Brave auto-downloads an entirely new app under guise of an "update" - you kidding?

On macOS, I clicked “update to 0.26” when prompted by the (now old) Brave app, and then you proceeded to install an entirely new app on my computer.

From a company whose users are primarily in it for privacy, it’s baffling that you would choose to do this the way you did.

Brave blocks social trackers that act hidden behind the scenes, its stated goal is to block ad brokers acting deceptively behind the scenes, yet you would allow an app to download onto my desktop behind the scenes hidden behind the guise of an update link?

Forget about the new version and whether it’s better software…the way you went about this has damaged my view of your company, your design patterns, how smart you think your users are, and whether to trust any future link you present to me.

How are they supposed to update your browser otherwise. People complain about everything these days.

I see your point that updates are always essentially “entirely new apps” being installed on a computer. Maybe the idea of an update that just grays out the icon of the Muon app, leaves it, then downloads brave-core could’ve had better messaging and notification around it than simply “update.”

Maybe “update this app to make its desktop icon gray, and download brave-core.”

When you went to click the “update” notification about the new browser, there was a link there to “learn more”. If you click it, it takes you here:


Where the process is explained in its entirety.

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Perhaps my experience was a one-off, but this “Learn More” link does not describe what happens at all, specifically leaving out what my original post stated was the troubling design pattern.

Step 1, yes, ok I’m with you. But Steps 2 and 3 make it seem like there is a point where the user gets to choose, and be notified of installing a new app, brave-core. This article makes it look like Step 3 is when we intentionally install 0.56. In reality, in between steps 1 and 2, you took my permission to upgrade to 0.26 as some implicit permission to install brave-core 0.56 onto the computer.

For the rest of your community that hasn’t yet hit upgrade, I’d recommend you update this article to actually “explain the process in its entirety.”

Only installing software that the user specifically intended to install is a core tenant of computer security.

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