How to get Brave for macOS 10.12 Sierra?

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Since Brave is my primary browser, I want to install it also on my backup 13" MacBook Pro in macOS 10.12 Sierra. I open brave.com in Safari, but can’t find any way to download the browser, either on the Home page or on the Download page.

I open brave.com in Brave browser in macOS 11 Big Sur, and see two big “Get Brave” buttons right there at the top – one red, one blue. I open brave.com in Safari in macOS 11 Big Sur, and the red button is there, but not the blue button. In Firefox, both buttons are present.

Okay, so I clicked the download button, but as I suspected, the Brave it downloads won’t run in Sierra. As I recall, when I was running Brave in Sierra, it came to a point where it said I couldn’t upgrade because the next version required High Sierra. Okay, but what I had was working okay for my needs there, and I want to put it on my backup MBP for when I need to use Sierra.

But in Safari in Sierra, there are no buttons, either on the Home page or on the Download page. Nor can I find any other way to get Brave. So how can I get Brave for Sierra?

2

That’s because the oldest version of macOS that Brave supports at this time is macOS Big Sur 11 or later:

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Yeah, okay. So it looks like I’m going to be orphaned again soon? The mandatory upgrade treadmill is getting rather tiresome. Not everyone has the money to buy a new computer every few years – nor needs it.

Two years ago I was trying to help a friend whose Mac meets his needs, but doesn’t run any version of macOS beyond 10.11 El Capitan. The biggest headache I ran into was finding Brave for him.

Anyway, I had a brainstorm, and asked Leo, who quickly gave me the Brave version number for Sierra: v. 1.57.64. I hunted around at the GitHub repository, finally found it, but it wouldn’t open in Sierra.

I thought maybe Leo was confused by the similarity between “Sierra” and “High Sierra” (the subsequent version of Mac OS). (Smart move, Apple.) (So AI can be confused?) So I asked again: “Looks like Brave v.1.57.64 is for macOS HIGH Sierra 10.13, not Sierra 10.12. Which version is for macOS Sierra 10.12?” Leo was stumped, couldn’t pin it down.

More research needed. Turns out the GitHub repository’s list of releases has only 100 pages (!), going all the way back to last April (9 months), so the earliest release listed is v1.65.108. So, looking around some more, and with my notes from 2023, I finally figured out… that the last version for Sierra is the same as the last version for El Capitan: Brave v1.41.100. It was with v.1.42 that the requirement was raised. Though it can’t be looked up in the list, it can be downloaded. So here it is:

Brave for macOS 10.12 Sierra or Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan: https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/releases/download/v1.41.100/Brave-Browser-x64.dmg.

Tip: Every time you open Brave in these older versions of macOS, it nags you to upgrade to a later OS. If you immediately close the window (⌘W) and open a new one (⌘N), it loses the nag.

Leaving this here in case anyone else is looking for the info. (Hey, Leo, here it is.)

Might be nice if there could be a simple list somewhere, of which versions are the last to run in various versions of macOS.

4

MacOS (old versions):

MacOS 10.15 Catalina:
https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/releases/tag/v1.69.168

MacOS 10.12 Sierra:
https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/releases/tag/v1.41.100

The Brave Browser (at GitHub) archive for old installers:
https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/blob/master/CHANGELOG_DESKTOP_ARCHIVE.md

Despite being older computers using:

  • older MacOS versions
  • older Brave Browser versions

There are a few Brave Browser components that continue to be updated (thankfully, but I do not recall the names of the few).

Component updates do not use the following source of Brave Browser application updates:

  • updates-cdn.bravesoftware.com

For Windows OS users, an old tip, on how to prevent a Brave Browser application update of your old system:

At: ‘https://woshub.com/block-domains-websites-windows-firewall-powershell/’

Scroll down to . . .

Run the Windows Defender Firewall management snap-in (Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Windows Defender Firewall\Advanced Settings or by running firewall.cpl).

There, using the info and illustrations as guides, create an Outbound Rule and an Inbound Rule - both, blocking:

  • updates-cdn.bravesoftware.com

MacOS users might edit their “hosts” file:

/etc/hosts

https://www.tomsguide.com/how-to/how-to-edit-the-host-file-on-mac

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Thanks for the info, think I have it figured out now. Maybe someday I’ll even get a newer computer – or switch to Linux, which I’ve been pondering for years, but never had the energy/time to do – so I can run the current Brave (and other apps), since it looks like macOS 11 Big Sur will be obsoleted soon. As Apple has done with my 2014 MacBook Pro, which will run current Linux versions okay.