Brave for Android is now blocking annoying "use our app" prompts on websites

[harlan4096]

When you open certain websites on mobile devices, you may get prompts to install the site's app to display the content in the app. While that may be useful at times, it is often an attempt at increasing user numbers, tracking capabilities and advertising. Apps, unlike browsers, may not include options to limit tracking or advertisement, and most users on mobile do not know about system-wide options to limit tracking or advertisement.

A recent Brave Browser for Android update eliminates the annoying open in app prompts of many popular websites. Brave 1.50 for Android, which is available already, is using a new filter lists to do so. The browser includes content blocking capabilities and supports filter lists, which users may enable or disable manually as well.

Announced back in February 2023, Brave users on Android will no longer get prompts on many popular sites, when they use a mobile browser to access the content. Some sites display these prompts on every page load, others limit it.



Brave for Android suppresses the prompts on many sites automatically. The feature landed in Brave 1.50 for Android, and users may want to make sure that they run this version or a higher one.

To check, if the feature is enabled, do the following:

1. Select Menu > Settings in Brave Browser for Android.
   
2. Activate Brave Shields & privacy on the page that opens.
   
3. Scroll down until you find Block 'Switch to App' notices.
   

You may turn the setting on or off right then and there. The change takes effect immediately. You do find Brave's other recent addition, the blocking of cookie consent notices, there as well.

Tip: load brave://adblock on desktop or mobile to add more filter lists that Brave supports to the content blocker. There, you find Fanboy's Mobile Notifications List, which powers the blocking functionality in Brave. The page lists several dozen other lists, which users may enable.

Closing Words

Open in App prompts can be highly annoying, especially for users who follow a link just to access a single page of content on the target website. Using a browser may improve privacy and reduce the number of displayed ads at the same time. Browsers do give users more control over their data, as they may delete browsing data at any time, regardless of visited sites.

Now You: what is your take on these open in app prompts?
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