Cannot download any files on Android

Browser Support
1

Description of the issue: Cannot download any kind of file using the latest Brave version on Android. When going to Settings → Downloads → Downloads location, it says “No location available”. In the app permissions, there is no category for allowing access to the local storage, only access to images and videos (granting or disabling this does not make any difference). I have reinstalled the app and the issue persists.

Steps to Reproduce:

  1. Open any website that contains a download link or an image you wish to save.
  2. Click on the download link or long press on the image and then choose “Download image”.

Actual Result: Nothing happens - nothing is downloaded - there are no warning messages about not being able to download a file either.

Screenshot_20251227-140925
Screenshot_20251227-1409251080×2424 61.7 KB

Screenshot_20251227-140947
Screenshot_20251227-1409471080×2424 70.4 KB

Screenshot_20251227-140955
Screenshot_20251227-1409551080×2424 59.6 KB

Expected result: Files get downloaded normally.

Reproduces how often: All the time.

Operating System and Brave Version(See the About Brave page in the main menu): Android 16, Brave 1.85.117, Chromium 143.0.7499.146

Additional Information: Pixel 9 12 GB RAM, 256 GB storage (plenty of free storage - more than 70%)

2

I’m on Android 16 and can download files just fine. I used to be on Android 12 before switching LineageOS, and I could download there as well. In both cases, Brave never requested nor needed a Local Storage permission since the Download folder technically doesn’t require it (it’s a special folder).

Hopefully a dev can chime in, because that appears to be a device/ROM specific issue which shouldn’t happen.

Just to verify, can Google Chrome download on the same phone since both use the same codebase and should be downloading to the same directory (and both do not need Local Storage to do it)?

3

Confirming same issue here on Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel tablet.

4

Thank you for reporting – I’m wondering if this is a Pixel specific issue. Let me reach out to some team members to test as I only have a Samsung Galaxy to test with. Out of curiosity, do you have an external SD card you can try and use with your Pixel device and tell me if you can see the SD card detected as a location on the downloads page?

5

I’m wondering if it’s Pixel specific as well. On Android 16 AOSP, I do get a proper selection:

Screenshot_20260112-145352_Brave
Screenshot_20260112-145352_Brave1080×2400 126 KB

6

@kirilb @zebrazoo can we confirm that this is still the case with the latest build (1.85.120)?

7

Additionally, can you both please test this in Chrome as well and see if you’re able to download files/select download locations there?

8

Application Version: Brave 1.85.120, Chromium 143.0.7499.192
Tablet Operating System: Android 16; Build/BP4A.251205.006
Pixel 9 Pro Operating System: Android 16; Build/BP4A.251205.006.E1

Confirming the issue is still happening. However, I have noticed it is intermittent and I cannot always reliably reproduce.

If I come back to the app after some time (an hour or so) and without force closing it, just using the app switcher, it will sometimes auto download the file to the downloads folder on my device (as expected). I’ve also tried force closing and re-opening the app several times and that sometimes works, sometimes doesn’t.

I tried with Chrome browser and I am not having this issue. However, a web search shows that users have had this issue with Chrome browser on Android as well.

Both my devices are not capable of having SD card storage.

9

@zebrazoo thanks for confirming. Discussing w/Android team presently. Will let you know when I have more info or have opened an issue for this.