Can't find Brave version for my computer

Browser Support
1

I have a MacBook Pro running macOS 11 Big Sur (two actually; tried all the below on both, with same results), which can’t run the latest version of Brave, so I must download an older version. Finding that older version turned out to be a real bear.

Under the Brave menu, I opened About Brave, which says: To get future Brave updates, you’ll need macOS 12 or later. This computer is using macOS 11. Learn more. Brave 1.80.125 (Official Build) (x86_64), Chromium: 138.0.7204.184

However, Brave 1.80.125 (Official Build) (x86_64) goes not to v.1.80.125, but to https://brave.com/latest page about the current version, which I cannot use. The Learn more link goes to Changes to macOS desktop browser requirements – Brave Help Center, which says:

• The last supported version for users on macOS 10.13 High Sierra and 10.14 Mojave is Brave version 1.57.64 (find the Brave-Browser-universal.dmg file in the list) and Chromium 116. Link leads directly to v.1.57.64 page. Okay.

• The last supported version for users on macOS 10.15 Catalina is Brave version 1.69x and Chromium 128. The link (https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/releases) just goes to the main GitHub page. A search for v.1.69x finds nothing.

• The last supported version for users on macOS 11 Big Sur will be Brave version v.180.125 and Chromium 138. No link is provided; if I go to https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/releases, search for v.180.125 (or v.180, or 180), it says “No releases found. There are no releases containing “v.180.125”.”

I asked Brave Search: “Brave v.180.125 to download?” Response: “You can download Brave Browser version 1.80.125 from the official Brave GitHub releases page.” One of the links it gave was to Release Channel 1.80.125 - Help Center and Resources / Release Notes - Brave Community, which had links to “Download Brave Browser” which goes to the download page for the latest version, and “Brave Github repository” for earlier versions. Again, a search there for v.180.125 gives “No releases found”.

I finally figured out how to find what I need: take the link from the 10.13 High Sierra paragraph for v.1.57.64 (https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/releases/tag/v1.57.64), modify it to: https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/releases/tag/v1.80.125, open a new tab and paste that link into the address field. Which took me to the page for the Brave version I need.

However, I note that under macOS it says "macOS 11 and above are supported as per https://support.brave.app/hc/en-us/articles/360021357112-What-are-the-system-requirements-to-install-Brave, which is a little confusing, as that page says macOS 12 is required.

Suggestions:

1. In the About Brave window, correct the link Brave 1.80.125 (Official Build) (x86_64) to actually go to that version (https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/releases/tag/v1.80.125) instead of the latest version.

2. On the Changes to macOS desktop browser requirements – Brave Help Center page, correct the link for the macOS 10.15 Catalina version to whatever is the last version of Brave for that OS (a search on the GitHub page for “1.69x” just gives “No releases found”). And

3. On the page About the Desktop Support category - Browser Support / Desktop Support - Brave Community, it says "Posts pertaining to the Muon(Old) build category should go to Muon (legacy) Builds Category. However, that link produces “Page Not Found”. Which is why I’m posting this here in the main Desktop category. If you want it to be posted in a “legacy” category, the link to that category should be corrected.

PS: I don’t know why some of the links in this post show in blue, some in red; both seem to work.

2

Apologies for the confusion here – I’ve made a few attempts to reach out to the team about this exact type of question/confusion our users face. Hopefully some of those will be implemented in the future.

For now:

I’ve opened the following issue to encourage the team to include accurate links based on the OS being used:

You’re absolutely right – I’ve just now gone and edited each link on that page to point to the actual release on the Github releases page. Anyone else landing there should now be able to easily find the release they’re looking for.

While you are correct, that page is outdated and I will go ahead and edit it soon – the old Brave build it’s referring to is not related to your specific issue. Further, you did indeed post in the right place here.

Hope this helps.

3

Thanks for your response. As I wrote, I did finally figure out how to get the needed version, and have saved the URL for future use.

I do not plan to “update” my macOS, as (a) I don’t have the money to buy a newer computer, (b) I neither need nor want any of the Great New Features, (c) I’m sick of the upgrade treadmill, (d) after 37 years in the Apple tech world (first computer in 1988 was a Mac Plus, and the early Mac world was a fun community devoted to making “insanely great” products), Apple’s focus now seems to be primarily on “woke” issues (while QC is predictably slipping), and it has now become the very Big Brother it so famously mocked in 1984. I’ve been hoping/planning to switch to open source software for some time (which will allow me to run the latest Brave on my 2014 MacBook Pro), just haven’t had the time/energy for what I expect will be a very demanding transition.

Meanwhile, I like Brave, which has been my primary browser for several years, and consider you folks family, so my post was not meant as a complaint, but as an alert, and attempt to help. I can’t be the only user who’s run into these problems.

So this morning, after removing Brave (with all its thousands (?) of support files, all I could find) from my Mac, I started with a fresh copy, which told me, as usual: “To get future Brave updates, you’ll need macOS 12 or later. This computer is using macOS 11.” But also that I could turn off this notice, which is good.

I also have a 2008 MacBook running Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan, and went through a similar struggle a couple years ago to find a Brave version for it, which always tells me “To get future Brave updates, you’ll need macOS 10.13 or later. This computer is using OS X 10.11.” With no option to turn it off, which is annoying.

But then this new copy of Brave v.1.80.125 also showed a little alert:

brave requires 10.15?
brave requires 10.15?896×342 26.5 KB

Which might be a little confusing to some users, since macOS 11 BigSur is later than 10.15 (whose correct moniker is Mac OS X 10.15 – the last version with Apple’s crazy numbering before that was corrected).

And then when I came to this page to see if there was a response to my post, I was told that Brave had blocked 1 tracker. You track your own users at the Brave Community?

brave community tracker?
brave community tracker?772×493 35.6 KB

Anyway, I guess Brave’s tracker blocking is on the job. That’s a relief.

Best wishes.

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