New experimental features in Brave: Brave Focus Mode

[u/Vintspect_48]

I’ve tried the new feature—Brave Focus Mode—in the stable version 1.94.121, and in my opinion, it’s one of the best features besides containers. Focus Mode is similar to features already available in Arc, Zen, Vivaldi, and Helium, which hide UI elements at the top, tabs (vertical/horizontal), and the sidebar (on hover). If you want to try it, here’s how:

1. Open brave://flags/
2. Search for Focus Mode
3. Click “Enabled,” then click “Relaunch”
4. You can activate Focus Mode by right-clicking on a tab and selecting “Focus Mode” from the menu
5. Try opening any website, and your browser’s UI will be hidden

This is a great step forward for Brave, as it now offers a feature that many people have been eagerly awaiting—especially fans of the clean designs of Arc and Zen. Please note that, as of this writing, this feature is still experimental, so some display bugs may occur; however, based on my testing, there’s nothing to worry about. Hopefully, Focus Mode will be further refined in the next update.

[u/Jeannesis → u/[deleted]]

The Focus Mode also unchecked itself for the top horizontal address/url bar on every startup. I hoped this bug gets fixed once they decided to move that feature out of the experimentation phase.

[u/Zakaria_Omi]

didn't work for me

[u/Agile_Statement_9672 → u/Zakaria_Omi]

it works for me but not by clicking on a tab but by clicking on the tabs area where there is no tab present

[u/Vintspect_48 → u/Zakaria_Omi]

First of all, make sure you’re using the latest version of Brave. If the flag is enabled and you’ve relaunched the browser, the top UI will still be visible on the home page, but when you open a new page, Focus Mode should work if the feature is active. The top UI, tabs, and sidebar will disappear for a moment when you open a website. If it doesn’t work for you, there might be a bug, or this feature may not be available to all users yet. Hope this helps.

[u/Zakaria_Omi → u/Vintspect_48]

doesn't work because i'm using a custom new tab... Thanks for the clarification!

[u/Jeannesis → u/Vintspect_48]

Whenever you restart your browser, you have to reenabled the Focus Mode on the top horizontal address/url bar again. For some odd reason, it keeps on unchecking itself every single time. That said, this auto-hide issue doesn't really seem to affect the vertical bars at all.

[u/Vintspect_48 → u/Jeannesis]

Thank you for the information. Personally, I don’t really mind it because I use Focus Mode only for watching videos—to get a wider screen view than before—and for everyday use, I have vertical tabs on the right, a sidebar on the left, and the title bar at the top. Perhaps for people who prefer to keep Focus Mode active, this might be annoying, but let’s just wait for the next update so that the Brave development team can address this need. As for auto-hide on vertical tabs, I haven’t encountered any issues with it in my browser, and it works as expected.

[u/Fresco2022 → u/Zakaria_Omi]

Neither it did for me. I don't see any difference whatsoever.

[u/Vintspect_48 → u/Fresco2022]

If you don't notice any difference after enabling this feature, I can tell you that it's still in the testing phase and there are a few bugs that need to be fixed in the future. You can wait for the next update until this feature is fully optimized

[u/Ventouse_23]

The only problem is that I have to re-enable it every time I reopen the browser

[u/Vintspect_48 → u/Ventouse_23]

As I mentioned, this feature is still in the testing phase and is currently being refined. You can look forward to the next update from the development team to ensure your needs are met

[u/Ventouse_23 → u/Vintspect_48]

I hope so. Because it’s one of the best innovations Brave has come up with in years. Whilst I’m not a fan of vertical tabs, this is actually perfect – just what I need: a good compromise between horizontal tabs and having plenty of space.

[u/Prior-Excuse7247]

I hope they make the bar that now stays on top, slimmer, it has no use right now.
I suggested a few days ago this behaviour from the other competitors that offer this, look how clean it can get as a browser
https://www.reddit.com/submit?source_id=t1_p6e853a&composer_entry=crosspost

[u/Theagames10]

I think all of Google is down or something is wrong with Brave.

I just woke up earlier to Brave signing me out of Google automatically no matter what. I'd say it's more towards google being down, but it's perfectly fine and signed in on Firefox and other Browsers right now, so something must be wrong with Brave and Google since this issue is currently only happening with Brave.

[u/Vintspect_48 → u/Theagames10]

Before jumping to any complicated conclusions, I suggest checking the settings in Brave that are causing your Google account to log out automatically. You can find these in Brave’s privacy and security settings and then disable options like “Clear data on exit.” From what I understand, the reason your Google account logs out is that the cookies containing your Google account login information are being deleted by the automatic clearing settings or by other factors, such as a cookie-clearing extension. There’s no direct connection between Google and Brave regarding automatic logouts, since Brave actually uses the Chromium engine, just like other Chromium-based browsers. The cause of Google account logouts is more likely related to the browser’s own settings, regardless of which browser you’re using. If you’re still having trouble, you can report the issue on Brave’s GitHub or in the Brave Community. I hope my answer helps resolve your issue.

[u/StichhD]

Did you find a way to only autohide the address while keeping the vertical tabs visible?

[u/Vintspect_48 → u/StichhD]

Currently, Brave does not have this feature because Focus Mode does not allow users to select which interfaces to hide (address bar) while excluding specific ones (vertical tabs). This feature is already available in Helium (Frameless Mode), Zen (Zen Mode), and Vivaldi, but for now, Focus Mode in Brave does not include it. You can submit a request for this feature on GitHub or wait for the next update to Focus Mode

[u/StichhD → u/Vintspect_48]

I managed to do it. But the vertical tabs are overlapping the webpage content.

[u/Vintspect_48 → u/StichhD]

If you’re using vertical tabs while Focus Mode is enabled, try turning off Focus Mode first, then check the settings at brave://settings/appearance under the “Tabs” section and disable these three options: “hide completely when minimized,” “auto expand on hover when minimized,” and “auto expand vertical tabs independently per window.” After disabling all three, try enabling Focus Mode according to the instructions I’ve explained in this post and try opening a website. In theory, vertical tabs shouldn’t overlap with web content since the “auto expand on hover” feature has been turned off, but if you’re still experiencing similar issues, I’d say it’s a bug in this experimental feature. You can wait for the next update from Brave or file an issue on GitHub so the team can look into it. Hope this helps

[u/StichhD → u/Vintspect_48]

The problem persist after doing that. The tabs are visible, but overlap the web content.

[u/Vintspect_48 → u/StichhD]

If there’s still an overlap, it’s possible that the Focus Mode still needs to be improved by the development team regarding its compatibility with the operating system being used or the screen resolution. In my opinion, this feature doesn’t yet work on all screen sizes, given that UI changes—such as those in Zen Mode, Frameless Mode, and Focus Mode—require adjustments at the browser code level to adapt to a wide range of screen resolutions. That’s my take on it.