NOTE
This is retired as of December 14, 2022. My hopes are to eventually create a new FAQ with a different format. Be advised there have been changes and will be some changes in early 2023 that will make some of the details here inaccurate. That said, below is the FAQ I had made:
GENERAL INFO
What is the purpose of Brave Community?
Brave Community is a place for users and staff to assist each other in identifying and resolving issues, suggesting new features, and sharing updates on things that have recently changed. Important things to note:
- While many Brave employees have accounts here, we have only a handful who actively assist on these forums. They will help with every topic, BUT they are limited in the time they can spend.
- Most of the support you receive here will be from other users. This is not to say you won’t see various people from Brave responding and trying to help, but it’s important not to have this as an expectation for every post or comment.
- Things like missing payments or checking if your account might be flagged/suspended will not be responded to by staff, except to tell you to message them. If you have those issues, it’s best to contact staff directly.
- Keeping all of the above in mind, be patient and understand that staff might take days or weeks to respond to you. Also a response doesn’t mean a solution, as they often have to investigate the cause and/or communicate with others to get things handled. So in their attempt to help you, they also may be stuck waiting to hear back from other people or companies.
What are some things that Brave would like me to know before creating a Topic or posting/commenting?
The first two are actual quotes from staff, along with my own explanation behind it. All the others are things I’m advising based on my observations and discussions with them.
- Digging through/posting logs and making assumptions about what they mean is not helpful to anyone.
The logs you see in places like brave://rewards-internals are only for errors and are intended only for staff. A lot of people discover them and try to assign meaning to what they are, such as thinking it’s why they aren’t seeing ads. In the majority of cases, that’s not true.
- That if users aren’t seeing ads or receiving payment, they need to reach out to us directly and they need to exercise patience as not only do we have 1000s of messages to go through between us (support), each individual ticket/DM/request can take anywhere from a few minutes, to a few hours to several days to diagnose
Keep in mind that there’s often 800+ “posts” daily. Posts according to this forum are comments, so the terminology can be misleading. This said, more than 80 topics are open daily, 7 days a week. In addition, people often “hijack” those topics to say “me too” or to seek help. That doesn’t include the hundreds to thousands of DM they receive.
On top of that, they sometimes are having to wait on other people/departments/companies to do their jobs and get back to them in order to assist you. Obviously they aren’t going to sit and twiddle their thumbs while this happens, so they’ll continue to assist the next people until they get responses and solutions. So just remember, give it time and try to understand it’s not always on them as to what is taking so long.
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The Support team is comprised of humans who have families and lives outside of work. While they would love to be here 24/7 to assist you, that’s just not possible. Brave is working on expanding their Support, but as it stands, they are only here to help on the forums Monday through Friday. Also, as humans, they can and will make mistakes like forgetting to respond to you.
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They could use some empathy from users in the same way they can empathize with you. Think about what it must be like to have hundreds or thousands of issues you need to resolve daily, with some of the people writing in being very rude. In addition, there are people who post and tag in multiple places on the same issue, which creates even MORE notifications that causes delays in them being able to assist others. To top it all off, they also are encountering people who are blatantly violating the Terms of Use in various ways…including trying to manipulate the system to "steal’ BAT or cause others harm.
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They appreciate as much detail as you can give. When you create a new Topic on an issue, it often presents a Template with the information they need. That said, screenshots and as much detail as you can give about your problem, the device you’re using, etc can help resolve situations much faster.
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Try to look through Brave Community for issues like yours. Not only can you browse through topics, but you can hit the magnifying glass icon and search for particular words or phrases. Sometimes the answer you’re looking for is already out there, you just need to take the time to look for it.
Who works for Brave? What do titles like Community Ninja mean?
