Debloat Brave Browser on macOS — The Right Way

A developer published a guide to debloat Brave Browser on macOS by disabling unwanted features like Brave Wallet, Leo AI, Brave Rewards, and Brave VPN using macOS policy files. The method uses `defaults write` commands for user-level settings or a managed preferences plist for system-level persistence that survives updates. The guide includes verification steps via `brave://policy` and instructions for reverting changes.

Remove Brave Wallet, Leo AI, Brave Rewards, Brave VPN, and more — cleanly and permanently. Brave Browser ships with cryptocurrency, AI, VPN, and other features that many users don't need. This guide disables them properly using macOS policy files so they stay gone — even after browser updates. Two methods: | Method | Persistence | Complexity | |---|---|---| 1. User-Level | Lost on profile reset | Simple | 2. Managed Preferences | Survives updates | Recommended | Close Brave completely before applying any changes. Open Terminal and run: Disable Leo AI defaults write com.brave.Browser BraveAIChatEnabled -bool false defaults write com.brave.Browser BraveLeoEnabled -bool false defaults write com.brave.Browser BraveChatEnabled -bool false defaults write com.brave.Browser BraveAIEnabled -bool false Disable Brave Wallet defaults write com.brave.Browser BraveWalletDisabled -bool true defaults write com.brave.Browser CryptoWalletEnabled -bool false Disable Brave Rewards defaults write com.brave.Browser BraveRewardsDisabled -bool true Disable Brave VPN defaults write com.brave.Browser BraveVPNDisabled -bool true Reopen Brave and verify. This creates a system-level policy file that Brave reads on every launch. It takes precedence over user settings and survives reinstalls. sudo tee "/Library/Managed Preferences/com.brave.Browser.plist" /dev/null << 'EOF' <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"? < DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd" <plist version="1.0" <dict <key BraveAIChatEnabled</key <false/ <key BraveRewardsDisabled</key <true/ <key BraveVPNDisabled</key <true/ <key BraveWalletDisabled</key <true/ <key BraveLeoEnabled</key <false/ <key BraveChatEnabled</key <false/ <key BraveAIEnabled</key <false/ <key CryptoWalletEnabled</key <false/ </dict </plist EOF sudo chmod 644 "/Library/Managed Preferences/com.brave.Browser.plist" plutil -lint "/Library/Managed Preferences/com.brave.Browser.plist" You must see: /Library/Managed Preferences/com.brave.Browser.plist: OK If you see an error, the XML is malformed — check for stray characters. killall "Brave Browser" 2 /dev/null; open -a "Brave Browser" Open brave://policy in the address bar. Every key you set should appear with status Active and the correct value. If a key is missing, Brave did not read it — recheck the plist syntax. Add these inside <dict to remove even more: <key BraveNewsDisabled</key <true/ <key BraveTalkDisabled</key <true/ <key SyncDisabled</key <true/ <key TorDisabled</key <true/ <key IncognitoModeAvailability</key <integer 1</integer <key BraveP3AEnabled</key <false/ <key BraveStatsPingEnabled</key <false/ <key BraveWebDiscoveryEnabled</key <false/ .plist files are XML. Two rules to avoid breaking them: No XML comments use comments. < -- like this -- . No trailing text after a closing tag. If the file is invalid, Brave ignores it silently — no warnings, no errors. Always run plutil -lint to confirm. defaults delete com.brave.Browser BraveAIChatEnabled defaults delete com.brave.Browser BraveLeoEnabled defaults delete com.brave.Browser BraveChatEnabled defaults delete com.brave.Browser BraveAIEnabled defaults delete com.brave.Browser BraveWalletDisabled defaults delete com.brave.Browser CryptoWalletEnabled defaults delete com.brave.Browser BraveRewardsDisabled defaults delete com.brave.Browser BraveVPNDisabled sudo rm "/Library/Managed Preferences/com.brave.Browser.plist" Restart Brave after reverting. Based on hi-one/Debloat-Brave-Browser-MacOS.md https://github.com/hi-one/hi-one/blob/main/Debloat-Brave-Browser-MacOS.md with XML syntax corrections and expanded verification. Credit to the original author for the groundwork. This guide is unofficial. Use at your own risk.