Privacy Policy

Your Privacy Comes First

At Brave, we believe privacy is a fundamental right. Unlike other browsers, Brave doesn’t track you, store your browsing history, or sell your data to third parties. This document explains exactly what data we collect (spoiler: very little), why we need it, and how we protect it.

What Makes Brave Different

Brave Browser operates on a simple principle: we don’t want your data. We built Brave from the ground up to protect your privacy without requiring any configuration. Here’s what that means:

  • No browsing history collection: We never see what websites you visit
  • No tracking: Your online activity stays private
  • No data selling: Your information is never sold to advertisers or data brokers
  • Built-in protection: Shields block trackers and ads automatically
  • Local processing: Most features work entirely on your device

Data We Never Collect

To be absolutely clear, Brave never collects or stores:

  • Your browsing history
  • Search queries (unless you opt into Web Discovery Project)
  • Personal identifying information without explicit consent
  • Cross-site tracking data
  • Behavioral profiles for advertising
  • Keystroke data or form inputs
  • Private window or Tor browsing activity

Security & Automatic Updates

How Updates Work

Brave automatically checks for security updates to protect you from vulnerabilities and threats. When your browser checks for updates:

  • What we receive: Anonymous aggregate statistics about update requests
  • What we don’t receive: Any personally identifiable information
  • Why it matters: This helps us understand update patterns without tracking individual users
  • How to manually update: Visit brave://settings/help or download the latest version at brave.com/download

Safe Browsing Protection

Brave uses Google Safe Browsing to protect you from malicious websites, dangerous downloads, and harmful extensions. Here’s how it works while protecting your privacy:

On Desktop:

  • We proxy Safe Browsing requests through our servers
  • Your IP address is hidden from Google
  • Only partial URL hashes are sent (not full website addresses)
  • Potentially unsafe sites are checked against Google’s database

On Android:

  • Uses Android’s built-in Safe Browsing feature
  • Requests may expose your IP to Google (standard Android behavior)
  • Brave doesn’t control this system-level feature

On iOS:

  • Uses Safari’s Safe Browsing powered by Google and Tencent
  • Apple proxies these requests to protect your IP
  • Your IP is exposed to Apple but not to Google/Tencent

Your Control: You can adjust or disable Safe Browsing in Settings > Security and Privacy > Safe Browsing.

Brave Sync

Encrypted Cross-Device Synchronization

Brave Sync lets you securely synchronize bookmarks, passwords, settings, and browsing data across all your devices with complete privacy.

How Sync Protects Your Privacy

  • End-to-end encryption: All synced data is encrypted on your device before leaving
  • You control the key: Only you have the decryption key—not Brave, not cloud providers
  • Zero knowledge: We cannot access your synced data, even if we wanted to
  • Cloud agnostic: Data is stored encrypted in cloud storage (AWS)
  • No servers see your data: The cloud provider only sees encrypted files

What Gets Synced

When you enable Sync, you can choose to synchronize:

  • Bookmarks and reading list
  • Extensions and themes
  • Settings and preferences
  • History
  • Passwords and autofill data
  • Open tabs

Data Storage Duration

  • Active sync chains: Data remains encrypted in cloud storage as long as you use Sync
  • Inactive chains: After 12 months of inactivity, sync chains expire and data may be permanently deleted
  • Local data: Always stored on your device until you clear it

Setting Up Sync

  1. Go to brave://settings/braveSync
  2. Choose “Start a new sync chain” or join an existing one
  3. Use the sync code to add other devices
  4. All data syncs automatically while encrypted

Location Services

How Location Works in Brave

Some websites request your location to provide local services (maps, weather, nearby stores, etc.). Brave gives you complete control over location sharing.

