Brave Browser on MacOS Freezes on Google Maps and Patreon.com

[289wk]

@Careless

i don’t think this fingerprinting or whatever trail you are sending me on is going in the right direction to solve this issue; it is a webGL related problem

[Careless]

fair enough, your request makes sense to me now.

i didn’t want to fool around with this setting without understanding how it relates to the graphics pipeline, especially if it means dumping all the cookies i have stored.

i’ll start by dropping the google cookies and try again later with fingerprinting disabled and I will report back.

thank you for your time and info.

[MasterLink]

As an ex-Apple employee, it doesn’t surprise me. I worked at Apple during the development of Lion through Mavericks, and they were pushing these kinds of ideas (more so just what app can be allowed to run, if verified or not, not to this extreme). I kept saying it’d be more problems than it’s worth.

Apparently when I left, they actually did it, and included the GPU.

I do understand the reasoning, preventing nefarious GPGPU operations and such, but like this, it does get in the way.

(But to be honest, before I saw that screenshot, I didn’t believe fingerprinting would cause it either, I had no idea Apple changed this much under the hood since my departure. And like you, I want reasons for knowing why I’m doing something, so I like your approach!)

EDIT: Actually re-reading that screenshot, it’s a Metal limitation in regards to such a sandbox with fingerprinting. Apple should probably address that in their Metal API. (I predate working at Apple with Metal, I was still on OpenGL back then.)

[Careless]

this evening i removed all site data and cleared cookies and tried again but the same thing happened.

i tried each fingerprinting toggle in the advanced settings, and all of them at once as well, and the same issue occurs.

i then tried Firefox with the most aggresive fingerprinting security settings and google maps loads just fine, no issues.

again, I must reiterate- only days ago this didn’t seem like an issue.

given that I tested brave versions going as far back as like 67 release pages ago on the github repo, (I think i went all the way back to version 1.80.111), and the issue is still there- it seems that Google perhaps changed something behind the scenes.

but that if the fingerprinting is linked to metal/webgl, why then does the issue not occur on firefox? I have confirmed that all the graphics acceleration options are enabled in about:config and still it has no issues.

moreover, why is brave happy to reload the page quickly and usably after it goes through this whole webGL fallback thing, but there is no setting to enable this action by default so that it doesn’t take 90 seconds every time I close the browser.

[289wk]

@Careless

Suggest some diagnostic testing:

• ‘https://support.apple.com/en-us/102550’
• ‘https://support.apple.com/guide/activity-monitor/run-system-diagnostics-actmntr2225/10.14/mac/15.0’

Where some MacOS and software logs might be found:

• /private/var/log/system.log
• /private/var/log/displaypolicy/
• /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/

For all Brave settings’ flip-a-switch testing, I would accurately, in detail, document each step. Re your:

“I tried each fingerprinting toggle in the advanced settings, and all of them at once as well, and the same issue occurs.”

. . . “the advanced settings” is not accurate. I suspect that you mean the "Site-Specific Fingerprint Protection switch ← located by clicking first, the Site-Specific Brave Lion icon nearby the right end of the Brave Browser URL address field, and then scrolling down the Advanced controls.

And, in the Dev Tools > Network tab window results and Dev Tools > Console results, every step of the way ← compare the results(!), to see what changes may be, esp. re WebGL / GPU info.

Because, “the same issue” may occur, but in the Dev Tools results’ details, there may be changes of effects and info to note.

---

@Mattches

In general for the issue, disabling Graphics Acceleration does change the performance, but that is for another unsatisfactory performance, instead of a reliable fix.

I suspect that the particular Mac computers + MacOS 15 Sequoia + AMD Radeon RX 580 8GB graphics cards + probably motherboard video BIOS (“vBIOS”) . . . combinations . . . are probably at the heart of the performance issue for @Careless and possibly for the OP, @carla_rogers .

I suspect that a detailed testing of all the possible combinations of switch flipping/throwing:

• Graphics Acceleration (“GAccel”)
• Fingerprint Protection (“FPP”)
• Site-Specific Fingerprint Protection (“SSFPP”) ← by clicking first, the Site-Specific Brave Lion icon nearby the right end of the Brave Browser URL address field, and then scrolling down the Advanced controls
• Brave’s Global Fingerprint Protection (“BBGFPP”) ← Block fingerprinting at brave://settings/shields

. . . plus brave://flags graphics experimentation, are probably not going to pan out.

I searched online and found other frustrated Mac users, some of whom managed geek level fixes (“motherboard medicine” and/or graphics card changes), using search criteria:

Mac computers using "AMD Radeon RX 580" not compatible with MacOS Sequoia

[Careless]

I’ll try the suggestions this weekend.

I must mention though, that google maps works fine when it’s embedded on anywebsite.

it’s just the google.com/maps site that locks up.