If they are Brave staff, you will see the Brave lion (Brave Shields logo) on their icon. They might be developers, support, or any other function but it does indeed mean officially hired staff employed with Brave. An example of that is the screenshot below:
Then the shield (half black/half white) you see on the right side of their name, such as you can see in this screenshot of Mattches, means they are an admin or moderator. You can see the list of Admin and Moderator on Brave Community by going to https://community.brave.com/about
NOTE
You’ll see that there are Leader as well. I’ve been told that the vast majority are Brave staff, but may not be active here as they are mainly developers and others who work behind the scenes. There are 121 of them currently, but if you click on each and view their Last Post and all under Summary or Activity, you’ll realize the vast majority have not been around since like 2019/2020 or so, with almost all disappearing by 2021.
Anyone with Community Ninja like me means we’re just active users who try to help. It’s a badge that is given to us by Brave. The description of what a Community Ninja is, as provided by Brave is:
User has been recognized by Brave for providing exceptional help on Community.
What is BAT?
BAT stands for Basic Attention Token and is a type of cryptocurrency called a Utility Token. If you don’t know the difference between coins, utility tokens, security tokens, and other such terms then you may want to spend some time doing research and learning before getting yourself too far into things.
In a nutshell, BAT is like customer reward point. The value for those points are always changing based on demand as well as other things. What is important to note, however, is that BAT is only intended to be able to access services with Brave. If you spent any time reading through the Terms of Use, you’d see that BAT are not intended to be a digital currency, security, commodity or any other kind of financial instrument. So while we think of it as money and can convert it to cash, there’s a lot to know about it as you look deeper.
How do I get BAT?
You can earn BAT through Brave Rewards or you can buy it through a cryptocurrency exchange. Brave Rewards offers BAT in exchange for you viewing ads. I’ll get into that in its own topic. As for cryptocurrency exchanges, those would be places like Wyre, Uphold, Gemini, or Coinbase. Getting it through an exchange means purchasing it with fiat (real money) or other types of cryptocurrency.
When we see Brave Rewards, what we are earning isn’t actually BAT. Instead we’re getting what is called vBAT, where the “v” stands for virtual. It is nothing but customer points with no particular cash value or anything. The only place you can use it is with Brave, to tip content creators (and in the future for other features like special privileges you can get with BAT).
When we have our “payout” each month, Users with Verified Wallets such as Uphold or Gemini will have their vBAT converted to BAT by those places. Once this conversion occurs, your BAT will be stored with them in their wallet. So basically, Gemini and Uphold are letting you exchange your customer rewards points for real currency. Without them taking part in this step, then you’d not be able to convert BAT from Brave Rewards into money.
What troubleshooting steps should I never do?
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NEVER uninstall/reinstall your Brave browser if you’re having issues. It’s regrettable that some people still make this suggestion. The reason for this is that it creates a new encryption code/wallet and can cause you to lose any vBAT in your browser. On top of that, it can fill up things on your Wallet Limit which will prevent you from verifying your wallet. There are other methods available for troubleshooting or resolving issues.
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DO NOT modify code or adjust flags without knowing what they do. You will see users who suggest editing files or turning on flags, but sometimes it’s to your detriment. I’ve seen cases where those modifications cause users to experience bugs or get them flagged by the system for fraudulent action. Always try to verify things before trying them, ideally checking with Brave before you edit things. (for example, user who tried turning on flag and then Brave constantly crashed every time they opened it. Do NOT enable "Shopping List" Flag with the latest update) Experiment at your own risk!
BRAVE ADS
How do I know which ads are in my area or how much ads pay?
There is a very detailed listing you can check by visiting https://sampson.codes/brave/ads/my_region/
This will show you how many campaigns (companies paying for ads), creatives (ads being shown), what devices they are to appear on, when the ads started showing and when they will stop, the View Limits (day/week/month/max you can see, once you hit those limits for the designated timeframe, you won’t see those ads again), how much each ad is “paying” for you to see it, etc.
"Brave Ads Catalog Viewer (How to know amount of ad campaigns are in your are, what they pay, and much more)
I created a separate topic for this that you can see at (Understanding Brave Ads Catalog Viewer)
"What should I do if I am not seeing ads?
If you aren’t receiving ad notifications, you’ll need to consider two things.