What Happens When Sites Request Location

  1. You’re asked first: A popup requests your permission
  2. Approximate location: If you approve, the site receives an estimate based on:
    • Your IP address
    • WiFi access point data (MAC addresses, signal strength, SSIDs)
    • Information provided by your operating system
  3. No Brave tracking: We don’t see or store your location during this process
  4. Per-site permissions: You control which sites can access location

Your Privacy Controls

  • Deny location requests from untrusted sites
  • Review location permissions in Settings > Site and Shields Settings
  • Clear location permissions for specific sites anytime
  • Use a VPN to mask your approximate location

Legal Basis: Legitimate interest (necessary to provide location services you request)
Storage: No storage by Brave; websites may store your location per their policies

Brave Rewards

Earn Crypto for Viewing Privacy-Respecting Ads

Brave Rewards is an optional program that lets you earn Basic Attention Tokens (BAT) by viewing privacy-respecting ads. Unlike traditional advertising, Rewards keeps you anonymous while compensating you for your attention.

How Brave Rewards Protects Privacy

The Core Promise: Even with Rewards enabled, Brave never collects your browsing history or personal information.

  • Anonymous by design: Ad matching happens locally on your device
  • No tracking: We can’t see which ads you view or when
  • No profiles: We don’t build advertising profiles about you
  • Your data stays local: Interest categories never leave your browser

What Data We Process

When you enable Rewards, we assign you a Rewards Payment ID—a random identifier used for accounting:

Data TypePurposeStorage
Rewards Payment IDTrack earned BAT rewardsDuration of account + 4 years (tax compliance)
Country codeEnsure ads comply with regional lawsDuration of account + 4 years
IP address (at grant claim)Fraud prevention7-60 days depending on fraud indicators

Connecting Custodial Accounts

You can link Brave Rewards to custodial partners like Uphold, Gemini, bitFlyer (Japan), or ZebPay (India) to withdraw your BAT.

What Gets Shared:

  • Custodian ID (assigned by the partner)
  • Deposit addresses (for sending BAT)
  • Country code (for compliance)

Privacy Notes:

  • One-time contributions: Your custodian sees transaction details (amount, recipient)
  • Auto-Contribute: Neither Brave nor your custodian can see which creators you support
  • Custodians have their own privacy policies: Uphold | Gemini | bitFlyer | ZebPay

Self-Custody Wallets (Solana)

Connect your Solana wallet address for direct BAT payments:

  • What’s linked: Rewards Payment ID + Solana address
  • Privacy protection: Blockchain transactions are public by design
  • Cookie use: Temporary security cookie prevents cross-site forgery during connection (auto-deleted after)

Brave Ads: How They Work

Ads in Brave Rewards are fundamentally different from traditional advertising:

  1. Local matching: Your browser matches ads to your interests on your device
  2. Anonymous confirmation: When you view an ad, we receive anonymous confirmation—no personal data
  3. Can’t identify you: We genuinely cannot tell which specific ads you’ve seen
  4. No tracking pixels: Ads don’t track you across the web
  5. You control frequency: Choose 0-10 ads per hour in Settings

Privacy-Preserving Analytics

We use advanced privacy techniques like local differential privacy to understand aggregate ad performance without learning anything about individuals:

  • Randomized response techniques
  • No individual user data revealed
  • Statistical noise protects privacy
  • Learn population patterns, not personal behavior

A/B Testing for Ads

We test ad formats, placements, and timing to optimize performance while maintaining privacy:

  • Tests use aggregated, anonymous data
  • Cannot link data to individuals or devices
  • Cannot identify users from test results
  • Helps improve ad relevance for everyone

Fraud Prevention

To protect the Rewards ecosystem:

  • IP addresses checked during BAT grant claims (stored 7-60 days)
  • Rewards Payment IDs monitored for suspicious patterns
  • Confirmed fraud data retained up to 2 years
  • Processing based on legitimate interest in preventing fraud

Legal Basis: Necessary for contract performance and fraud prevention
Your Rights: Contact privacy@brave.com for questions about your data

Brave Wallet

Your Private Gateway to Web3

Brave Wallet is a secure, self-custody cryptocurrency wallet built directly into your browser. Buy, send, store, and swap thousands of digital assets across 100+ blockchains—all while protecting your privacy.

