{"id":115253,"date":"2018-12-05T13:16:40","date_gmt":"2018-12-05T13:16:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sftarticles.wpenginepowered.com\/en\/?p=115253"},"modified":"2025-07-01T22:39:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T05:39:12","slug":"5-tips-to-get-the-most-out-of-brave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/5-tips-to-get-the-most-out-of-brave\/","title":{"rendered":"5 tips to get the most out of Brave"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Brave is not only one of the fastest browsers on the market, but also offers unrivaled control over privacy, ads, and the content you see. If you don&#8217;t have Brave, you can <a href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/brave-browser\/browse-beyond\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">install it right here<\/a>. Once Brave is installed, take a look at these five tips to get you started off on the right foot:<\/p>\n<h2>1. Set Brave as your default browser (and get it on mobile)<\/h2>\n<div class=\"sc-card-program\">\r\n  <div class=\"sc-card-program__body\">\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row clearfix\">\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-logo\">\r\n        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sc-card-program__img\" alt=\"Browse the web up to 8x faster than Chrome and Safari\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2018\/11\/LOGO-BRAVE.png\" width=\"100px\" height=\"100px\">\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-title\">\r\n        <span class=\"sc-card-program__title\">Browse the web up to 8x faster than Chrome and Safari<\/span>\r\n        <a class=\"sc-card-program__button sc-card-program-internal\" href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/brave-browser\/browse-beyond\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Download Now<\/a>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-rating\">\r\n        <svg class=\"rating-score__content\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" version=\"1.1\" x=\"0\" y=\"0\" viewbox=\"0 0 50 50\" enable-background=\"new 0 0 50 50\" xml:space=\"preserve\"><path class=\"rating-score__background rating-score--good\" fill=\"none\" stroke-width=\"6\" stroke-miterlimit=\"10\" d=\"M40 40c8.3-8.3 8.3-21.7 0-30s-21.7-8.3-30 0 -8.3 21.7 0 30\"><\/path><path class=\"rating-score__value rating-score__value--90\" fill=\"none\" stroke-width=\"6\" stroke-dashoffset=\"90\" stroke-miterlimit=\"10\" d=\"M40 40c8.3-8.3 8.3-21.7 0-30s-21.7-8.3-30 0 -8.3 21.7 0 30\"><\/path><text class=\"rating-score__number\" content=\"9\" text-anchor=\"middle\" transform=\"matrix(1 0 0 1 25 31.0837)\" data-auto=\"app-user-score\">9<\/text><\/svg>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row\">\r\n      <span class=\"sc-card-program__description\">Enjoy private, secure and fast browsing with Brave<\/span>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row\">\r\n      <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sc-card-program__bigpic\" src=\"\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\">\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <a class=\"sc-card-program__link track-link sc-card-program-internal\" href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/brave-browser\/browse-beyond\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Setting Brave as your default browser<\/strong> will keep your emails and messages safe behind Brave&#8217;s powerful security shields. Here&#8217;s how to do it.<\/p>\n<p>The easy way is to just click the button that appears under the address bar when you first launch the browser.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-115933\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2018\/12\/brave-default-browser-button.jpg\" alt=\"Brave Default Browser Button\" width=\"600\" height=\"191\" srcset=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2018\/12\/brave-default-browser-button.jpg 600w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2018\/12\/brave-default-browser-button-300x96.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>From there, the instructions vary a little bit, depending on your operating system, regardless of whether you&#8217;re in the browser:<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Windows 10<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Settings &gt; System &gt; Default apps &gt; Web browser tab &gt; Select Brave Browser<\/p>\n<h3><strong>OSX<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>System Preferences &gt; General &gt; Default web browser &gt; Select Brave Browser<\/p>\n<p>You can also do this in-browser through the Settings menu.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Android<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Brave is crazy fast (and just as secure) on mobile. <strong>C<\/strong><b>lose the loop by getting Brave on all of your devices<\/b>. Brave makes it really easy to sync your browser preferences between devices.<\/p>\n<h2>2. Import your settings<\/h2>\n<p>Switching over to Brave is simple and seamless. You can easily import all your settings (bookmarks, saved passwords, browsing history) right over.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-162760\" src=\"\" alt=\"\" width=\"424\" height=\"380\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Inside the Brave browser, <strong>click the three horizontal lines<\/strong> in the upper right corner<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Click <b>Settings<\/b><\/li>\n<li>In the new window, click <b>Import bookmarks and settings<\/b><\/li>\n<li>Select one of your previous browsers<\/li>\n<li>Click <b>Import<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>3. Customize Brave<\/h2>\n<p>Access all your settings by <strong>clicking the three horizontal lines<\/strong> in the upper right corner of Brave\u2019s browser window. You can customize them a number of ways:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Choose your own search engine. <a href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/articles\/use-duckduckgo-and-brave-together-for-total-privacy-on-the-web\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">We recommend\u00a0DuckDuckGo<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Switch to a dark color scheme.<\/li>\n<li>Choose a Brave theme from the <a href=\"https:\/\/chrome.google.com\/webstore\/category\/extensions?hl=en-GB\">Brave Web Store<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Get your favorite extension tools from the <a href=\"https:\/\/chrome.google.com\/webstore\/category\/extensions?hl=en-GB\">Brave Web Store<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>By default, Brave protects you from malware, phishing, fingerprinting, and plugins. It also upgrades all sites to HTTPS wherever possible. If you trust a site, however, you can lower the default shields. To do so, simply <strong>click the Brave icon<\/strong> in the URL bar and toggle settings for ads, cookies, scripts, and more. You can also access global shield settings.