Brave now Offers Enhanced Customization with new Sidebar and Custom Tab Backgrounds

New features also include more swap options in Brave Wallet, and Unlinkable Bouncing for better privacy

The Brave browser fundamentally shifts how users interact online, combining privacy-by-default with Web3 integration and a native crypto wallet.

Today’s desktop browser update (v1.37) carries that mission forward, offering several new features to make the browsing experience more customizable and private, and to bring more crypto swap options to Brave Wallet.

All of these new features are just a click away. Desktop users can click the ☰ menu, then click About Brave to get the updates.

New Sidebar for Customized Browsing

The new Brave Sidebar gives users a more efficient way to customize their browsing experience, all from a single, convenient panel in the browser window.

With Sidebar, users can: 

• Manage their bookmarks with a new bookmarks panel 
• Add shortcuts to their favorite Websites
• Quickly access Brave Talk, our privacy-preserving video conferencing product, and Brave Wallet, our integrated crypto wallet

To enable sidebar on desktop, open the Brave browser, click the “≡” menu, then click Show sidebar.

Custom Backgrounds for New Tab Pages

Brave users can now further customize their browser experience by adding custom backgrounds on the new tab page, which currently includes a rotation of nature and monument images from various photographers. To do so, users simply select “Customize” from the new tab page and upload a favorite photo from their computer.

To add a custom background, open a new tab in the Brave browser and click Customize to upload a favorite photo.

More Swap Options in Brave Wallet

Ethereum network fees are consistently high. To give users more options, with today’s 1.37 release, Brave Wallet users can now execute multi-chain swaps, with access to more EVM compatible chains with much lower network fees. Wallet users can add and manage multiple networks, unlocking more ways to swap.

In addition to the Ethereum mainnet, the Brave Wallet now supports the following networks: 

• Polygon
• Binance Smart Chain
• Celo
• Optimism
• Avalanche
• Fantom

To enable new chains in Brave Wallet, you can add custom EVM networks through Wallet Settings, or visit an EVM chainlist service. Once the new networks are added, you’ll see them in the Network selector on the Swap tab.

Unlinkable Bouncing for Better Privacy

Brave’s industry-leading Unlinkable Bouncing technology is now available in the browser, giving Brave users even more protection against bounce tracking. This new, powerful feature protects privacy by noticing when a user is about to visit a privacy harming Web site, and instead routes that visit through a new, temporary browser storage. Each visit appears as a unique, first-time visit, thus anonymizing the user’s digital fingerprint. Unlinkable Bouncing is the first application of our first-party ephemeral storage plans, and part of our ongoing efforts to bring about a shift in the Web toward privacy by default.

Coming Soon to the Brave iOS App

We’re looking forward to our upcoming Brave iOS app (v1.37), which will debut the highly requested password sync with desktop and Android, as well as Night Mode, which reduces eye strain by setting Web pages to automatically load with a darkened background.