Recent Brave Android update breaks forward navigation for top toolbar users

Some Brave browser users on Android are running into an annoying problem after the latest app update. If you like having your address bar at the top of the screen, you may have noticed that you can no longer move forward between web pages.

The forward navigation arrow in the main three-dot menu has disappeared. Instead, the browser now shows a second back button. Since Android phones already have back gestures or navigation keys, having two ways to go back but no way to go forward is confusing.

We found a Reddit thread where several users discussed the issue. One user said the forward button was replaced with the back button for no clear reason and wondered if they had changed a setting by mistake.

Another user on the Brave Community forums said they now have to go through their browsing history just to get back to a page they left, which quickly becomes tedious.

We were also able to reproduce the issue easily. When you turn off the bottom toolbar in the appearance menu, the forward arrow in the pop-out menu is replaced by another back arrow. If you click a link and then tap back, you cannot move forward again using the menu.

Interestingly enough, the problem only seems to impact people who prefer having the toolbar up top. The moment you flip the setting back and keep the navigation bar at the bottom, the forward button shows up and behaves normally.

The root cause appears to trace back to recent build updates. According to discussion in the Brave GitHub repository, an earlier change intended to adjust button layouts accidentally wiped out the forward-arrow mapping on top-bar setups.

Luckily, Brave seems aware of the issue. A member of the Brave team acknowledged the bug report on GitHub, confirmed they could replicate the missing-button behavior, and assigned the issue to developers to fix.

There is no ETA for a fix just yet, but you can use the bottom toolbar or wait for the update to roll out.

If you really dislike the bottom toolbar, some users reported that edge swipe gestures still let them move forward, though your mileage may vary depending on your phone model. Otherwise, you will just have to sit tight until Brave pushes a corrective patch to the Play Store.

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