Description of the issue:
After the most recent Brave update, I’m experiencing multiple issues:
- Clicking on pinned extensions causes the entire browser to crash and close.
- Installed WhatsApp PWA no longer opens.
- When Brave is closed unexpectedly, the “Restore Tabs” option appears, but clicking it does nothing. All previously open tabs are lost.
- Immediately after launching Brave, the MetaMask wallet extension would auto-launch every time and prompt me to log in, even after already logging in once.
- When I tried to click on the MetaMask extension to disable or remove it, the browser would crash. I eventually had to use the hamburger menu to access settings and remove MetaMask that way.
- These issues began right after updating Brave. Prior to that, I had started noticing that ad-blocking was failing (ads appeared on YouTube and websites), which is why I decided to update in the first place.
How can this issue be reproduced?
- Launch Brave and click on any pinned extension in the toolbar.
- Attempt to open an installed PWA (e.g., WhatsApp) from the apps menu or shortcut.
- Close Brave unexpectedly (e.g., crash or force close), then relaunch and try to click “Restore Tabs.”
- (Previously) Relaunch Brave with MetaMask installed — the extension would auto-launch and prompt for login every time.
Expected result:
- Pinned extensions should open their popups without crashing the browser.
- Installed PWAs should launch properly.
- Clicking “Restore Tabs” should reopen all tabs from the previous session.
- Extensions like MetaMask should not auto-launch on every browser start unless configured to do so.
Brave Version (check About Brave):
[Version 1.77.95 Chromium: 135.0.7049.52 (Official Build) (64-bit) — found at brave://settings/help]
Additional Information:
- Running on Debian 11 (Bullseye)
- Brave installed on a Linux system.
- Restarting the browser or system does not resolve the issues.
- This is severely impacting productivity, as Brave is my primary browser for daily tasks.