- The first is to check https://sampson.codes/brave/ads/my_region/ to see how many ad campaigns are in your area. Pay attention also to how many times they are able to be shown to you. For example, one might say
10 / — / — / 10. If that’s the case, you can only see ads from that campaign a maximum of 10 times in a day, but also a total of 10 times total. Campaigns are always starting and ending, with some weeks or months having little to none available. - The second thing to check is for any settings on your devices that might be causing issues. For a full list of those things, please check
What are things that can interfere with Brave Rewardsunder the Brave Rewards section of this FAQ.
I'm seeing ads but not earning BAT
Usually this means your device Locale, IP address, and/or Time Zone are conflicting with each other. For example, you might be in United States but have your device set for English-IN, at which point Brave get confused which you’re at and won’t pay you for ads because it doesn’t know which spot you’re in. The same with IP, maybe you’re in Germany but your IP address shows you in Australia. It will see that conflicting information and won’t be able to pay for or serve ads as it ONLY can do so for people in a particular region and it’s unsure if you’re in it. So always make sure all of that shows you in the same location/region.
That said, it also can happen if you’ve been flagged. This is a bit less common but still possible. If flagged it should tell you in your browser. Otherwise, there is always a lot of potential issues that might be occurring. If you ever can’t figure things out, create a Support Ticket at https://support.brave.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=360001302431
BRAVE REWARDS
How does Brave Rewards work?
Well, goes through the steps below
- Companies pay Brave to let them run ads. They choose which regions those ads will display, the types of devices that will see them, etc.
- Brave users who have opted into rewards and who meet the criteria the advertisers are looking for are given 70% of the ad revenue, which is converted to BAT. Users must “view” the ad, which means let it appear in their notifications to obtain
- If all goes well, Users then contribute and/or tip some of the BAT they earned to content creators to help support them and encourage working with Brave to provide content in the future.
- Eventually, some of those same content creators or their sponsors may become advertisers. If this happens, the process is able to repeat itself, keeping money coming to Users.
How do I earn BAT from Brave Rewards?
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Make sure you are in an ad supported region. You can see which regions are currently supported by looking at the bottom of https://brave.com/transparency/
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Make sure you have Brave Rewards turned on. You can view this at
brave://rewards/and can also change the “maximum ads per hour” there as well. -
Once you opt in, there are 2 different types of ads you’ll see:
- Notifications = Will appear in your notifications area on the device. For Android, this is the top part of your screen. You do not need to click on these ads, Brave only needs to know the notifications were able to appear without being blocked. So if Notifications are turned off, for example, it won’t register that you’ve seen it and you’ll get nothing.
- Sponsored Images = These are special ads that will appear on your New Tab page or Brave News when you go to them. Rather than a notification, these will have a special background image created by the advertiser and a clickable link that will appear on the page itself. Having it generate on the page is all it takes, you don’t need to click or do anything else with it.
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Leave your device on and running. The more you use it, the more likely you’ll have ads appear. If it’s just turned on and not being used, then ads will appear less frequently.
When do payouts happen and when do I receive my BAT?
Payments are sent out by Brave around the 8th of each month. Unfortunately, not everyone will receive it or have it available exactly on the 8th. It usually takes between 7-14 days for the majority of users to receive payments. You can see payment status listed under Help Center and Resources or you can see it at the top of the page at https://sampson.codes/brave/ads/my_region/
Where are my BAT from Brave Rewards kept?
Let’s first clarify one little thing that might be confusing to people. When we see Brave Rewards, what we are earning isn’t actually BAT. Instead we’re getting what is called vBAT, where the “v” stands for virtual. It is nothing but customer points with no particular cash value or anything. The only place you can use it is with Brave, to tip content creators (and in the future for other features like special privileges you can get with BAT).