Privacy-First Wallet Design

Unlike many crypto wallets, Brave Wallet prioritizes your privacy:

  • No account creation: Use Brave Wallet without providing personal information
  • Self-custody: You control your private keys we never have access
  • IP protection: Brave proxies requests and strips your IP address
  • No tracking: We don’t monitor your wallet activities
  • Local storage: Wallet data stored encrypted on your device

How Brave Wallet Uses External Services

To interact with blockchains, Brave Wallet relies on third-party node providers. Here’s what happens:

Default Services (Proxied by Brave):

  • Requests routed through Brave’s proxy servers
  • Your IP address is hidden from service providers
  • We don’t log these requests
  • Service providers only see Brave’s proxy IP

What Gets Shared:

  • Wallet addresses (necessary for blockchain interactions)
  • Transaction data (required to broadcast transactions)
  • Block/balance queries (to display your assets)

By enabling Brave Wallet, you consent to using these blockchain services as necessary

Third-Party Services & Your Privacy

On-Ramp Partners (Buying Crypto): When you buy crypto through partners like MoonPay, Transak, or Sardine:

  • You’re redirected to their platforms
  • They capture your IP address
  • They conduct identity verification (KYC) for legal compliance
  • Brave doesn’t receive your payment details
  • Review their privacy policies before purchasing

DEX Aggregators (Token Swaps):

  • EVM chains: Uses 0x aggregator
  • Solana: Uses Jupiter aggregator
  • These services process: wallet address, transaction data, IP address
  • Purpose: Execute swaps and provide quotes only
  • They don’t track you or use data for other purposes

Anonymous Transaction Analytics:

  • On-ramp partners share aggregated, anonymous statistics with Brave
  • Includes: regional volumes, token/chain usage, daily transactions
  • Helps us understand ecosystem trends
  • No personally identifiable information

Sanctions Compliance

Brave Wallet includes built-in compliance with US Treasury sanctions:

  • Checks addresses against OFAC SDN list
  • Prevents transfers to sanctioned addresses
  • Done locally on your device—no server checks
  • Protects you from inadvertent violations
  • No data sent to Brave or any server

Privacy protections remain:

  • Brave doesn’t track wallet actions
  • IP addresses stripped from wallet requests
  • Third-party services have their own privacy policies

Wallet Data Storage

Data TypeLocationAccess
Private keysEncrypted on your deviceOnly you (with password/recovery phrase)
Wallet addressesYour deviceYou control visibility
Transaction historyBlockchain (public by design)Publicly visible on blockchain explorers
Settings/preferencesYour deviceLocal only

Your Responsibilities

  • Backup recovery phrase: Brave cannot recover lost wallets
  • Verify third-party services: Check privacy policies before use
  • Understand blockchain transparency: All transactions are publicly recorded
  • Protect your seed phrase: Never share with anyone, including Brave support

Brave News

Privacy-Preserving News Feed

Brave News is an optional, privacy-first news reader integrated into your browser. Get personalized news without being tracked.

How Brave News Protects Privacy

Traditional news aggregators track everything you read to build profiles for advertisers. Brave News is different:

  • No reading history: We don’t track which articles you read
  • No user profiles: We can’t build profiles about your interests
  • Anonymous by design: Your news feed is processed locally
  • No data collection: Brave doesn’t know what content you consume

How Content Delivery Works

Default Content:

  • News headlines stored in public CDN text files
  • Same file delivered to all users in your region
  • Selected using Brave Search (not personalized tracking)
  • You can customize which sources appear

Privacy-Preserving Image Delivery:

  1. Publisher/UI images: Delivered through encrypted proxy
    • Proxy strips your IP address before forwarding request
    • Content server can’t see your IP
    • Response encrypted back through proxy
  2. Other publisher images: Fetched directly from publisher
    • Standard web request from your device
    • Publisher’s privacy policy applies

Your RSS Feeds:

