Brave Browser v1.91: Zcash Upgrade, Chromium 149, and Privacy Tool Updates June 2026

Brave Browser v1.91: Privacy Tool Updates June 2026 Brave released v1.91.175 on June 17, 2026, bringing Chromium 149.0.7827, a Zcash library upgrade to version 0.14, and removing the Survey Panelist setting from the privacy controls. The release continues Brave's pattern of shipping privacy improvements on a rapid Chromium cadence. Chromium 149.0.7827 Brave's Chromium base updated to version 149.0.7827 (desktop) and 149.0.7827.103 (the earlier 103 patch release, also included). This brings the security fixes and performance improvements from the Chromium project without Chrome's telemetry and tracking integration. Brave's value proposition remains: Chromium performance with Chromium security patches, but without Google's data collection. Zcash Library Upgrade to 0.14 Brave has supported Zcash (ZEC) natively since 2020, letting users fund Brave Rewards without revealing transaction amounts. The Zcash library upgrade to version 0.14 brings improved Sapling circuit implementation and reduced proving times for shielded transactions. For users who care about financial privacy, this matters: Zcash's shielded transactions hide sender, recipient, and amount on the blockchain. The 0.14 upgrade makes those transactions faster to generate. Survey Panelist Setting Removed The "Survey Panelist" setting has been removed from . This setting controlled whether Brave would occasionally prompt users to participate in telemetry studies. Its removal is part of a broader simplification of Brave's privacy settings—fewer toggles, more sensible defaults. The P3A (Probabilistic Privacy-Preserving Analytics) and usage ping settings under also received a bug fix: they were incorrectly displaying on first launch on Linux, which has been corrected. Brave's Privacy Posture in 2026 Independent analysis of browser privacy features in 2026 rates Brave as having the strongest anti-tracking defaults out of the box. Key Brave features: Shields: Blocks ads and trackers by default, with configurable blocking levels Fingerprint randomization: Canvas and WebGL hashes are randomized per session per origin, breaking fingerprinting attempts Link decoration stripping: Removes tracking query parameters from URLs HTTPS upgrading: Forces HTTPS connections where available Storage partitioning: Prevents cross-site storage access Brave Leo: On-device AI assistant that does not log queries The Brave business model—Brave Ads and BAT token—introduces its own incentive structure. Some privacy researchers watch it cautiously. For most users, however, Brave remains the strongest default privacy browser for daily use. Auto Extension Updates Brave v1.91 also enables automatic extension updates by default, ensuring browser extensions stay patched without manual user intervention. This closes a security gap where outdated extensions could be exploited. For users evaluating privacy browsers in 2026, Brave continues to offer the most aggressive out-of-box protections without requiring configuration.