So I’ve been using Brave browser for around five years now.
For some strange reason I constantly have a white screen flash every time I open a new tab which lasts for around one second or less on my iPhone 16.
This constantly happens and it’s been infuriating me so much that I’ve had to create an account here just so I can try to get some answers. I’ve seen various people posting the same thing for the last 4 to 5 years and I’m extremely confused as to why this issue hasn’t been fixed yet?
Especially in the evenings I open my Brave browser. I open a new tab or try to go to any website and I have an extremely bright white flash in my face. It’s so annoying that I have to turn my phone away from my face for a few seconds and then turn it back to look at the actual website. This happens every time I open the app on my phone and it also happens every time I open a new tab, if I close Brave browser and re open it each tab I open it happens on all of them again it’s very annoying.
I’ve been googling for answers about this on Reddit and all over the place and I’ve only found mods collecting information from people posting about it but this seems to still not be fixed for the last 4 to 5 years and it’s getting ridiculous.
If this doesn’t get fixed any time soon, I’ll stop using Brave browser for good. I’m really tired of this. How hard can it be to just make the Brave browser show at least a black or a grey loading screen instead of a bright white one every single time?
I doubt I’ll get any replies and/or a solution on this anyway, but it’s worth a try. Cheers!
So this points to it potentially being an issue with your iOS device/device setup rather than Brave specifically. If you are seeing this white flash when Brave is closed and you try opening other apps, the issue is likely to do with the system itself.
Can you confirm that, with the Brave browser app fully closed on your device, if you try to open other apps installed on your device you still see this white flash?
Additionally, it looks like this particular issue has indeed been reported before but also should have received a fix – looks like it was related to the dark theme being used:
Can you please tell me what version of the iOS Brave app you’re using at this time?
I don’t see the white flash anywhere else except within the brave browser, so it’s nothing to do with my phone setup, if it’s just within brave. No other apps.
I use the dark mode theme, and it doesn’t happen when i use “night mode” but i don’t want to keep on “night mode” 24/7.
@Starl0xrd so there are couple of things going on here.
The first issues is with sites loading – this is actually an iOS WebKit issue that occurs in just about all browsers (with the exception of Safari) on iOS. The reason you’re seeing a “white flash” on the site before it loads and (presumably) “switches” back to dark is because iOS WebView has a white background by default.
You land on the site, the white background appears, then the site loads in it’s dark theme. I just tested this on my end by visiting a site in Brave on iOS that I know has automatic theme detection:
Set Brave to Dark theme in Appearance
Opened a new tab (no flash)
Visited a site that I know has automatic theme detection (ign.com)
Site flashes white for a second, then switches to dark layout
The other issue for you appears to be that you get this same “white flash” when you simply open a new tab as well. This is something I don’t see myself. Can you confirm:
That this is in fact the case – that simply opening a new tab also displays the white screen/flash as well?
If so, do you have the NTP background option enabled or disabled? You’ll find this in Settings --> Display --> New Tab Page.
Would it be possible for you to share a short screen recording of the white flash appearing in both instances? That is, when loading a website, and when just opening a new tab in the browser?
I don’t see the white flash when i open a new tab, just switching tabs and re opening brave. It says new users can’t upload videos… so i can’t show you a screen recording of it.
The ntp is enabled and the mode is set to automatic but i just changed it to dark but its the same.
So for switching tabs, it is likely due to the WebView behavior that I described before. Again, this will likely occur in most other browsers on iOS as well (with the exception of Safari).
That said, one of our devs just submitted this change that should stop the flash from occurring when launching the browser: