Most if not all android browsers I’ve used so far have the ability to clear browsing and download history, which I’ve now considered is a standard. However Brave has a different behavior when it comes to ‘clearing’ download history. Rather than clear the history itself it deletes the file altogether.
Most users don’t need to see their own all time downloads since they started to use the browser. But do so on Brave in order to keep whatever file it saved on their mobile device. This shouldn’t have to be the case.
If it wasn’t already clear, the OP is talking about the mobile version. I believe the issue was reported more than 2 years ago but we still don’t have a way to clear the downloads list.
It seems that Brave, when deleting the file from the Downloads section, deletes the file REGARDLESS of the location and name of the file.
I had some files in my Download directory and moved them to a different personal directory, then went over to the Brave app and saw they still showed up in my “Downloads” section. I deleted them thinking it was just a history of the files, but after checking my personal directory the files were gone. I even tested renaming the file once moved to another directory but Brave still deleted the file regardless.
Okay just chiming in to say that this is a ““feature”” that I would really like, in fact I’m going to be moving away from brave because of it, who would accept not being able to delete their browsing history for instance. This had been an issue for years apparently and they still haven’t done anything about it, insane.
I had several important files mysteriously disappear before I tracked it back to the brave browser and realized that it wasn’t just clearing the history like any normal person would expect.
This issue really needs to be taken care of. I keep losing large files because I don’t copy them since, well, I don’t except to. Removing an item from download history should just remove the entry from list not the file from storage.
Lol, 4-1/2 years after @Mattches “brought this to the attention” of the Android developers, and it STILL hasn’t been implemented… How crazy is it that something so simple/vital for a supposedly security-focused browser to STILL not have???
Is there any progress on this? I find it super annoying to have to always worry about whether deleting a download in Brave will delete the actual file, even if I’ve already moved it out of Brave’s downloads folder.
How is Brave even tracking the downloaded file’s moved location to delete later? I would think Brave should forget about it once it’s been moved out of the Downloads folder.
My solution was to move the files to the Android secure folder, After that I went to Brave’s download history and they were no longer there. I went back to the secure folder and restored them to their original location, and they no longer appeared in Brave.
This saved me from having to rename all my files and accidentally delete them.This saved me from renaming all my files, or accidentally deleting them, and even from deleting my settings.
Looks like it was labeled P3 and assigned to a dev but then was unassigned earlier this year. Not super clear as to why – I’ve asked for some clarity on the status of the issue.
As far as I can tell, this is not the case. The Downloads page in Brave is simply pointed at the system’s Downloads folder. If you move the file out of that folder, Brave no longer detects it. I just tested this myself – downloaded an image, went to Android Files, moved that image to a separate folder, checked Downloads page again in Brave and the image is no longer there.
I can kinda reproduce both actually, and this is really just “lag” it seems. (And I’m gonna be honest, I probably will never again both prove and disprove something in one capture, because initially it was working as YOU explained, but then did what OP explained, until it corrected itself, on the screen capture itself. Never in a million years, lmao).
I started recording showing downloads. Then went to downloads in a different app, deleted it, went back to Brave, but the file was still there, and wouldn’t refresh out. But the moment I tried to interact with it, it stalled, hesitated, then opened a different file, and only then, was the file gone.
Since this is AOSP, my specific AOSP ROM is: “lineage-23.0-20251219-nightly-dre-signed”. Phone is a OnePlus N200 5G, used to be OxygenOS 12, but the security patch was a year old, so that’s why it’s even on Lineage (SE linux enforced, encrypted and no root, just to keep Netflix working).
So I can both reproduce their behavior where the file is still there, but I can also reproduce your behavior where it does go away, all in one capture, lol
@MasterLink if the browser is still open when you delete or move the file on the system I think the app needs be closed/relaunched before the list updates.
Ahh yes, you’re right. I tested this thinking swiping down in downloads would refresh (you do see me in the video trying to do that) but it never dawned on me, that downloads has no refresh option, thus I was swiping down and commanding nothing.
How crazy is it that something so simple/vital for a supposedly security-focused browser to STILL not have???