Recurring relaunch/update failure may leave ordinary Brave users on older builds unnoticed

Brave Browser Desktop Support
, ,
1

Description of the issue:
How can this issue be reproduced?

**Expected result:

Description of the issue:**

Older posts suggest this may not be a new pattern, but it needs current high-level attention because most users will never investigate forum history, verify version numbers, or manually confirm whether an update actually completed. If the relaunch flow can fail silently, that creates a broad risk that non-technical users may remain on older builds without realizing it.

I only discovered this after being mildly frustrated by the frequent appearance of the Relaunch button over multiple weeks. That frustration then changed to concern for Brave and Brave users who may be exposed to potentially serious risks.

Brave showed “Nearly up to date! Relaunch Brave to finish updating” and I used the built-in Relaunch button. The browser still showed the old version afterward:

Brave 1.92.139 (Official Build) (arm64)
Chromium: 150.0.7871.114

Only after fully quitting Brave manually did it update to:

Brave 1.92.141 (Official Build) (arm64)
Chromium: 150.0.7871.128

This suggests the relaunch flow may not actually complete the update, which could leave users unknowingly on older builds.

How can this issue be reproduced?
Use Brave’s built-in Relaunch update prompt, then check About Brave. In my case, the version did not change until I fully quit the app.

Expected result:
Relaunch should complete the update immediately.

Brave Version (check About Brave):
Brave 1.92.141 (Official Build) (arm64)

Additional Information:
2021 M1 iMac running macOS Tahoe 26.5.2

I only discovered this after being mildly frustrated by the frequent appearance of the Relaunch button over multiple weeks. That frustration then changed to concern for Brave and Brave users who may be exposed to potentially serious risks.

Brave showed “Nearly up to date! Relaunch Brave to finish updating” and I used the built-in Relaunch button. The browser still showed the old version afterward:

Brave 1.92.139 (Official Build) (arm64)
Chromium: 150.0.7871.114

Only after fully quitting Brave manually did it update to:

Brave 1.92.141 (Official Build) (arm64)
Chromium: 150.0.7871.128

This suggests the relaunch flow may not actually complete the update, which could leave users unknowingly on older builds.

How can this issue be reproduced?
Use Brave’s built-in Relaunch update prompt, then check About Brave. In my case, the version did not change until I fully quit the app.

Expected result:
Relaunch should complete the update immediately.

Brave Version( check About Brave): Brave 1.92.141 (Official Build) (arm64)

Additional Information: 2021 M1 iMac running macOS Tahoe 26.5.2

2

Are you saying that this happens consistently for you? I just applied the new update on my end using the Relaunch button (also on macOS Tahoe 26.5.2) and it worked as expected.

3

Hi, Thank you for your review and follow up question. I discovered this after multiple days of clicking the ReLaunch button over more than one week. I was then thinking Brave must be discovering a lot of issues if they are updating so frequently. However on further investigation is when I discovered that the Relaunch button was having no effect. Tried a couple times, and restarted computer, however the issue still was the same. Clicking reLaunch had no effect until I manually closed entirely out of Brave.

Hence my post, because if someone clicks “Relaunch” and the browser closes and then reopens… the default expectation is that the Relaunch successfully accomplished its purpose… and you are now using the newer version.

4

Yes, and that is the behavior I’m seeing. I tested on macOS and Linux with the latest update and both worked without issue.

When the next update releases, please try the Relaunch button again and if the same issue still persists, please reply here and we can troubleshoot further.