**Brave Version - 1.69.2 (172)
**Mobile Device details - iPad Pro OS 18.0.1
Hello, I am currently trying to understand or figure out why Brave is consuming so much cellular data?
I have renewed my data plan cleared all my cache, cleared browser history and reset my cellular monitor statistics.
I decided then to visit the same exact webpage using two different browsers (Safari and Brave) then I checked to do a comparison of the two. The test consisted of opening the webpage without clicking anything and simply closing the webpage and then closing the Brave browser and reopening the same webpage in Safari.
I manually typed in the address for the page into both browsers not using any bookmarks and both browsers having their cache cleared.
@theLost I’m going to tag in @Mattches just in hopes he can follow up in case there’s some questions he can ask or info to share.
That said, do keep in mind that there are some things you could have happening depending on your settings:
Brave Rewards: This is what will show ad notifications or the background images on your page when you open a new tab. This uses the internet to fetch info and update itself.
Brave News: If you have this on, it will ping to check for updates for RSS feeds
Brave Shields: This will regularly check for updates to content filters to keep your adblocking working at its best.
Sync: If you have this enabled, it will be pinging to check for updates or to send your synced data for it to be used by your other devices
And a couple others I have deleted, Arc I believe it was and Firefox Focus something or other.
Brave takes the cake… I mean it is sucking down data like no tomorrow, and comparing it with Chrome and Edge at their default untweaked install settings.
Chrome and Edge are using more data than Safari but nowhere near the amount as Brave.
I also have to wait a moment for Brave to hide the same ads when I revisit websites too so maybe that has something to do with it? Safari doesn’t do that, it sees the ad once, hides it then if I revisit the webpage the ad isn’t there anymore.
Additionally both browsers Safari / Brave I performed the same basic tests after clearing both browsers stored website data and before I cleared the saved data.
I have tried both requesting Desktop site and Mobile site, side by side and visiting same basic webpages
In the one snapshot above both browsers were using “Desktop site” mode and while still having stored website data in cache.
There’s only one logical conclusion really… the newly added VPN feature (which I do not use) traffic is obviously being funneled through even non subscribers browser (like TOR would do)
So just to start, this is literally not possible — the access to the VPN works by fetching and checking credentials that allow subscribers to use the VPN service. If you have not signed up for the service you will not be assigned any creds., therefore none will be found and the service will never even start.
That said, this is a strange issue — if anything I would think Brave would be consuming less data as it blocks ads/trackers (among other things) on websites which themselves will take time and consume data when loading a webpage.
Let me check a few things with some folks on the team who know more than me about what else might cause the increased data consumption, as well as the way that consumption is calculated on most mobile devices (which may be relevant here as well).
@theLost,
One thing to consider with this is that Brave does require/use a bit more data on launch, since it has to download a number of things related to Shields (ad block) on demand, in addition to downloading things like NTP background images and adblock components.
I would be interested to see the data usage compares to Safari/other browsers after first launch. So the test would be to launch Brave and let the NTP load, then launch Safari. Then, check and note the data usage for each browser. After that, return to Brave, visit a website and let it load entirely, then do the same thing with the same site in Safari. Then compare the data usage again.
At this point Brave should have comparable usage to Safari. Let me know what the results are.
Lastly, on the note of
This would be extremely high even considering what was mentioned above, unless you’re talking about streaming HQ video content and/or playing online games in-browser (of note, it should still be comparable to other browsers under the same circumstances).
