Hi,
I am unable to open new incognito window in brave browser in mac.
Shortcut is also not able to create a new private window.
Open Link in new Private Window option in right click context menu is also greyed out.
Is there a way to know the reason its behaving like this. I checked every other browser like google chrome and firefox are working fine on my machine.
MacOS : sequoia 15.2
Brave Version:
Version 1.75.178 Chromium: 133.0.6943.98 (Official Build) (arm64)
@ezio_auditore only thing I can think of off the top of my head is that either an extension you’re using is causing it, it’s parental controls from something on your device, or someone has used Group Policy to prevent it. You can check if it’s group policy by going to brave://policy to see if anything shows up.
Thanks a lot @Saoiray
I saw this when checking for Group Policy in brave://policy
IncognitoModeAvailability set to 1.
I tried to overwrite it to 0 using the terminal as described here but no luck. Any idea how it can reverted?
@ezio_auditore when you say “no luck” do you mean that you successfully changed the value and it didn’t work or did trying to change the value not work?
Hi @Mattches
Trying to change the value did not work. I did not get any error in the output after running this command
sudo defaults write com.brave.Browser IncognitoModeAvailability -integer 0
But when i refreshed the brave://policy tab it still showed the value 1
I checked again after closing the browser but still the value was 1
@ezio_auditore can you try editing the .plist file directly? You’ll need to have an app like Xcode to edit it but you can get that free from the app store if you don’t already have it. I’m curious to see if you see this same key value appear when the file is opened directly and then whether or not changing the value there makes any difference.
.plist file can be found in
~/Library/Preferences/com.brave.browser.plist/
Hi @Mattches
I checked by opening it in Xcode, IncognitoModeAvailability shows the value 0 there but in the brave://policy tab it is still showing 1
Yeah that certainly is strange. I’ve asked a colleague for input on this as I don’t know why the value wouldn’t be reflected in Brave.
Is this a personal computer you’re using or one managed by your work (for example)?
Thanks a lot @Mattches, its a work laptop
Ah – that might be the issue here then. They may have some sort of work/enterprise policy set in place on their employees work machines that prevent these values from being changed.
I would imagine that if you install Brave on a personal computer that Private windows would work fine, as would changing the key values in the reg.
Thanks a lot @Mattches, But I have one question, why is the value from
com.brave.browser.plist file not reflected in brave://policy
What is the source of truth for data show in brave://policy?
@ezio_auditore I think it goes levels of priority. As I’m very limited on my knowledge, I ran some ideas through ChatGPT and had it provide a more detailed answer, which I’ll share below. What’s said may not be correct but at least should serve as a small possibility/guide while waiting to see if Mattches is able to answer things any better.
This behavior typically indicates that a higher-priority policy source is enforcing the setting. Even though the local
~/Library/Preferences/com.brave.browser.plistmight show a value of 0 (as seen in Xcode), the effective policy shown inbrave://policyis determined by the browser’s policy engine, which aggregates from multiple sources.In a work laptop environment, it’s very likely that the system is managed (for example, via an MDM or other enterprise configuration profiles) that enforces policies like
IncognitoModeAvailability. This higher-priority policy overrides any local modifications made with thedefaults writecommand. That’s why even after running the command,brave://policycontinues to show the value as 1, effectively disabling new incognito windows.In short, if your work laptop is under enterprise management, you won’t be able to change these enforced policies locally.
macOS can be managed with enterprise policies through configuration profiles. If your Mac is managed by an organization, you’ll often see these profiles installed on your machine.
To check which profiles are installed, you can:
- Via System Preferences (or System Settings on newer macOS versions):
Open System Preferences and look for a Profiles icon. If present, it will list all the configuration profiles that have been installed. These profiles might include restrictions and settings enforced by your organization.- Via the Terminal:
You can run the following command to list profiles:
sudo profiles list -type configuration
This command will show you detailed information about the configuration profiles installed on your Mac.Keep in mind that if your device is managed, some of these settings may be locked down by your administrator, meaning you might not be able to modify or remove them.
I almost always use a New Private Window. And, when I encounter the following issue, I select Open Link in New Window ← and that produces a New Private Window (that is what I actually want) . . . despite:
If it is a bug, the following (greyed out Open Link in Private Window) issue has been around for a long time (on the Mac, at least) - while using a Private Window, I right-clicked on the “here” link:
For test purposes, while NOT USING a Private Window, the selection is NOT greyed out:
@ezio_auditore,
@Saoiray is likely correct here (or maybe ChatGPT is) – I’ll ask a couple of colleagues if there is any other explanation but it is very likely the case that your company manages devices their employees use via some MDM software and this why certain actions and functions are restricted.
One way you could test and confirm this is if you download and install the Brave Beta build on your work machine, (note that it will not overwrite your current install, will install separately and can be uninstalled any time) and try to open a Private window in Beta, you’ll likely run into the same issue.
Easy test that should only take a few minutes to try – let me know what you find out.
