Shred site data is working ... sometimes

Browser Support Mobile Support
1

Description of the issue:

shred site data button not always available, even when site data are stored

How can this issue be reproduced?

  1. set “auto shred” to “on tabs closed”

  2. open a site (only one tab one site !)

  3. close that tab

  4. check and you will see the shred site data button is greyed out (because of auto shred)

  5. now check for site data in shields … and you will see there are data left

Expected result:

obvious from the above

Brave Version( check About Brave):

1.86

Mobile Device details

ios 18

Additional Information:

1 Like
2

@jstr2

Suggest that you edit MY ACTIONS in order to include another presence of the Shred Site Data button:

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image1170×2532 248 KB

Also, there is a Brave Browser (iOS) Site-Specific > Shred Site Data setting:

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image1170×2532 352 KB

Leads to:

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image1170×905 67.2 KB

Brave Browser (iOS) > Settings > Shields & Privacy:

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image1170×594 32.3 KB

Leads to:

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image1170×856 44 KB

Given all of those details, when I have only one tab and close that tab, then there are no tabs and no Brave Browser (iOS) Site-Specific settings (ie Brave’s colorful Lion icon ← clicking has nothing to offer, other than the icon is no longer active/colorful given no tabs) . . . and thus > no data therein, indicated.

Also at
Brave Browser (iOS) > Settings > Shields & Privacy:

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image1170×1519 35.5 KB

iPhone 14, iOS 18.7.1, Brave Browser v1.85 (116), Private Browsing Only, Global Brave Shields UP, Global Block Scripts ← Disabled

@Mattches

BUT, when NOT using Private Browsing Only, then:

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image1170×1517 66 KB

BUT, now given that I was for a moment, NOT using Private Browsing Only when adjusting a Shred setting . . . and returned to using Private Browsing Only - I now get:

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image1170×1308 57.9 KB

YET, if I click on the Remove All button at the bottom of that Manage Website Data window (not shown in screenshot), then the Website Data is permanently gone - for all future usage of Private Browsing Only.

Not to be crass but…
3

@Mattches and @kylehickinson I was just testing this and think I can replicate. I went to nhentai.net for this. I initially had it to shred when closing the app, but I switched it to Site Tabs Closed

Then I proceeded to close all tabs where it only went to my NTP. Going into History shows the visit to the site listed. Even closing Brave entirely and then reopening, it still was in History. Such as in the screenshot below, we should not see those Nhentai links.

IMG_0607
IMG_06071284×2778 402 KB

Interestingly enough, even after I switched it back to App Closed it’s not getting rid of those entries.

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IMG_06101284×925 76.7 KB

IMG_0609
IMG_06091284×2778 400 KB

Then I chose to manually shred now, but theft still didn’t work.

IMG_0611
IMG_0611995×1999 101 KB

IMG_0612
IMG_06121284×2778 400 KB

So I’m not quite sure what’s going on. I’ll have to toy with it here a bit more for a while, but definitely seems to be some sort of issue going on.

I tested on Brave 1.86 (144) on my iPhone 13 Pro Max, which is on iOS 26.2.1

4

Oh, and yeah, looking further, it didn’t shred the data yesterday or anything either, as it’s all showing in history. So it’s definitely broken.

I just opened a Github issue for it.

1 Like
5

Hey, thanks for the report I am taking a look.

When using Site Tabs Closed option for Auto Shred, did you wait 30+ seconds before checking if the data was removed? We have a 30s delay after the last tab for the site was closed before we shred the sites data. This is the to help against accidental tab closes.

2 Likes
6

@289wk I feel bad that I missed where you pointed out one of the changes. With the whole flood of screenshots it felt like you were just walking through how a person needs to set it up, so easy to want to skip as thinking it’s saying what’s already known.

Anyway, I see where @StephenHeaps mentioned on the Github the same.

@jstr2 go into Brave’s settings → shields & privacy → shred. While there, they added a new toggle that says Shred Removes History. Make sure that is enabled, otherwise it keeps history of the site. You can leave the global setting to Never for the Auto Shred part, but you need that toggle on if you want to shred history for the sites you do shred.

1 Like
7

@Saoiray

You are OK. One year ago:

‘Auto Shred: Don’t delete browsing history. Feedback/Feature Request’

The Brave documentation page:

Delete site data instantly with the new Shred button on Brave iOS browser
'https://brave.com/privacy-updates/30-shred-button/

does not have:

“We have a 30s delay after the last tab for the site was closed before we shred the sites data.”

1 Like