Brave 1.37: New Sidebar, New Custom Tab Backgrounds, and Privacy Improvements
The creators of the Chromium-based Brave web browser have released Brave 1.37 to the public. The new stable version of Brave adds a new optional sidebar to the browser among other new features.
Brave 1.37 is now available. Existing users can select Menu > Help > About Brave to run a manual update check. Brave should choose the new version and install it immediately. New users can point their browser to the official website to download the browser for their operating system.
Brave 1.37: new features
One of the major new features in Brave is support for a sidebar. It’s disabled by default, but you can enable it by selecting Menu > Show Sidebar. Options to show it all the time or only on hover are available.
The sidebar looks a lot like the Vivaldi web browser sidebar. It is attached to the left side of the browser by default and shows only a few icons at the moment. Vivaldi’s sidebar started out similarly, but the team has added more features and customization options to it since then.
As far as the Brave sidebar is concerned, it shows links to Brave Wallet and Brave Talk, and you can add any active site to the bar by clicking the plus icon. The bookmarks bar icon displays all bookmarks in an expanded sidebar when selected.
The sidebar lacks flexibility and customization options compared to Vivaldi’s toolbar. There is no option to display it on the right, or to add other functions and features to it. New features and options may be introduced in future versions of the browser.
Custom backgrounds for new tabs
Support for custom new tab page backgrounds released in the new version of Brave a swell. Users can upload a custom image from their systems to use as their desktop background.
To do so, open a new browser tab and select the personalization link in it. There you find an option to upload an image from your device; the browser uses this image as the new tab’s wallpaper. There is no option to load multiple images to cycle through.
Unbindable Bounce
Unbindable Bounce is a new Brave Browser privacy protection. I’ve reviewed the functionality above, and you may want to read the full guide on unbindable bounce as it provides additional details.
The feature complements Brave’s existing bounce-tracking protections by using temporary storage. Brave uses temporary storage for bounce tracking sites that is deleted once it is no longer open in the browser. Without that data, the site can no longer identify users on their next bounce tracking visit.
other changes
The official release notes highlight other improvements, most of them fixes or changes to Brave’s Wallet and cryptocurrency implementations. Brave users who have experienced issues in the previous version can check the full changelog to find out if the issues were resolved.
A new feature adds support for cosmetic filters to the default ad blocking functionality. Load brave://adblock in the address bar and check the cosmetic filters you want Brave to use. The list includes popular options like Fanboy’s social and nuisance lists, various country-specific lists, or EasyList’s cookie filter list.
Now you: Have you tried the new version of Brave?
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