  • Fetched directly from feed source (not proxied by Brave)
  • Brave never sees your custom feed subscriptions
  • Content providers see standard web requests
  • Maximum privacy for personalized feeds

Ads in Brave News

Display Ads & Sponsored Content:

  • Delivered to all users in your country who enable Brave News
  • Images served through Brave’s encrypted proxy (IP protected)
  • No tracking or personal targeting

Brave Ads Integration:

  • If you also enable Brave Ads (via Rewards), you’ll see personalized ads
  • Personalization done locally on your device
  • Brave News remains private and anonymous
  • No browsing data leaves your device

Source Suggestions

  • Brave suggests news sources you might like
  • Suggestions calculated on your device
  • Based on your Following list (stored locally)
  • Your choices never leave your browser

What Brave Doesn’t Know

✗ Which articles you click
✗ How long you read
✗ Which sources you follow (unless default)
✗ Your custom RSS feeds
✗ Your reading patterns or interests
✗ When you use Brave News

Open Source & Transparent

Brave News is built on open-source components:

  • Content aggregator
  • Suggestions service
  • Anyone can audit our code

Data Processing

PurposeDataLegal BasisStorage
Deliver news contentIP addressLegitimate interest (necessary for service delivery, minimal risk)Duration of request/response

Storage: No logs or retention after content is delivered

Brave Talk

Private Video Conferencing, Zero Tracking

Brave Talk is a privacy-first video and audio conferencing tool. Have secure conversations without surveillance, data collection, or tracking.

Maximum Privacy for Your Calls

What Brave Talk Doesn’t Do:

  • ✗ Log or record your conversations (unless you choose to record)
  • ✗ Track who you talk to
  • ✗ Monitor call duration or frequency
  • ✗ Store chat messages after calls
  • ✗ Analyze your communications
  • ✗ Sell your data to advertisers

What Makes Brave Talk Private:

  • End-to-end transport encryption between browser and servers
  • Optional Video Bridge Encryption (VBE) for extra security
  • No permanent data storage
  • Minimal data processing

Data Processing During Calls

What We ProcessWhyHow Long
IP address & meeting URLEnable real-time communicationDuration of call only
Chat messagesDisplay to participantsCached during call, deleted at end
Audio & video streamsFacilitate the callNot stored (unless you record)
Meeting recordingsYour choice to record24 hours (for download), then deleted
Name & email (optional)Your choice to displayDuration of call only

Important: Recordings you create are temporarily stored for 24 hours to allow download, then permanently deleted from our servers.

Encryption Options

Transport Encryption (Default):

  • All data encrypted between your browser and Brave Talk servers
  • Decrypted on server during the call (to mix audio/video)
  • Re-encrypted for transmission to other participants

Video Bridge Encryption – VBE (Optional, Experimental):

  • Enable in settings during a call
  • Keeps content encrypted even on the server
  • Tradeoff: Disables recording and livestreaming features
  • All participants must enable VBE to see/hear each other

Security Features You Control

Lobby Mode:

  • Protect meetings by requiring moderator approval
  • Keep uninvited guests out
  • You control who joins

Passcode Protection:

  • Add a passcode to your meeting
  • Share only with intended participants
  • Additional layer of access control

Meeting Links:

  • Unique URL for each meeting
  • Share only with intended participants
  • Links expire when meeting ends

Brave Talk Premium

Account Creation:

  • Requires email address to create and manage access
  • Email used only for account access via anonymous credentials
  • Cannot be linked to your call activity

Payment Processing:

  • Handled by Stripe
  • Stripe processes: email, name, payment card data
  • Brave doesn’t receive or store payment details
  • Cannot link payment info to call activity

Premium Benefits:

  • Longer meeting durations
  • More participants
  • Recording capabilities
  • Priority support

Third-Party Service Provider

Brave Talk is powered by 8×8 communications platform using Jitsi open-source software:

  • 8×8 provides infrastructure on Brave’s behalf
  • Brave remains responsible for the service
  • 8×8 processes data according to our instructions
  • Subject to data processing agreement

No Phone Support:
Brave Talk is internet-only and doesn’t support telephone dial-in.