When we have our “payout” each month, Users with Verified Wallets such as Uphold or Gemini will have their vBAT converted to BAT by those places. Once this conversion occurs, your BAT will be stored with them in their wallet. So basically, Gemini and Uphold are letting you exchange your customer rewards points for real currency. Without them taking part in this step, then you’d not be able to convert BAT from Brave Rewards into money.
For those who don’t have a Verified Wallet, your BAT is stored as data between your device and Brave’s servers. This can be dangerous because if your device ever gets lost, stolen, damaged, or has anything else happen where you might have gotten rid of Brave, all the vBAT you had stored will be gone forever.
NOTE
Official Backup & Restore is being worked on and should be released this year, which will protect loss of vBAT, but until then…it’s important to recognize this difference
Your Region No Longer Supported/Unsupported Regions
Rewards available will change periodically due to business and governmental policies. Often they are temporary. Notices will always be posted here on Brave Community when these changes occur.
If you are in an area that is impacted, where you’re informed that your region is no longer supported when you try to link to places like Uphold or Gemini, then that means you’ll no longer be able to receive BAT at those locations. You will still see ads and earn BAT, but they will be kept on your browser and your only options will be to save them for when you can connect again or to use it to tip content creators. I will edit this to post changes to regions when they occur.
Currently, only 19 countries are able to connect to either Uphold or Gemini. Please see notices linked below:
NOTICE: New region restrictions on verifying Brave Rewards with Gemini
NOTICE: New region restrictions on verifying Brave Rewards with Uphold
NEWEST = PSA: Unsupported Region
What do I do if Uphold and Gemini don't support my region?
If your region is unsupported by Gemini or Uphold, then you have no ways to convert your vBAT to BAT. This means you’ll be able to view ads and earn vBAT, but you’ll only be able to let it keep building or can tip it to your favorite creators.
Unfortunately these are the only two places that are able to serve as Verified Wallets at this time. Brave is looking at getting other places involved for the future, but currently there’s no options.
So save that BAT and hope your value increases. Who knows, the forced “hodl” might make you more money than you would have gotten otherwise.
What are things that can interfere with Brave Rewards?
- Turning off Brave Private Ads
- Gaming or using anything in full screen (Brave won’t send because they don’t want to interrupt what you’re doing)
- Turning off notifications, including having things like Focus Assist, Flight Mode, or Do Not Disturb active on your device.
- Using an IP different than your Locale (so if your computer says you’re in France but VPN says you’re in United States, you’ll have issues)
- In some cases, using a gaming mouse as the driver can prevent ads. Though someone else suggested a way to prevent this issue at Ads depend on the number of monitors? - #12 by CharlesKlein
- Living in and/or using a device in an unsupported region
- Cloned wallet on multiple devices (meaning you moved /Brave folder or certain files from one device to another)
- Corrupted files due to users modifying folders/files in Brave
- You have no internet
- Your device is in sleep mode or powered off
- You have hit the ad limit for what is currently available to you
- Maximum ads per hour setting in Brave Rewards is set to 0.
- You are using iOS. Unfortunately Apple’s policy forbids companies from paying users. You can read more about this at https://brave.com/rewards-ios/
- You are using a Virtual Machine (VM). At this point, Brave is not compatible with VM and thus you won’t receive ads/BAT.
- You have violated Terms and your account has been flagged.
How do I know if I've been flagged?
In most cases, you will receive a notification within your Brave Browser to let you know that you’ve been flagged. This is especially the case when/if you go to Verify your browser. The message you’ll receive will look something like:
No action is required on your part. Your Brave Rewards profile will be automatically re-evaluated on a regular basis to determine when (or if) the flag can be removed.
What do I do if I've been flagged?
It’s supposed to be that you don’t need to do anything, which is what the notification tells you. Unfortunately the system doesn’t seem to revisit and unflag as intended. This means that if you truly did nothing wrong and want Brave to investigate and hopefully remove the flag, you’ll need to submit a Support Ticket to Brave.
Brave will not advise why your account was flagged, as they don’t want to let people know the types of activity the system is picking up on. The reason for that is they want to give as little help to people abusing and scamming the system as possible. So if that’s what you want to know, you may as well give up on that thought now.
