The number of apps getting native support for Macs powered by Apple’s M1 chip is slowly building up. The latest one to join the list is Brave browser, which now has separate builds targeting macOS running on Intel and ARM-based M1 machines. Now that the privacy-focused browser runs natively on the M1 Macs, you can expect a visible improvement in performance.

When you go to the download page on the official Brave browser website, you’ll now see a new macOS ARM64 option. This is the version that has been tailored to run natively on the M1 Macs. So far, these machines have been running the x86-based version that used the Rosetta 2 emulation technology. Apple recently highlighted a selection of apps that run natively on M1 Macs, leveraging the full power offered by the company’s in-house silicon ticking inside the new wave of Mac hardware. 

https://twitter.com/brave/status/1344399642109255680?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

In case you’re unfamiliar, Brave browser is a privacy-focused alternative to the likes of Chrome, Edge, Safari, and Mozilla Firefox. It is well-known for blocking ads and website trackers, and is also quite zippy as well. In case you’re thinking about making the switch, you’ll be glad to know that Brave offers a seamless transfer of your browsing data such as bookmarks, favorites, browsing history, passwords and cookies. And since it is based on the Chromium engine, you can transfer all your Chrome extensions without worrying about compatibility and performance issues. 

However, if you’re wondering about the big three of the browsing world – Chrome, Edge, and Mozilla – here’s some update. Google released an optimized version of Chrome that runs natively on M1 Macs back in November. Mozilla also rolled out a native version (v84.0) of its Firefox browser for the Macs powered by Apple’s in-house silicon. As for Microsoft’s Edge browser, native M1 Mac support is still in the testing phase and is limited to the experimental Canary channel as of now.