What is Indigo Browser & Setting UP Proxy in Brave Browser (Two Ways!)

Are you looking for a step-by-step guide on how to set up a proxy in the Brave Browser? Then you are on the right page as the article below highlights the steps to get that done for Windows and macOS.

Setting UP Proxy in Brave Browser

The Brave Browser is one of the Chromium-based browsers. While it shares many similarities with Chrome, and you can use the same extensions, and even move accounts and cookies between the two, the Brave Browser has one thing it does better — it offers you an additional layer of security, preventing trackers, and keeping you private.

It is one of the browsers that blocks ads by default, prevents page-harming elements, and even sets cookie lifespan to only 7 days.

Brave Browser

However, you need an additional security measure to remain truly private as Brave still reveals your IP address. With a proxy server, VPN, or TOR, you should be able to hide your real IP address too. In this guide, the focus will be on configuring proxies to mask your IP while using Brave to surf the Internet.


How to Configure Proxies in Brave Browser

It is important you know that there is no Brave-specific proxy setting — it uses the default system proxy setting. Aside from using the default proxy setting, you can also use a browser extension such as Proxy SwitchyOmega. I will describe the steps on how to use both methods to set up proxies for the Brave Browser.


Default System Proxy Setting Method

Below are the steps you should take to configure a proxy for Brave using the default proxy configuration method.

Step 1: Launch the Brave Browser application, at the top right corner, is a button with 3 horizontal bars. This serves as the button to customize and control the Brave Browser.

control the Brave Browser

Step 2: Click on the button with 3 horizontal bars, scroll down to the Settings option, and click it.

Step 3: When the Setting interface opens, you will see a list of setting groups on the left-hand side of the page.

list of setting groups

Step 4: Click on the System option and the ‘Open your computer's proxy settings’ link. — this will take you to the default proxy configuration of your computer. The step from here on depends on your Operating System (OS).


For Windows Users

The method is quite simple for Windows users.

Step 1: When the Proxy configuration page opens, scroll down to the Manual Proxy Setup heading.

Step 2: Toggle the ‘Use a proxy server’ button.

Windows Manual Proxy Setup

Step 3: In the address input field, enter the IP address of the proxy. For some proxy providers, the address is not in the form of an IP address but as a domain name — this is done mostly by residential and mobile proxy providers.

enter the port of the proxy

Step 4: In the port input field, enter the port of the proxy.

Step 5: If you have any URL you don’t want to access via the proxy, enter that in the next input field.

Step 6: Click on the Save button and go back to your browser.


For macOS Users

macOS users can follow the steps below. It is also easier but involves more clicks.

Step 1: When the setting page opens, you will notice multiple tabs but you will have the Proxy configuration tab in focus.

Step 2: In the list of protocols, choose the protocol of your proxy. For most, you have the option of Web Proxy (HTTP), Secure Web Proxy (HTTPS), and SOCKS Proxy. In this guide, I choose the web Proxy (HTTP) option.

Enter the proxy address

Step 3: Enter the proxy address which is either in the form of an IP address or domain name in the Web Proxy Server input field.

Step 4: In the port input field, enter the port of the proxy.

Step 5: Leave the authentication setup as in most cases, providing the username and password in this section is useless since you will still be prompted to provide them when you try using the proxy in the browser.

Step 6: If you have domains you want to bypass, enter them in the large text input field provided.

Step 7: Click on the OK button and then on the Apply button to save the configuration.


For Both Windows and macOS Users

Now that you have successfully configured the default proxy setting, it is time to try it out. Try accessing any URL with the browser and you will be prompted to enter the username and password for authentication of the proxy. This step is optional as proxies authenticated via IP authentication or whitelisting wouldn’t even see this. Same for free proxies that do not require any form of authentication.

If you enter the correct username and password and you are authorized to use the proxy, that web page you try to access will open. To test whether the proxy works and its hides your IP address, visit an IP lookup tool such as www.ipinfo.io and see the. The IP address is displayed as your IP address. If you can still see your real IP address, then something is wrong with the configuration or the proxy is not an anonymous proxy. If the IP address is that of the proxy, then the setup is complete.


Using the Proxy SwitchyOmega Method

While the above works, I prefer to use a browser extension such as Proxy SwitchyOmega. This makes the setting specific to only the Brave Browser, allowing me to add more proxies at once and set more custom rules. Below are the steps to set up proxies in Brave using the Proxy SwitchyOmega.

Proxy SwitchyOmega

Step 1: Install the Proxy SwitchyOmega browser extension from the Chrome store using this link.

Step 2: When it first installs, you will be taken to a page where you need to enable it.

Step 3: Close to the button with 3 horizontal bars, you will see the extension icon.

Step 4: Click on the extension icon to see the list of extensions — Proxy SwitchyOmega will appear there.

Step 5: Click on Proxy SwitchyOmega and choose the setting ‘Option’ from the list provided and this will take you to the settings page.

Step 6: Under the Profile lift, click on Proxy and the settings page will open.

Choose the protocol of the proxy

Step 7: Choose the protocol of the proxy, enter the proxy address, and port.

Step 8: For username and password for authentication, click on the lock icon after the port field and enter the username and password you got from your proxy provider for authentication.

Click on the Apply Changes button

Step 9: Under Profiles are the Action headers (both available on the left-hand side of the page). Click on the Apply Changes button and the details will be changed.

Step 10: If you want to add more proxies, you can click on New Profile to do that.

Step 11: To use a proxy, go back to the extension icon, click it, click on Proxy SwitchyOmega, and select the proxy you want to use.

Step 12: Enter and go to www.ipinfo.io to check if the proxy works and your IP address is hidden before accessing your actual target site.


Conclusion

If you follow any of the methods above and successfully configure proxies for Brave, you will have now made Brave a lot better at protecting your privacy. With the proxy configured, you can now unlock websites, access geo-targeted content, and even just surf the Internet privately.

It is important you know that for a truly anonymous browser, you will need to ditch Brave and pick a full-fledged anti-detect browser that offers you working anti-fingerprinting technology. With that, you get multiple browser profiles and manage multiple accounts without getting detected.

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