Search widget does not initially populate suggestions/top sites #40610

Brave-Matt · 2024-08-22T17:23:19Z

Description

Users have noticed that tapping inside the search widget on their Android device does not initially display any search suggestions or top sites when you start typing. Once you tap away from the widget (or hit the home button, etc) and then come back to it, it will start displaying suggestions normally.

First time tapping into the widget:

Second time tapping in:

Steps to reproduce

Have search widget on Android
Tap into search widget
Tap away, then return to search widget

Actual result

Suggestions don't appear

Expected result

Suggestions and top sites should appear

Reproduces how often

Easily reproduced

Brave version

v1.68.134

Device

Brand/model: Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
Android version: 14

Channel information

release (stable)
beta
nightly

Reproducibility

with Brave Shields disabled
with Brave Rewards disabled
in the latest version of Chrome

Miscellaneous information

User reports:
https://community.brave.com/t/problem-with-search-widget/561111

scmanjarrez · 2024-09-06T07:15:19Z

I'm experiencing the same behavior latest brave version, android 13

TIT8 · 2024-09-08T17:27:13Z

Me too, android 14

InkyPi · 2024-09-19T00:23:32Z

This has been driving me nuts for months, and it's not just the widget, if you open brave and it's not already running in the background the same thing happens with the search/address bar.

S22 Ultra
Android 14

0xpsyduck · 2024-10-02T17:29:08Z

Same happening with Android 9

smjkh · 2024-11-02T19:07:35Z

Have also had this issue for the past month or so, running Oxygen OS 14. Never had this issue before

Maritornez · 2024-11-29T03:38:23Z

Dear devs, how about to fix that? It's very uncomfortable. Thanks

Udi9 · 2024-12-08T07:22:04Z

Dear devs, how about to fix that? It's very uncomfortable. Thanks

Agreed.
If the Brave team could fix that issue it would be great.
The use of the search widget is very cumbersome currently.
Thank you!

ArcticDev78 · 2024-12-24T01:00:58Z

I'm facing the same issue, using Android 15.

InkyPi · 2024-12-24T01:12:13Z

Unfortunately 6+ months is my limit putting up with this frustrating bug, time to switch to Firefox or back to Chrome. I feel like in the early days of Brave this would have been fixed ASAP, I hope it hasn't fallen victim to enshittification too soon.

ChuckBartowski91 · 2025-01-08T11:46:32Z

Hello, same issue here. Xiaomi 11 lite 5g ne, hyperos 1.0.9.0, android 14.

Probably happens when brave is closed from phone power management, but I'm not sure.

tripfish · 2025-01-22T20:19:14Z

Since 1.74.48 the behavior has gotten even worse. Now no suggestions are displayed at all. Not even when you open it again.

S20 FE Android 12.

Brave-Matt · 2025-01-29T18:20:15Z

@timchilds @deeppandya can we get someone to take a look at this here? We get a surprising number of users encountering this issue/that use this feature.

smjkh · 2025-01-29T18:22:20Z

Has also gotten worse for me recently, makes it extremely difficult to use the widget

amandy85 · 2025-02-01T20:23:24Z

Facing the same problem, thought it would get fixed in months but now it's troubling

humidmist · 2025-02-03T17:09:30Z

#43370
same here.

fuzzyfly0 · 2025-02-03T20:00:05Z

Same here, Android 14. Please fix it 👏

alx1024 · 2025-02-04T08:16:51Z

same issue persists for years now for me

RX-padoru · 2025-02-08T04:22:02Z

I also have this issue but it have became more problematic lately, as I cannot get any predictive searches at all despite of changing the settings. Samsung A52 5g, One UI 6.1 Android 14, this issue is stopping me from switching from firefox to using brave on mobile

Soren01 · 2025-02-14T00:24:07Z

I’ve been dealing with the same issue for months! It’s gotten worse over time—now my history/suggestions barely show up at all. 😩

humidmist · 2025-02-21T19:20:19Z

When will this issue be resolved?

Soren01 · 2025-03-04T16:14:24Z

When will this issue be resolved?

Starting to think maybe never… 😩

FleXi2108 · 2025-03-05T13:00:00Z

To add to this, I might have figured out a pseudo fix.
Before typing in anything tap on the QR code at the very right of the search bar (preferably with the app not authorised to use the camera so it closes it instantly again).
And voila now you can search and get suggestions.
Still very much needs an actual fix tho, since you need to this every single time you want to search something.

Soren01 · 2025-03-05T13:26:04Z

Swiping halfway to return to the home screen (without finishing the gesture) still triggers the suggestions. So tedious to do this every single time! These janky workarounds make it clear this isn’t some impossible bug—just needs a dev to actually prioritize it...

kjozwiak · 2025-03-06T21:50:35Z

The above requires 1.76.74 or higher for 1.76.x verification 👍

Soren01 · 2025-03-07T12:01:45Z

Tested on version 1.78.21—the issue is gone! Thank you! – Poco X7 Pro (Android 15)

humidmist · 2025-03-07T12:18:14Z

Tested on version 1.78.21—the issue is gone! Thank you! – Poco X7 Pro (Android 15)

Nightly?

Soren01 · 2025-03-07T12:26:08Z

Tested on version 1.78.21—the issue is gone! Thank you! – Poco X7 Pro (Android 15)

Nightly?

Yes, but not through the Play Store. You need to download the apk

https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/releases/tag/v1.78.21

humidmist · 2025-03-07T12:33:42Z

Tested on version 1.78.21—the issue is gone! Thank you! – Poco X7 Pro (Android 15)

Nightly?

Yes, but not through the Play Store. You need to download the apk

https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/releases/tag/v1.78.21

Got it. Thanks.
Yes. Issue resolved in this version.

hffvld · 2025-03-11T22:21:52Z

Verified on Galaxy Tab S8 and Pixel 7 using version(s):

Device/OS: 
- Galaxy Tab S8 / gts8wifixx-user 14 UP1A.231005.007 release-keys
- Pixel 7 / panther_beta-user 16 BP22.250103.008 release-keys
Brave build: 1.76.74 
Chromium: 134.0.6998.89 (Official Build) (64-bit)

Show browser suggestions is ON

STEPS:

Fresh install and launch Brave
Hamburger menu > Settings > Search engines
Make sure Show browser suggestions, Show search suggestions and Show top sites suggestions are ON
Close Brave and add Search widget to a Home screen
Type a query in the search widget > Verify that suggested searches and websites are both shown
Open Brave > Hamburger menu > Settings > Search engines
Disable Show search suggestions
Go back to the widget > Type a query > Verify that only suggested websites are shown
Open Brave > Hamburger menu > Settings > Search engines
Enable Show search suggestions, but disable Show top sites suggestions
Go back to the widget > Type a query > Verify that only suggested searches are shown
Open Brave > Hamburger menu > Settings > Search engines
Disable both Show search suggestions and Show top sites suggestions
Go back to the widget > Type a query > Verify that no suggested searches or websites are shown

ACTUAL RESULTS:

Verified that suggested searches and websites are both shown, if Show browser suggestions, Show search suggestions and Show top sites suggestions are ON.
Verified that only suggested websites are shown, if Show browser suggestions and Show top sites suggestions are ON, but Show search suggestions is OFF.
Verified that only suggested searches are shown, if Show browser suggestions and Show search suggestions are ON, but Show top sites suggestions is OFF.
Verified that no suggested searches or websites are shown, if Show browser suggestions is ON, but Show search suggestions and Show top sites suggestions are OFF.
Verified the same with a different SE (Brave, DDG, and Bing) set as default SE.

Galaxy Tab S8

`Browser`, `Search` and `Sites` suggestions are ON	`Browser` and `Sites` suggests are ON, but `Search` suggestions is OFF	`Browser` and `Search` suggestions are ON, but `Sites` suggestions is OFF	`Browser` suggestions is ON, but `Search` and `Sites` suggestions are OFF

Pixel 7

`Browser`, `Search` and `Sites` suggestions are ON	`Browser` and `Sites` suggests are ON, but `Search` suggestions is OFF	`Browser` and `Search` suggestions are ON, but `Sites` suggestions is OFF	`Browser` suggestions is ON, but `Search` and `Sites` suggestions are OFF

Show browser suggestions is OFF

STEPS:

Fresh install and launch Brave
Hamburger menu > Settings > Search engines
Make sure Show browser suggestions, Show search suggestions and Show top sites suggestions are ON
Disable Show browser suggestions
Close Brave and add Search widget to a Home screen
Type a query in the search widget > Verify that no suggested searches or websites are shown. Observed that both things are shown actually
Open Brave > Hamburger menu > Settings > Search engines
Enable Show browser suggestions
Disable both Show search suggestions and Show top sites suggestions
Disable Show browser suggestions
Go back to the widget > Type a query > Verify that no suggested searches or websites are shown

ACTUAL RESULTS:

Verified that no suggested searches or websites are shown, if Show browser suggestions, Show search suggestions and Show top sites suggestions are OFF.
Observed that suggested searches and websites are both shown, if Show browser suggestions is OFF, but Show search suggestions and Show top sites suggestions are ON.
Verified the same with a different SE (Brave, Google, and Qwant) set as default SE.

Galaxy Tab S8

`Search` and `Sites` suggestions are ON, but `Browser` suggestions is OFF	`Browser`, `Sites` and `Search` suggestions are OFF

Pixel 7

`Search` and `Sites` suggestions are ON, but `Browser` suggestions is OFF	`Browser`, `Sites` and `Search` suggestions are OFF

Brave-Matt added bug feature/autofill OS/Android feature/widgets labels Aug 22, 2024

deeppandya added the priority/P3 label Feb 12, 2025

deeppandya assigned samartnik Feb 12, 2025

samartnik mentioned this issue Mar 5, 2025

[Android] Fix for search widget suggestions brave/brave-core#27974

Merged

24 tasks

samartnik closed this as completed in brave/brave-core#27974 Mar 5, 2025

brave-builds added this to the 1.78.x - Nightly milestone Mar 5, 2025

This was referenced Mar 5, 2025

[Android] Fix for search widget suggestions (uplift to 1.77.x) brave/brave-core#27990

Merged

[Android] Fix for search widget suggestions (uplift to 1.76.x) brave/brave-core#27991

Merged

brave-builds modified the milestones: 1.78.x - Nightly, 1.77.x - Beta Mar 6, 2025

kjozwiak added release-notes/include QA/Test-All-Platforms labels Mar 6, 2025

brave-builds modified the milestones: 1.77.x - Beta, 1.76.x - Release #2 Mar 6, 2025

samartnik added the QA/Yes label Mar 7, 2025

kjozwiak mentioned this issue Mar 11, 2025

Pending Android verification's/Release Notes from previous 1.76.x milestones #44569

Closed

1 task

hffvld added the QA/In-Progress label Mar 11, 2025

hffvld added QA Pass - Android ARM QA Pass - Android Tab and removed QA/In-Progress labels Mar 11, 2025

hffvld mentioned this issue Mar 12, 2025

Android Release Notes for 1.76.x - Release #3 #44618

Closed

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Search widget does not initially populate suggestions/top sites #40610

Search widget does not initially populate suggestions/top sites #40610

Brave-Matt commented Aug 22, 2024

scmanjarrez commented Sep 6, 2024

TIT8 commented Sep 8, 2024 •

edited

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InkyPi commented Sep 19, 2024

0xpsyduck commented Oct 2, 2024

smjkh commented Nov 2, 2024

Maritornez commented Nov 29, 2024

Udi9 commented Dec 8, 2024

ArcticDev78 commented Dec 24, 2024

InkyPi commented Dec 24, 2024

ChuckBartowski91 commented Jan 8, 2025 •

edited

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tripfish commented Jan 22, 2025

Brave-Matt commented Jan 29, 2025

smjkh commented Jan 29, 2025

amandy85 commented Feb 1, 2025

humidmist commented Feb 3, 2025 •

edited

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fuzzyfly0 commented Feb 3, 2025

alx1024 commented Feb 4, 2025

RX-padoru commented Feb 8, 2025 •

edited

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Soren01 commented Feb 14, 2025

humidmist commented Feb 21, 2025

Soren01 commented Mar 4, 2025

FleXi2108 commented Mar 5, 2025 •

edited

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Soren01 commented Mar 5, 2025

kjozwiak commented Mar 6, 2025

Soren01 commented Mar 7, 2025

humidmist commented Mar 7, 2025

Soren01 commented Mar 7, 2025

humidmist commented Mar 7, 2025 •

edited

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hffvld commented Mar 11, 2025 •

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Search widget does not initially populate suggestions/top sites #40610

Search widget does not initially populate suggestions/top sites #40610

Comments

Brave-Matt commented Aug 22, 2024

Description

Steps to reproduce

Actual result

Expected result

Reproduces how often

Brave version

Device

Channel information

Reproducibility

Miscellaneous information

scmanjarrez commented Sep 6, 2024

TIT8 commented Sep 8, 2024 • edited Loading

InkyPi commented Sep 19, 2024

0xpsyduck commented Oct 2, 2024

smjkh commented Nov 2, 2024

Maritornez commented Nov 29, 2024

Udi9 commented Dec 8, 2024

ArcticDev78 commented Dec 24, 2024

InkyPi commented Dec 24, 2024

ChuckBartowski91 commented Jan 8, 2025 • edited Loading

tripfish commented Jan 22, 2025

Brave-Matt commented Jan 29, 2025

smjkh commented Jan 29, 2025

amandy85 commented Feb 1, 2025

humidmist commented Feb 3, 2025 • edited Loading

fuzzyfly0 commented Feb 3, 2025

alx1024 commented Feb 4, 2025

RX-padoru commented Feb 8, 2025 • edited Loading

Soren01 commented Feb 14, 2025

humidmist commented Feb 21, 2025

Soren01 commented Mar 4, 2025

FleXi2108 commented Mar 5, 2025 • edited Loading

Soren01 commented Mar 5, 2025

kjozwiak commented Mar 6, 2025

Soren01 commented Mar 7, 2025

humidmist commented Mar 7, 2025

Soren01 commented Mar 7, 2025

humidmist commented Mar 7, 2025 • edited Loading

hffvld commented Mar 11, 2025 • edited Loading

TIT8 commented Sep 8, 2024 •

edited

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ChuckBartowski91 commented Jan 8, 2025 •

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humidmist commented Feb 3, 2025 •

edited

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RX-padoru commented Feb 8, 2025 •

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FleXi2108 commented Mar 5, 2025 •

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humidmist commented Mar 7, 2025 •

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hffvld commented Mar 11, 2025 •

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