that I reached the maximum number of channels I could add to my Brave Creators page (despite the obvious fact that I have ZERO sites added successfully).
I sent in a support ticket through Brave’s channels, but to throw more salt in the wound, I never received an email confirmation from Brave’s support ticket system. At least Uphold had the courtesy to pretend they would get back to me for realsies. If Brave treats me like Uphold’s customer service, they should likely get back to me within the next two to three decades.
Overall Impression: Increasingly Negative
Day 5
I’m still struggling to add any sites to Brave Creators. Trying to add this blog gave me the same error message pictured above all over again. I think the issue is how my blog uses a .blog domain extension, but Brave wanted me to use something common like a .com extension. Unfortunately, the same error from before page gives no help with troubleshooting.
I looked up the original WordPress domain this blog came with and tried adding that, but no dice. Still the same “Error 500” message as if I hadn’t changed anything. I tried adding a random .com name I knew I didn’t own just to see if it did anything and then canceling, and that actually got me to the second step! It looked like a semblance of progress, so I clicked back, tried to add my blog again, and then saw the same infuriating message that I added too many sites and have to contact Brave support… AGAIN.
Despite how I like the general UI of Brave and everything, the lack of BAT options that I can fully take advantage of is really souring my overall experience. While the browser is working, at the end of the day, Brave is just another Chromium-based browser. What does it have to offer that I can’t get on Vivaldi? In fact, what does it offer that Microsoft Edge doesn’t? Not counting the BAT-based features, I guess Brave at least has an iPad app, whereas I’m still waiting for Vivaldi to release that soon.
If I grasp at straws, I guess Brave supports onion links. That’s neat, I suppose. I also think that Brave supports torrent links, but I could (and do) use a different app for that.
I’ve had endless problem after problem getting BAT features to just cooperate with me. Earning Basic Attention Tokens is the killer app of Brave, after all, but I’ve just about reached the end of my patience trying to get it all working.
Overall Impression: sudo pacman -Rns brave-bin
I Give Up
After having to send two support tickets to Brave and one support ticket to Uphold six days ago now (I wanted them to have a chance to redeem themselves), I’ve decided enough is enough.
While Brave has some promising ideas behind it, the execution could use some work. I love the idea of getting a cryptocurrency for browsing, being able to use it to support creators, and even tipping others with it online without having to leave my browser. The ideas behind Brave make it seem almost like a browser from the future.
Alas, many other users on their forums complain about randomly being locked out of their Uphold/Gemini accounts, never receiving BAT they were owed, or simply not being able to login to their Brave Creator accounts in the first place. One thing many of these users have in common is the “Error 500” message and a complete lack of resolution. While I didn’t have it as bad as many of them, this gives me the impression that the Brave team has some work to do.
I would only recommend using Brave if you can actually get the BAT features to work right and have no issue doing so. For those that can, I’m honestly a bit jealous. I really wish I could take part in what Brave has envisioned. As for me, I’m going to go back to the comfort of Vivaldi.
I’ll consider Brave again in the future if they can get their act together and make their BAT features less of a tremendous pain to use. On one final note, Uphold and their customer service are complete and utter trash.
Sudo Science 