Anti-Phishing Warning

Brave will never contact you through a Brave Talk call.

Scammers may impersonate Brave support to steal information. If someone claiming to be from Brave invites you to a call:

  • It’s not us
  • Never share confidential information
  • Verify identities before trusting anyone online

Data Processing Table

PurposePersonal DataLegal BasisDuration
Facilitate communicationsIP, meeting URL, audio/video, chatLegitimate interest (necessary for service)Duration of call
Store recordingsAudio/video/transcriptsLegitimate interest (user-requested feature)24 hours
Premium account managementEmail addressLegitimate interest (account creation/access)Until account deletion

Brave Translate

Private, On-Demand Translation

Brave Translate provides instant web page translation without compromising your privacy.

Privacy-First Translation

Traditional translation services track what you translate, building profiles about your interests and language needs. Brave Translate is different:

Privacy Protections:

  • IP addresses removed before translation requests reach servers
  • Translated text not stored or logged
  • No translation history retained
  • Cannot link translations to individual users
  • Processed and discarded immediately

How It Works

  1. Click the translate icon on a foreign language page
  2. Select your target language
  3. Text sent to translation service (with IP stripped)
  4. Translated page displayed
  5. All data discarded immediately

What Gets Shared:

  • Text content to be translated (temporary)
  • Source and target languages

What Doesn’t Get Shared:

  • Your IP address
  • Your identity
  • Translation history
  • Browsing patterns

Data Processing

PurposeDataLegal BasisStorage
Translate web contentText content, language pairLegitimate interest (user-requested service)Ephemeral—immediately discarded

Brave Firewall + VPN

Private, Encrypted Internet Connection

Brave Firewall + VPN protects your entire device’s internet connection with enterprise-grade encryption and intelligent firewall protection.

Privacy & Security Features

VPN Protection:

  • Encrypts all internet traffic from your device
  • Hides your IP address from websites and trackers
  • Routes traffic through secure servers worldwide
  • No-logs policy—we don’t track your activity

Firewall Features:

  • Blocks trackers at the network level
  • Prevents apps from phoning home
  • Granular control over what can access the internet
  • Real-time blocking notifications

Data We Process

Firewall Notifications:

PurposeDataLegal BasisDuration
Alert you to blocked trackersPseudonymous user ID, blocked tracker details, firewall ruleContract performance (service delivery)3 days

VPN Connection:

PurposeDataLegal BasisDuration
Create secure connectionIP addressContract performance (service delivery)None—never logged

Customer Support:

PurposeDataLegal BasisDuration
Provide technical supportEmail, support request detailsContract performance (service delivery)12 months after ticket closure

How to Subscribe

Via account.brave.com:

  • Create account with email address
  • Payment processed by payment provider
  • Receive subscription credentials

Via Mobile App Stores:

  • Subscribe through iOS App Store or Google Play
  • Billing handled by Apple/Google
  • Same privacy protections apply

Powered by Guardian

Brave Firewall + VPN is powered by Guardian:

  • Guardian provides VPN infrastructure
  • Also handles technical support for VPN service
  • Processes data on Brave’s behalf
  • Subject to data processing agreement

No-Logs Promise

What we don’t log:

  • Websites you visit
  • VPN connection timestamps
  • Data transferred
  • Original IP addresses
  • DNS queries
  • Browsing activity

What we do process temporarily:

  • Connection initiation (to establish VPN tunnel)
  • Firewall rule matching (to block trackers)
  • Immediately discarded after serving purpose

Your Privacy Controls

  • Choose VPN server location
  • Enable/disable firewall protection
  • Configure custom blocking rules
  • View real-time blocking statistics
  • Export firewall logs (stored locally only)

Subscribe to Firewall + VPN | VPN FAQ

Brave Leo AI Assistant

Privacy-First AI in Your Browser

Brave Leo is an intelligent AI assistant built directly into Brave, offering chat, summaries, writing help, and more—all while protecting your privacy.

