I briefly posted then deleted this a few days back but it is still reproducible.
See also Brave Google Play Services dependence · Issue #22253 · brave/brave-browser · GitHub
To recap: this dependence on Google Play Services is expected and we don’t have plans to address.
Vanadium and Mulch > Brave
Change the title to Remove Brave browser and move it to Site development category.
That’s terrible news!
I just managed to have bitwarden autofill working in brave and now I’ll have to switch to another browser.
Confirmed this was true on latest GrapheneOS build for Pixel 6a, via guest account’s “install available apps.” Tried to start it, was just blank white; forced stopped and cleared cache plus storage, no change. I really liked Brave until this point, so it’s disappointing to see this (for reference, I’m running the latest Github build of Brave via Obtainium, no Sandboxed Play Services). Brave’s ad-blocking and anti-fingerprinting capabilities are incomparably better than Vandium at present, so I suppose I’ll use Mull with uBlock until Vandium matures!
To clarify with the use of the word “fresh install” does this mean users with a previously installed Brave browser will NOT be affected?
Or is this wishful thinking on my part and all updated instances, regardless of a fresh install or not, will be affected as well?
For fresh installs and if you clear app data.
A workaround for GrapheneOS users is to install sandboxed google play, (disabling all network permissions on install) download and launch Brave, then delete google play.
Or just not using Brave, since there are multiple other browsers that do some things better than Brave (e.g., Vanadium, Mulch, Cromite)
Well yes, but if someone wanted to use Brave for any reason and found difficulties due to the recent changes, this is how they overcome them.
Continuing to use Brave when the company has proven themselves as user hostile is like trying to keep up with all the crap MS adds to Edge just because Edge has pretty solid security on Windows.
If you read the issues linked above, you’ll see that supporting custom ROMs without play services is literally a P5 for them (i.e., lowest priority). Seems pretty shitty to me.
I agree, however, some people might still want to use Brave despite this.
Yes I am aware of this, rather unfortunate really.
This is what happens when profit is the priority. Browsers developed by people or non-profits wouldn’t do shit like that because the user is the priority.
Neither of them has a similar mix of security, privacy and features.
Nonsense. Many non-profit projects need to compromise on compatibility to give the majority of users a better product or simply because it’s too much work for too little potential users.
Question, is it really a problem that Brave needs Google Play Service to work, especially on GOS?
Yes, it’s a problem that it’s imposed, but is it really a problem?
Not really a problem. On user profiles with Play Services you can use it anyway and on profiles without them just install them to install Brave then delete them again.
Also the problem with minor forks with one or few developers are updates and continuity reliability. Bromite died eventually.
That’s not true, on GOS the basic applications work well and fulfill their roles well in terms of security and privacy, but it’s a nightmare aesthetically and in terms of functionality, the opposite of what should be faity obliged to install alternatives for a minimum of comfort.
Well said, I 100% agree. There’s no reason to have to do these silly workarounds when it’s something like this that’s easy to fix, and shouldn’t be a problem in the first place. I’ll definitely be removing and no longer recommending Brave to people if this doesn’t get fixed.