Just be advised that not all tickets will result in them removing the flag from your account. If they see or believe you violated terms, they can decide to leave your account permanently flagged.
It’s also important to remember it can take a while before they get to your ticket, plus depending on circumstances, it can take a while to investigate. So you may need to be patient.
Why are accounts flagged?
Any violation of Brave’s Terms can result in your account being flagged. You can find their Terms of Service for Brave Rewards at https://basicattentiontoken.org/user-terms-of-service/
Some quick examples of things that often result in flagged accounts can be:
- Using a VPN, Proxy Server, or other such thing to hide or fake your location. This is because it can be seen as you trying to bypass ad restrictions. Remember, advertisers pay so content is shown to specific regions. When you appear to be in a region you’re not, it is taking advantage of the system to see ads and receive BAT you shouldn’t be getting.
- Modifying folders. There are some things you’re encouraged to do but some people do dig deep and try modifying folders that affect your encryption key OR where Users think they can fool the system into thinking they’ve seen more ads or have more BAT in their browser than they really do. Whether intentional or accidental, messing with the wrong things will get your account flagged.
- Your setup sends mixed information to Brave. For example, maybe you’re in the United States. Your IP address shows you in California, your language is English-IN, and your time zone is correct. This will tell Brave you should see ads from India but then it sees that you’re actually in California. At this point it will think you’re trying to trick the system to see more ads and might flag you. If nothing else, it can result in you not getting BAT for ads that you do see.
- Cloning your browser. Some people have learned how to do unofficial backup & restore and have the “great idea” that they can make multiple copies of the same browser on different devices and then Verify them with a custodial wallet like Uphold or Gemini. The system recognizes this and will flag the account and prevent anything from happening. Of course, even if unintentional, creating two exact copies of the browser and encryption key will be seen as attempting to do this and will flag you. So never have two identical copies of the browser running.
- Uphold or Gemini identifies your account as fraudulent and/or there’s a violation of laws.
- Any other type of suspicious activity is recognized by the system or Brave staff.
That said, just like people, the system isn’t flawless and mistakes can happen. If you haven’t done anything wrong, you can always create a ticket as instructed in What do I do if I get flagged? section of this FAQ.
PAYMENT RELATED ISSUES
Why haven't I received my payout?
First off, keep in mind that payments BEGIN around the 8th of each month. It can take several weeks for the payment process to complete and your BAT to arrive. There will be some months where your payment arrives immediately and others where you may not receive it until the 3rd or 4th week. Brave is working on expediting payments but be advised that it can take time.
One thing I recommend is you keep an eye out on https://sampson.codes/brave/ads/my_region/ as they have a banner on top that will show the status of payments. If it shows everything complete for the current pay period, then reach out to staff as directed below. If it shows your payment method is still pending, do try to be patient.
Brave is asking all with issues regarding payments, ads, or anything else to fill out the form at https://support.brave.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=360001302431 and they will get back to you ASAP.
Sometimes delays are issues on Brave, but it can also be due to maintenance or other issues at Uphold, Gemini, or some other place between.
Why did I only receive a partial payment?
This can happen when ads weren’t reconciled/processed in time. An example of this would be that your browser had shown Estimated Earnings: 5 BAT but now it says a payment of 3.25 BAT will arrive. While it might seem scary or like you were wronged, you should notice that rather than your Estimated Earnings going to 0.00 it will have the balance that is missing, such as 1.75 in our example.
Essentially what happened is the servers didn’t receive all the info they needed in time to sort out payment for you. So it lets your balance “roll forward” into the following month’s payment.
And as always, if you think something else is at play or have a concern, please create a Support Ticket at https://support.brave.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=360001302431 so that someone can investigate and help you out.
BRAVE WALLET
What is Brave Wallet?
Brave Wallet is a self-custody wallet, which is often referred to as a “hot wallet.” Essentially everything you store in it is kept in your browser on your device. At this time, all it can be used for is storing cryptocurrency. Any purchases or conversion of cryptocurrency within Brave Wallet is currently done through Wyre.