Leo’s Privacy Promise

Unlike cloud-based AI assistants that log everything you say, Brave Leo is designed for maximum privacy:

  • No account required for free Leo (no email, no signup)
  • No conversation logging on Brave servers
  • No training on your data—your chats never train AI models
  • IP anonymization—we don’t collect IP addresses
  • Ephemeral processing—queries discarded after completion
  • Local storage option—conversations saved only on your device

How Leo Protects Your Privacy

For General Chat:

  1. You send a query to Leo
  2. Query sent to Leo backend (IP stripped)
  3. AI model generates response
  4. Response sent back to you
  5. Query and response immediately discarded from servers

For Web Summaries:

  1. You request a page summary
  2. Page content + your prompt sent to Leo (IP stripped)
  3. AI generates summary
  4. Summary returned to you
  5. Page content and summary discarded

For Tab Focus Mode:

  1. Leo receives tab titles and origins (not full URLs)
  2. Helps manage and organize open tabs
  3. Minimal data sent for maximum utility

Data Processing

PurposeDataLegal BasisDuration
Chat queriesPrompt, conversation contextContract performance (service delivery)Ephemeral (discarded after response)
Page summariesPrompt, page contentContract performanceEphemeral
Tab managementTab titles, originsContract performanceEphemeral
User feedbackConversation text, rating, optional detailsUser consent, legitimate interest (improvement)1 year
AI browsing (experimental)Query, context, actionsContract performance (user-triggered)Ephemeral

Local Chat History

How it works:

  • Enable in Settings > Leo AI
  • Conversations encrypted and stored on your device only
  • Brave servers never see or store your history
  • Survives browser restarts
  • You can disable or clear anytime

Important Notes:

  • Chat history not available in Private or Tor windows
  • Clearing browser history removes associated page content from chats
  • All storage is local—never synced to cloud

Privacy-Preserving Analytics

We use STAR and Nebula to understand Leo usage patterns without tracking individuals:

What we learn (aggregate only):

  • Broad query categories (e.g., “creative writing”)
  • Languages used
  • AI models selected
  • Usage frequency across user base

What we never learn:

  • Individual queries or conversations
  • User identities
  • Specific content you discuss
  • Personal patterns

Technical Process:

  • Extract non-identifying metadata only
  • Apply differential privacy techniques
  • Aggregated statistical insights only
  • Cannot reverse-engineer individual behavior

Brave Leo Premium

Free Leo:

  • No account, no email required
  • Limited daily queries
  • Access to Llama model
  • Full privacy protections

Leo Premium:

  • Higher usage limits
  • Multiple advanced AI models
  • Early access to features
  • Priority support

Premium Privacy:

  • Subscription uses unlinkable tokens
  • Cannot connect purchase details to usage
  • Still no conversation logging
  • Same privacy guarantees as free version

How Premium Tokens Work:

  1. Subscribe via account.brave.com or app store
  2. Receive anonymous subscription tokens
  3. Tokens validate Premium access
  4. Brave cannot link tokens to your identity
  5. Your Leo usage remains anonymous

Brave Search Integration

When answering certain queries, Leo may:

  • Send derived queries to Brave Search
  • Use search results to enhance responses
  • All queries still privacy-preserving
  • Search follows Brave Search privacy policy

AI Browsing (Experimental)

AI browsing gives Leo autonomous capabilities:

What it does:

  • Performs tasks on your behalf
  • Uses isolated browser profile
  • Alignment checking verifies actions
  • You maintain control

Privacy protections:

  • Operates in separate profile
  • No logging or retention
  • Not mixed with your browsing data
  • Ephemeral processing

Learn more about AI browsing

User Feedback

You can rate Leo’s responses:

Thumbs up/down sends:

  • Rating
  • Full conversation text
  • Language and model used
  • Premium status (if applicable)

Optional additional info:

  • Your written feedback
  • Current website URL

Storage: Retained for 1 year to improve Leo

No Model Training

Brave’s commitment:

  • Your conversations never train AI models
  • Your data not used to improve models
  • Conversations not retained for any purpose
  • Truly ephemeral processing

Try Brave Leo | Leo FAQ

Web Discovery Project

Help Build a Better Search Index

The Web Discovery Project (WDP) is an optional program that helps improve Brave Search by contributing anonymous browsing data. If you opt in, you’re helping create an independent search index that reduces reliance on Big Tech.

