5 Hidden Brave Browser Features You Should Use
The Brave browser is a great alternative to Chrome, with useful built-in features like an ad blocker and Tor anonymous browsing. In my tests it was almost as fast as Chrome , and with a few tweaks you can make Brave even more private .
But Brave also has some hidden features that can greatly improve your browsing experience: turn them on and you’ll be able to paste into locked fields, save your laptop’s battery, and even access Reading Mode. Here are five hidden Brave features you should definitely learn how to use.
Remove tracking information from URLs
When you copy links online, you may notice that many URLs contain some tracking information after the actual link. This garbled text allows websites to determine where you clicked the link (desktop browser, Android app, etc.) and understand how you got to the desired page. These sites may or may not need this tracking information, but there is absolutely no reason for you to carry it around with you when you’re just copying a URL.
Brave has a great feature that removes these tracking options when you copy links. To use it, right-click any link in Brave and select Copy Clean Link . Unfortunately, it cannot bypass tracking via shortened URLs such as bit.ly links.
Paste into forms that disable it
Some websites are notorious for blocking copy and paste into their forms. This is advertised as a security feature, but in reality it only hinders use. If you find such a shape, you can right-click it in Brave and select Force Paste to bypass this limitation.
In some cases, sites also disable right-clicking. You can install an extension like Enable Right Click to bypass those annoying right click blocks.
Simplified access to archived web pages
When you open a broken link in Brave, you’ll see a helpful prompt asking if you’d like to visit the Wayback Machine instead and check for an archived version of the page. You can also do this manually, but Brave’s tooltip makes this a one-click operation.
Save your laptop’s battery life
Brave has a feature that extends your laptop’s battery life, which is sure to please traveling workers everywhere. It’s called Energy Saver, and you can set it to automatically turn on once your battery percentage drops below a certain threshold. Saving energy limits background browser activity and reduces visual effects such as smooth scrolling.
To enable it, click the three-line menu in the top right corner of Brave and open Settings . You can click the Settings tab in the left pane and under Power, turn on Energy Saver . Below there is an option to automatically turn on power saving when the battery level is 20%, as well as another that starts power saving the moment the laptop is unplugged. Select the one you need and the browser will do the rest.
Read articles without distractions
When you open any article in Brave, you can read it without distractions using the Speedreader feature. This is the equivalent of reading mode, making it easy to focus on the text. To use this, go to Brave Settings > Appearance , scroll down and turn on Speedreader .