The Internet, since it's emergence has become a new home to a large number of people. People spend large ours of their day surfing through different sites on the internet. Google Search engine alone records and processes an average of 40,000 search queries every second, over 3.5 billion searches per day. This stat alone shows to a large extent the number of activities that goes on the internet every day, with the Google Search engine covering only a portion of those activities.
Browsers are useful tools with which we surf the internet through selected or available search engines. With the internet becoming a home to many, browsers play a large role in providing security to its users. The internet now serves as a large reservoir of data, both encrypted data and free data. We access these data through browsers, thus, much security is demanded of them.
Privacy is another important feature which lacks in most of the top and most common browsers. When you talk about browsers, people would think about Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, UC browser, Opera mini e.t.c. These browsers are undoubtedly very useful with certain features that make then outstanding. But I guess security of data is best served when it is also private. I love to call data the real gold, you wouldn't want one to know where you keep your gold. This is exactly what most of these browsers do, they monitor your every move on the internet and save them. Your recent searches, your most visited site, your most searched words, even track your movement from one site to another.
All of these things never bothered me before, I cared less about what I do on the internet and if I was being monitored. Always had it that "so long I am not frauding anyone, there is nothing to hide". Until recently when I started being more skeptical about searches and who monitors me. So I checked online for the best privacy browser one could get. I got a very good recommendation to try out Brave browser. I must say, it has been worth the trial and has provided me some peace of mind when I surf the net.
Read on to know more about brave browser
What Is Brave Browser
The Brave Browser is a secure and fast web browser built for Android users to surf the internet without any fear of tracking through a built-in ad-block and security protection, providing users with optimized data and better battery experience.
I'll do a review of some of the basic features that make the browser unique or better still, what gives it an edge over other popular browsers.
Some Amazing Features of Brave Browser
Here is a list of some amazing features of the brave browser, they include;
- A user-friendly interface
- ad-blocking
- Track blocking
- Fingerprinting Protection
User-Friendly Interface
Unlike most new browsers o come across, Brave browser also comes with a fine and nice user interface which most people are already accustomed to. No special tutorials are needed to teach you how to use the app. The settings are quite detailed enough for any user to select to his preferences. At the home page, you see a statistics of the total activities done by the browser on your different tabs open at that moment. Activities such as ad-block, trackers blocked and Est.time saved.
Ad-Blocking
One common thing you experience when surfing the net especially when using the Google Search engine. Although they are common, most people are not comfortable with it especially when they pop up over the screen you are viewing. Brave browser helps you block ads when you are surfing the net and gives you a number count of ads blocked on that page. You simply click on the brave browser icon at the top right screen to view it.
Track Blocking
This is one of the major problems I have with other big browsers. They expose some of your data which you might want to be kept private. It's not like they outrightly give it out, but they give room for it to be taken. With the use of cookies, websites can track your device operations on the net. They can track what website you visited before coming to theirs and also what websites you visit after theirs. With Brave browser, you can feel safer knowing that no one is tracking your activities on the net.
Fingerprinting Protection
This works like a super cookie. It collects information about a device surfing the net for the purpose of identification. Just the way fingerprints are used for super and unique identification of human beings, that is how precise these browser fingerprints are. They are invisible methods of tracking unknown to most users. Even when you turn off your cookies, they still track you in secret. Did you just know about this feature? Well if yes, you should also know that brave browser blocks this also. You can now choose to be identified when you wish to be identified.
PROS and CONS of Brave Browser
PROS
Using I started to use the brave browser, I've felt this increased level of freedom like I have been in bondage. Some of your activities on the net are limited due to the websites can track your IP address and other information about your device. With this additional feature, it still offers you every other feature browsers like chrome offer.
CONS
Using Brave to access a site for the first time could be a lot slower than when using other browsers. This was something I noticed and then experimented with another browser to confirm. It only gets faster when you load another page on that same site. I guess it's due to the initial ad and track blocking when first entering a site, but either way, it's not something most users will be comfortable with.
CONCLUSION
The need for Privacy can never be overemphasized. In this 21st century where the world has become a very sensitive place, I guess it is proper to respect one's privacy, no matter what service you offer to them. Facebook was once accused of releasing user data to the American govt and we know how bad it affected them, users became uncomfortable hearing about the news. How then would people feel knowing that websites they are not even aware of track and monitor their activities on the net, I guess it'll be very frustrating. To be on the safer side, I'm also recommending Brave browser, the same way it was recommended to me. Use Brave browser to surf the internet and feel a lot more freedom than ever. Overall I give the website a 4.5 star.
Thanks for reading
Links
Project Repository: https://github.com/brave/browser-android-tabs
Github Profile: https://github.com/tony-duke
Download app here
