I wanted to make this post, because I’m finding that the Brave’s Cookies exception settings are very confusing. Since there isn’t a single source to guide you (because Brave has changed multiple times the way to configure exceptions), I made this guide in order to clear things up a bit.
The below guide only works on Desktop, because the option “Delete data sites have saved to your device when you close all windows” is not present on the mobile app, and there’s only a toggle to enable or disable data storage on-device.
Guide
So, in order to clear everything (history, cookies, downloads, etc.) when Brave is closed, without deleting specified Cookies, the following settings can be configured:
Shields:
- Forget me when I close this site: Off
Privacy and Security > Delete browsing data > On exit:
- Cookies and other site data: Off
- Site and Shield Settings: Off
- Everything Else: On
Privacy and Security > Site and Shields Settings > Additional content settings (It’s a closed panel before the last option!) > On-device site data:
- Delete data sites have saved to your device when you close all windows: Selected
- Allowed to save data on your device: Add
- Then insert specified URI for Cookies’ Exception (can include wildcard with
[*.])
Examples of URIs:
https://brave.comhttps://[*.]brave.com
Tip:
You can bookmark the page “On-device site data” (brave://settings/content/siteData) to make the addition of site exceptions easier.
Explanation
The above guide deletes cookies only after all tabs have been closed!
This behavior is different from Brave’s “Forgetful Browsing” which deletes Cookies related to a specified site, when there are no tabs open with the site in question. With Forgetful Browsing, Cookies are cleared more often (than only clearing Cookies when the browser is closed) making sites more difficult to track you (in theory) in a single session.
A good visual representation I found on the forum of Privacy Guides is shown below:
Source
Hope this helps, and let me know if anything changes with the Brave’s updates in order to keep the guide relevant!