Description of the issue: Brave prompts me to download and install an update about every other day. Frustratingly, it doesn’t install the update in the background after downloading it - I literally have to remember the popup is there, and prompt it to restart Brave to finish the update, which requires my admin password (this is rare; most of the time, Touch ID is fine). If I don’t remember to install and restart, next time I start Brave, the process starts again. Unfortunately, there are updates almost every day.
Is Brave missing permissions? Is there a setting gone awry?
Expected result: I understand from threads such as this, this and this support article that Brave is expected to update in the background, just like other browsers. I just don’t know how to get it there on a Mac, since unfortunately the other threads ended inconclusively (and I don’t seem to have permissions issues like this user).
Brave Version( check About Brave):v1.57.64 (arm)
Additional Information: Unfortunately, I don’t remember how I installed Brave on this machine, but it is most likely that I simply downloaded an installer from the website. This is a managed device, but I have (most) admin rights, and other software & browsers run and update just fine. I also usually use a VPN.
Hello,
Thank you for reaching out to us.
While we do have hot fix updates that come out at fairly regular intervals (about once a week), we only push browser updates about once every couple of weeks, sometimes longer.
The browser does download updates in the background, but no matter how an update is downloaded (whether automatically in the background or initiated manually), a browser restart is always required. So if you haven’t restarted the browser yet, going to About Brave will always force the browser to check and fetch the most recent version if it is higher than the one you’re running at the time, even if the newest update has already been downloaded. This is the same behavior you’ll see across Chromium browsers.
However, if there were an update applied in the background and you simply restarted the browser (in macOS, that means fully quitting the browser, not just closing/clicking the x) and then went to About Brave, you would see that the newest version is already downloaded, applied and running.
Thanks for replying!
However, my problem is that updates always come as a pop-up that notifies me that there is an update, and I have to push a button to download it manually. When it is downloaded, I have to click another button to install it, which requires a restart and my admin password.
Other browsers
never make me download or install updates manually through a popup
never want my admin password to update
don’t make me redownload the update if I close the browser without using that install button.
Essentially, nothing happens either in the background or automatically - everything is in the foreground and manual.
This download indicator then appears. It says “Install and restart”. If I DON’T remember to do this when I close Brave, I have to start over next time it opens.
Not to sound cynical, but I’m surprised that nobody at Brave can explain what’s happening. @Mattches, I wonder if you might be able to help me out by answering the following questions:
If you had to guess, what might the problem be related to?
If there’s an umbrella of possible issues, is there a number of A-B-C troubleshooting steps you’d walk me through to see if any of them might fix the issue?
@alvanx,
The reason you’re seeing this specific prompt is likely due to the fact that you installed using the .pkg installer (as opposed to the .dmg). I’m actually not sure if there is a way to disable this particular update prompt but I will ask.
UPDATE for the benefit of other readers: It was as simple as copying the DMG into the Applications folder, and to my relief, all my settings and session were retained.
I’ll post here again if this doesn’t solve my issue.
Excellent news — I was actually just coming to this thread to suggest deleting the Brave .app file on your system and downloading the .dmg as your data should be retained. But you already beat me too it.
Will leave the thread open in case you still see the same behavior.
