Everything gone after update: Passwords, Bookmarks, Top Sites

NOTE: Any “one-liner” or topics requesting support or reporting bugs that do not make an effort to include as much of this information as possible will not be responded to. Repeatedly posting as such is grounds for banning._
Please** try to adhere to this template when reporting bugs. If you think you don’t need to fill out every section in the template fill out as much of it as you can and please be as descriptive as possible when posting.
<---------Delete this line and everything above before posting---------->**

Description of the issue: On relaunching to update I got a Profiles choice and all my saved information is GONE

**Steps to Reproduce (add as many as necessary): 1. 2. 3. Update the app. Relaunch. **

Actual Result (gifs and screenshots are welcome!): All gone

Expected result: I still have my saved IMPORTANT data

Reproduces how often: 100%

Operating System and Brave Version(See the About Brave page in the main menu): MacOS

Updating Brave

Brave 1.85.116 (Official Build) (arm64)

Chromium: 143.0.7499.110

Additional Information: It looks like this is common and no response from the developer. I’m out. Other browsers don’t seem to offer the sae level of all around security. But this is unacceptable.

We respond to this all the time, it is an extremely difficult issue to diagnose and is likely tied to issues with the underlying Chromium engine. If you want assistance here I’m happy to do so.

I appreciate your really fast response. Brave has been great, and the security gives peace of mind.

I suppose it could be a coincidence that this issue occurred only after the last update.

What troubleshooting steps would you recommend?

I mean, that thread goes back to 2023. This has never happened with any of 3 other browsers on my system: Firefox, Chrome, DuckDuckGo.

If you don’t have more I’m going to have to uninstall.

Note to self, Brave Browser (for MacOS) auto-update mechanism, is in transition from Sparkle to Omaha 4:

@nomobravo

Mostly structural info re Windows OS users, but the principle of Back Up Your Data, applies:

Brave deleted all my active tabs and favorites - #2 by 289wk

In order to increase chances of data restoration. I use scheduled AppleScripts to daily back up data for Internet browsers.

Backing up, for example:

/Users/[username]/Library/Application Support/BraveSoftware/Brave-Browser/

/Users/[username]/Library/Preferences/ ← includes Brave Browser .plist file: com.brave.Browser.plist

For scheduling, I use launchd for older MacOS, and crontab for MacOS 14 Sonoma.

In addition, for MacOS Sonoma, also using Apple’s Time Machine, and Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC).

When you want to restore Brave Browser (MacOS) to a known-working status 'back in time' - you need a chronological backup

In order to make chronological backups of the Brave Browser (MacOS) installation’s BraveSoftware folder at:

/Users/[username]/Library/Application Support/BraveSoftware

I created an AppleScript, used within an Automator application, that I named bkup_BraveSoftware_fldr.app.

When Brave Browser does something strange, and you want to restore Brave Browser to a known-working status “back in time,” then - WITHOUT Brave Browser running (your making sure, by examining the Activity Monitor application) - you can set the existing BraveSoftware folder at:

/Users/[username]/Library/Application Support/BraveSoftware

aside . . . and expand one of the chronological backups → will cause that backup’s un-zipped folder BraveSoftware to show at:

/Users/[username]/Documents/BraveSoftwareBKUPS/BraveSoftware

and move that older BraveSoftware into position at:

/Users/[username]/Library/Application Support/

Thus, restoring Brave Browser to a slightly older point in time.

That is how I have restored all Internet browsers on the Mac, for many years, by maintaining chronological backups.


Steps to create the backup application

Startup Automator application ← it is in the Applications folder.

Click the Application icon, and then click the Choose button.

In the Untitled (Application) window that displays, the adjacent scroll area to the left ← scroll down in that area, to Run AppleScript

Drag that Run AppleScript action over to the right . . . and into the area that reads: Drag actions or files here to build your workflow.

A frame will display with title Run AppleScript

You are going to copy the AppleScript code and paste it on the area that reads: (* Your script goes here *)

The AppleScript to copy, is the entire, lightly-gray-shaded area:

--
--
-- Makes a .zip compressed backup of the BraveSoftware folder located
-- at: /Users[/username]/Library/Application Support/BraveSoftware
--
-- The backup is stored
-- at: /Users[/username]/Documents/BraveSoftwareBKUPS/
--
-- The backups are named in order for them to display in the Finder,
-- in chronological order; example:
--
-- 20260207-234745_EST_Saturday_BraveSoftwareBKUP.zip
--
set hmFldr to (path to home folder) as string
set storedDelimiters to AppleScript's text item delimiters
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to {":"}
set btVol to first text item of hmFldr
set usrNm to third text item of hmFldr
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to storedDelimiters
--
set POSIXpthToBraveSoftware to "/Volumes/" & btVol & "/Users/" & usrNm & "/Library/Application Support/BraveSoftware"
set POSIXpthToBraveSoftwareQ to quoted form of POSIXpthToBraveSoftware
--
set bkupPth to "/Volumes/" & btVol & "/Users/" & usrNm & "/Documents/BraveSoftwareBKUPS/"
set bkupPthQ to quoted form of bkupPth
--
tell me to (do shell script ("mkdir -p " & bkupPthQ))
--
tell me to set dateTimeStamp to ("" & (do shell script "date \"+%Y-%m-%d %H.%M.%S\" | sed -e 's/\\.//g' -e 's/\\-//g' -e 's/\\ /-/g'") & "_" & (do shell script "date | egrep -o 'EDT|EST|CDT|CST|MDT|MST|PDT|PST'") & "_" & (do shell script "date | sed -e 's/\\ .*//g' -e 's/Sun/Sunday/g' -e 's/Mon/Monday/g' -e 's/Tue/Tuesday/g' -e 's/Wed/Wednesday/g' -e 's/Thu/Thursday/g' -e 's/Fri/Friday/g' -e 's/Sat/Saturday/g' -e 's/\\...$//g'") & "") -- .%S seconds: -e 's/\\...$//g'
--
set destItem to bkupPth & dateTimeStamp & "_BraveSoftwareBKUP.zip"
set destItemQ to quoted form of destItem
--
tell me to (do shell script ("ditto -c -k -X --sequesterRsrc " & POSIXpthToBraveSoftwareQ & " " & destItemQ & "; wait"))
--
--
--
--

After the paste action, you will see:

Next, in the Automator’s menu bar > select File and scroll down to, and select, Save...

A pop-up window will display, where you can create the name for the new application - replacing Untitled:

with bkup_BraveSoftware_fldr

Click the Save button, saving the new application to your Desktop.

Quit Automator.

When you run the bkup_BraveSoftware_fldr.app application, a backup of the BraveSoftware folder at:

/Users/[username]/Library/Application Support/BraveSoftware

will appear at:

/Users/[username]/Documents/BraveSoftwareBKUPS/

A screenshot taken after 3 runs of the bkup_BraveSoftware_fldr.app application: