Both Brave and Vivaldi have just pushed out small maintenance updates on desktop to patch up security flaws and squash a few lingering bugs. These updates add no major new features or noticeable UI changes, since Brave rolled out version 1.97 last week with Mac crash fixes and private screenshot protections.

Vivaldi, on the other hand, had its big release in September with version 8.2, which added an address bar calculator and one-click web app installs. Since then, the team has rolled out smaller updates to iron out the bugs and issues that cropped up.

That said, Brave’s new update is out as version 1.97.57 and mainly steps in to fix an annoying bug for people who rely on Private Windows with Tor, where the browser would sometimes just fail to connect to the Tor network at all.

brave-browser-tor-connecting

The update also quietly removes the sync toggle for “Payment methods and other info from Brave Wallet” in your settings, which applies to the streamlined Brave Origin build too, while bumping the underlying Chromium 155 engine to patch the latest security vulnerabilities.

Vivaldi is also picking up the exact same Chromium 155.0.8059.80 base with security fixes. The update also fixes a frustrating bug on Linux where browser themes were stubbornly ignoring the system’s light or dark color scheme.

Because Vivaldi stays on an older Extended Stable Chromium base and only cherry-picks security fixes, it still lacks default support for the newer JPEG XL image format that Brave 1.97 enabled out of the box a few days ago.

When a user brought this up in the release comments, Vivaldi team member Ruarí Ødegaard noted that “we follow ESR, not the regular stable” and confirmed they “will be moving to the next ESR (Chromium 156) with the Vivaldi 8.3 release, which will also have this code enabled by default.”

vivaldi-jpeg-xl-format-coming

 
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PiunikaWeb’s Take

It is easy to ignore minor point releases when the changelog is barely two lines long, especially if you do not use Linux or Tor. Still, when two rival browsers push updates on the same day pulling from the same upstream Chromium patch, it usually means Google plugged some nasty security holes you should not leave unpatched.

Watching how both browsers handle these updates also highlights the trade-off with Vivaldi’s slower engine cycle, giving you rock-solid stability at the cost of waiting longer for perks like JPEG XL. Thankfully, as Ødegaard noted, “the code has been there all this time” and impatient users can just head into Vivaldi’s flags menu right now to turn on enable-jxl-image-format manually.

Both updates are already live and will install the next time you restart your browser, or you can grab them manually from the About menu.

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Dwayne Cubbins
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I cover fast-moving stories across apps, online platforms, and everyday tech — phones, wearables, consoles, and whatever else people are fighting with this week. Bugs, rollouts, scams, policy enforcement, and the occasional internet-culture rabbit hole are all fair game. My goal is simple — make confusing tech news readable. When I'm not working, I'm working out or chilling with my dog. Got a tip? You can find me on X @dcubbins.