<\/p>\n<h2>4. Use Tor and DuckDuckGo for maximum privacy<\/h2>\n<p>While Brave protects you from pop-ups, ads, cookies, and similar intrusions, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/articles\/delete-google-data\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">you&#8217;re still vulnerable once you open a search engine<\/a>. \u201cSearch engines such as Google record what the user enters in the search bar,\u201dexplains DuckDuckGo, an alternative search engine. Google is so entrenched in targeting and cookies that Brave can\u2019t offer its peak strength in its murkier waters. For search sessions that you want to keep private, <strong>open a private tab and DuckDuckGo takes over. <\/strong>Now searches won&#8217;t be tracked.<\/p>\n<p>You can also use <strong>Tor<\/strong> (The Onion Router) and Brave together to make it more difficult to track which websites you visit. Websites also have a much harder time identifying or tracking user IP addresses arriving via Brave&#8217;s &#8216;Private Tabs with Tor&#8217;.<\/p>\n<h2>5. Enable Brave Payments and tip your favorite sites<\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-162758\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2021\/04\/any3_rcowjo.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"875\" height=\"574\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Brave Payments lets you tip your favorite sites in BAT (Basic Attention Tokens) instead of watching tiresome, irrelevant ads.<\/p>\n<p>When you enable Brave Payments, the browser creates a <strong>BAT wallet<\/strong> which you can link to other digital assets like Bitcoin, Litecoin, or Ethereum.<\/p>\n<p>You can also buy BAT from cryptocurrency exchanges like Uphold. Brave gives away BAT for special promotions, too.\u00a0To enable Brave Payments, <strong>click the triangle on the upper right of the Brave browser<\/strong>, and then choose how you want to top up your BAT balance.<\/p>\n<h3>What is BAT?<\/h3>\n<p>BAT is a token that lets you <strong>tip the people making the content you love<\/strong>, giving recognition for a job well done.<\/p>\n<p>Once you\u2019ve got some BAT in your wallet, you choose whether to tip sites, or let Brave divide your BAT according to how much attention you pay to each site you visit.<\/p>\n<p>We hope these tips are useful, and that you\u2019ll discover a few cool tricks yourself. If you\u2019ve yet to start using Brave, download and install it now and enjoy one of the fastest, most secure browsers available!<\/p>\n<div class=\"sc-card-program\">\r\n  <div class=\"sc-card-program__body\">\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row clearfix\">\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-logo\">\r\n        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sc-card-program__img\" alt=\"Browse the web up to 8x faster than Chrome and Safari\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2018\/11\/LOGO-BRAVE.png\" width=\"100px\" height=\"100px\">\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-title\">\r\n        <span class=\"sc-card-program__title\">Browse the web up to 8x faster than Chrome and Safari<\/span>\r\n        <a class=\"sc-card-program__button sc-card-program-internal\" href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/brave-browser\/browse-beyond\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Download Now<\/a>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-rating\">\r\n        <svg class=\"rating-score__content\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" version=\"1.1\" x=\"0\" y=\"0\" viewbox=\"0 0 50 50\" enable-background=\"new 0 0 50 50\" xml:space=\"preserve\"><path class=\"rating-score__background rating-score--good\" fill=\"none\" stroke-width=\"6\" stroke-miterlimit=\"10\" d=\"M40 40c8.3-8.3 8.3-21.7 0-30s-21.7-8.3-30 0 -8.3 21.7 0 30\"><\/path><path class=\"rating-score__value rating-score__value--90\" fill=\"none\" stroke-width=\"6\" stroke-dashoffset=\"90\" stroke-miterlimit=\"10\" d=\"M40 40c8.3-8.3 8.3-21.7 0-30s-21.7-8.3-30 0 -8.3 21.7 0 30\"><\/path><text class=\"rating-score__number\" content=\"9\" text-anchor=\"middle\" transform=\"matrix(1 0 0 1 25 31.0837)\" data-auto=\"app-user-score\">9<\/text><\/svg>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row\">\r\n      <span class=\"sc-card-program__description\">Enjoy private, secure and fast browsing with Brave<\/span>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row\">\r\n      <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sc-card-program__bigpic\" src=\"\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\">\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <a class=\"sc-card-program__link track-link sc-card-program-internal\" href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/brave-browser\/browse-beyond\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n<p><em>Softonic is proud to partner with Brave. When you download from us, we may earn a commission.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Brave is not only one of the fastest browsers on the market, but also offers unrivaled control over privacy, ads, and the content you see. If you don&#8217;t have Brave, you can install it right here. Once Brave is installed, take a look at these five tips to get you started off on the right &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/5-tips-to-get-the-most-out-of-brave\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;5 tips to get the most out of Brave&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9103,"featured_media":115254,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":0},"categories":[2441],"tags":[1567,1853],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-115253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-how-to","tag-brave","tag-browser"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9103"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115253"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115253\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":326917,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115253\/revisions\/326917"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115253"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=115253"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=115253"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=115253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}