How WDP Works

What it contributes:

  • Search queries you make on certain search engines
  • URLs of pages you visit
  • All contributions are anonymous

Privacy protections:

  • Heavy filtering to remove sensitive queries
  • URLs must be seen by many users before they’re recorded
  • Advanced encryption prevents linking data to you
  • Impossible to build profiles or track individuals

What Gets Shared (and What Doesn’t)

Search Queries:

✓ Recorded (if they pass checks):

  • Common, non-sensitive searches
  • Short queries without personal info

✗ Never recorded:

  • Very long queries
  • Queries with email addresses
  • Queries with long numbers (phone, credit card, etc.)
  • Any query that could be sensitive

Website URLs:

✓ Recorded (if they pass checks):

  • Must be visited by large numbers of users
  • Encrypted until confirmed as popular
  • Common, non-unique URLs

✗ Never recorded:

  • URLs that are too long
  • URLs with personal identifiers
  • URLs with certain sensitive terms
  • URLs with long numbers
  • Unique or rarely visited URLs

Advanced Privacy Protections

Encryption & Anonymization:

  1. URLs encrypted on your device
  2. Brave can’t read encrypted URLs unless many other users sent the same URL
  3. Only popular URLs (visited by thousands) become readable
  4. Makes profiling or tracking impossible

Statistical Guarantees:

  • Cannot link contributions to individuals
  • Cannot identify devices
  • Cannot build usage sessions
  • Cannot track browsing patterns

How It Helps Brave Search

Your anonymous contributions:

  • Improve search result relevance
  • Help build independent search infrastructure
  • Reduce dependence on Google/Bing
  • Identify trending topics and popular content
  • Enhance search ranking algorithms

Complete Control

Opt-in only:

  • WDP is disabled by default
  • You must explicitly enable it
  • Can disable anytime in Settings

Your choice matters:

  • Only participate if you’re comfortable
  • Review the methodology before opting in
  • Understand what you’re contributing

Read full WDP methodology
Enable WDP in Settings

How We Improve Brave

Your Feedback Makes Brave Better

We’re constantly working to make Brave the best browser for privacy and performance. Here’s how we gather insights while respecting your privacy.

Diagnostic Crash Reports

When Brave crashes or freezes, you can help us fix the problem:

What crash reports contain:

  • Technical system information (OS, CPU, RAM)
  • Information about what caused the crash
  • Debug logs (technical data only)

What crash reports don’t contain:

  • Personal identifying information
  • Browsing history
  • Passwords or form data
  • File contents

Storage: Reports sent to Backtrace.io for analysis

Your control:

  • Enabled/disabled in Settings > Privacy
  • You choose whether to send each report
  • Disable automatic reporting

Privacy-Preserving Product Analytics (P3A)

Brave uses an innovative system called P3A to understand browser usage without collecting personal data:

What P3A measures (examples):

  • Approximate number of extensions installed (ranges, not exact numbers)
  • Approximate number of tabs open (ranges)
  • Which features are enabled (Shields, Rewards, etc.)
  • General product usage patterns

Privacy protections:

  • Stripped of all metadata
  • Aggregated with reports from many browsers
  • Cannot identify individual users
  • Cannot be combined to create profiles
  • Uses local differential privacy

How it works:

  1. Browser generates anonymous reports locally
  2. Adds statistical noise for privacy
  3. Strips identifying information
  4. Sends aggregated measurement
  5. Brave receives statistical patterns only