It is also important to note you can’t sync your Brave Wallet with other devices. This means what you have stored in your browser on your PC won’t be accessible from your phone. That said, this is something they are working to change, allowing the information to be synced between devices.
Can I get my BAT from Brave Rewards in my Brave Wallet?
No, this is not possible at this time. The reasons for this are:
- Brave would need to do KYC/AML compliance. This would require them to gather very personal information from every person using Brave and then they’d have to share that information with governments.
- In addition, Brave would need a money transmitter license.
Those are both things that Brave does not wish to do at this time as it’s a lot of money and government oversight that they would have to worry about, some of which would end up being an invasion of User privacy.
CREATORS
How do I become a Verified Creator?
You’ll need to go to https://creators.brave.com/ and create an account. Then provide all the information requested. Things like links to your content and much more will be required. Also make sure you thoroughly read all the Terms at https://basicattentiontoken.org/publisher-terms-of-service/
What do I do if my Brave Creator payment hasn't arrived?
Similar to issues with Brave Rewards, you will need to create a Support Ticket by completing the form at https://support.brave.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=360001302431
Make sure to provide them the email address associated with your Creator account instead of Wallet Info.
What do I do if my Creators account has been suspended?
Unfortunately suspensions aren’t handled at Brave Community and none of the Support team will be able to assist. You will need to contact [email protected].
AD-BLOCK
Why am I still seeing ads on websites even though Brave Shields is on?
Adblock technology is an unending battle against marketing teams and websites. While the technology is good and most ads are being blocked, sometimes things can slip through. If you encounter websites where adblock isn’t working well, feel free to post the link and a screenshot at https://community.brave.com/c/support-and-troubleshooting/ad-blocking/ so staff can improve it. We often have @fanboynz working hard to keep things updated.
If you’re on an iPhone, they are limited on capabilities since it can’t run things that Android and Windows permit in blocking ads. Brave is working on new methods, but at this time Brave Shields are subpar on iOS and you will see occasional ads.
BRAVE SYNC/BACKUP & RESTORE
I'm getting a new device OR I need to reinstall Brave, how do I backup my BAT?
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BAT needs to be on a verified wallet if you don’t want to risk losing it. At this time, it is NOT saved when you create a Sync chain. If you have verified your “wallet” with Uphold or Gemini, then when you install Brave on your new device and connect it with your Wallet, your BAT should appear and all pending BAT will be sent in the next payout.
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If you don’t have a verified wallet and your BAT is actually vBAT, there currently is no official way to save it. Brave is working on an official Backup & Restore feature for Brave Rewards. Until then, the unofficial way that works to move your BAT from an unverified wallet to a new device can be seen at https://www.reddit.com/r/BATProject/comments/rvsokm/how_to_backup_brave_wallet_for_windows/ and https://www.reddit.com/r/BATProject/comments/smh28a/brave_backup/
How do I backup my Bookmarks, History, Extensions, and Passwords?
- Bookmarks, History, Extensions, and Passwords are saved if you create a Sync chain. To do this, go to
brave://settings/braveSync/setupand make sure to establish a Sync chain on the device that has the data you want to keep (assuming you haven’t already done this). Then on your new device, you’ll go tobrave://settings/braveSync/setupand choose “I have a Sync Code” (or something like that) and enter the Sync Code provided on the original device when you chooseAdd New Device
NOTE
The 25th word in the sync chain changes every 24 hours. This means if you try to save a Sync code for a future date, it will show out of date due to the final word. You can generate a new Sync code if you want to see the final word and then just swap that out on an old one. That said, Sync is not intended as a backup, but it works if you’re just having to temporarily get things done or you have multiple devices.
You can always backup most of the information by doing a backup of your \brave-browser folder, however this won’t work for your passwords as they’ll be encrypted and unobtainable via a physical backup. So sync is the only way to safely move your passwords.
