I have been using Brave for a while now and the sync feature is simply not working as advertised. When I select which data types to synchronize – including settings – I expect exactly that to happen. Not partially, not sometimes, but reliably.
What I have noticed in particular: settings I have explicitly disabled, such as AI features and sponsored content (ads), are not being carried over to other devices. This raises a serious concern – is this intentional? It would be quite problematic if opt-out settings are selectively excluded from sync.
A few concrete issues:
- Sync was disabled on my main machine without any user action or notification
- On mobile, almost all synced data is missing
- Selected sync categories are not actually synchronized
Brave is positioning itself as a privacy-focused, user-respecting browser. Sync that silently ignores user preferences – especially around AI and advertising – directly contradicts that promise.
This also makes Brave a non-starter in enterprise environments, where consistent, predictable configuration across devices is a basic requirement.
I would appreciate a clear response from the dev team on:
- Which settings are intentionally excluded from sync and why
- Whether this will be addressed in an upcoming release
Thank you.
Christian
Hello! Thanks for your feedback. We’re looking into better data syncing with Sync v3, which will have an accounts-based approach and should help resolve some of these frustrations and gaps.
https://x.com/BarabashAlexey/status/1994104096647991697
If you’re wishing to configure uniform settings across your org we would suggest doing so at the group policy level at this time. https://support.brave.app/hc/en-us/articles/360039248271-Group-Policy
Sync was disabled on my main machine without any user action or notification
Can you provide further details on what you see in your Sync settings? Do you have policies enabled at brave://policy?
On mobile, almost all synced data is missing
Are you on iOS or Android? What sync data is missing?
Features like the AI summarizer in https://search.brave.com/settings are based on local cookies and not included in Sync. The same goes for New Tab page settings and Shields.
The brave://sync-internals page should give you some insight into your current sync-state.
Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks!
Hi,
thank you for the detailed response.
Regarding the specific questions:
-
Sync disabled without user action: I do not have any group policies enabled at brave://policy. On my main machine, Brave is now showing “Set up Sync” – as if it had never been configured. No error, no notification. Meanwhile, the sync chain is still visible on both my Android phone and my second notebook, so the chain itself was not deleted.
-
Mobile: I am on Android. Bookmarks, passwords, and history are largely missing despite sync being enabled and the device being part of the same sync chain.
The missing data goes well beyond privacy or AI-related settings. Basic preferences that any user would expect to sync are not being carried over across all devices in the sync chain, including:
- Default search engine
- Download directory
- Dashboard / New Tab page configuration
I had to reconfigure these manually on every single device – which defeats the purpose of sync entirely.
I understand that New Tab page settings and cookie-based features like the AI summarizer on search.brave.com are technically outside the scope of sync. But this is not clearly communicated when selecting sync categories. If “Settings” does not actually sync settings like the default search engine or download path, the label is misleading. Users need a transparent, documented list of what is and is not included.
I will check brave://sync-internals and report back if I find anything relevant.
Looking forward to Sync v3 – an accounts-based approach sounds like the right direction.
Best regards,
Christian
1 Like
Quick update: the issue with my device dropping out of the sync chain has not reoccurred. It may not have been a bug after all, or at least it appears to have been a one-time event.
In the meantime, I have rolled out Brave across all my devices – Windows VMs, Linux notebooks and desktops, as well as Android tablets and phones. So far everything is running stable.
Thanks to everyone who helped and responded here – the support was appreciated.
Looking forward to seeing what Sync v3 brings.