Web User - UK (2019-12-11)

34 11 -26December 2019

Best FreeApps

NEW

App of the Fortnight

BROWSER

Brave

bit.ly/bravedroid4 90

bit.ly/braveios 490

(varies) 12

Ifyou’refedupwith

targetedadvertsand

data-grabbingtrackers

followingyouaroundthe

web,thenonesolutionis

toinstallanadblocker.

Oryoucouldoptforthe

newmobileversionof

Brave,theprivacy-focused

webbrowser,whichhas

itsveryownbuilt-inad

blockerthat’sswitched

onbydefault.

BasedonChrome,Brave

feelsinstantlyfamiliarand

offersallthefeaturesyouneed,includingbookmarksand

abasicpasswordmanager.Additionalprivacyoptions

includeHTTPSEverywhereandtheabilitytoset

DuckDuckGoasyourdefaultsearchengine.

Braveislightweightandthriftyinitsuseofresources–

partlybecauseitavoidsloadingabunchofadseverytime

youvisitawebpage.Theapp’sdevelopersclaimthe

browserconsumeslessdataandlessbatterypowerthan

manyofitsrivals.

Oneofthebrowser’squirkierfeaturesisBraveRewards

–asystemthatletsyouearnfrequentflier-liketokensfor

viewingprivacy-respectingadverts

fromtrustedsources.Currently,

youcanonlyusethesetokensto

supportcertainwebsitesbutthe

ideaisthat,eventually,you’llbe

abletoredeemthemintheform

of co ntentandgiftvouchers.Read

moreaboutBrave Reward sat

brave.com/brave-rewards.

Thenew desktopversionof

Brave ( brave.com), whichwe’llbe

takingacloserlookatnextissu e,

offerssomeusefuladditional

feat ures ,including agenuinely

privat ebrowsingmodethatlets

youopenanew tabthatusesTor

to maskyourlocationandhide

yourbrowsingactivity. This

featu re isn’tyet

availabl eont he

mobileversionbutBrave prom isesit’soni ts

way–meaningthisalreadybrilliant browser

couldsoonbe evenbe tter.

Ourrating HHHHHHHHHH

1

LaunchBraveand

followthe simple setup

steps. First,choose your

default searchengine.If

privacyisyour chief

concern, werecommend

selecting DuckDuckGo^1

because itharvests far less

personaldata thanother

search engines. Makeyour

selection, then tapNext^2

and work your way

throug hthe remaining

setu pscreens untilyou

arriveatt he br owser’s

homepage.

2

To enable orconfigure

BraveRewards, press

the top-right triangle icon.

(^1) This displays asummary
of your recent Brave
Reward sactivit y. Choose
Settingsto view the
options.Tapthe switch at
the top^2 to enable Brave
Reward s, if youwant to
participate. Below,you can
chooseto switch on Ads^3
and Auto-contribute^4
if youwant to earn and
donatetokens to your
favouritesites.
3
Brave’shome screen
displays the number
of ads it has blocked and
howmanyHTTPS
Everywhereupgrades it
has carried outforyou
automatically.^1 Below
areshortcutsto recently
visited sites,^2 while the
main navigation buttons
(Home,Bookmark,Search,
Tabs and Menu) run along
the bottom of the screen.
(^3) Pres sMenu, then
Settingsto customise
the way Bravelooks
and works.
MINIWORKSHOP
SetupBrave onyourphone
ortablet
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