How do other privacy browsers (e.g., Firefox, Brave) handle saved passwords when clearing app data or uninstalling?

1. Brave: uninstall removes local data unless synced or otherwise preserved

Brave’s own help documentation explicitly states that uninstalling the mobile app deletes all Brave data on that device and a reinstall starts "fresh" with no previous data, which implies saved passwords kept only locally will be lost on uninstall unless a separate sync or export was used ^[1]. That official position aligns with multiple community reports of users who reinstalled Brave and could not recover passwords or saved pages the way they expected from other browsers, indicating that local-only credentials are not retained across removal and reinstall without prior export/sync ^{[5] [6]}.

2. Brave: clearing browsing data sometimes removes saved passwords — and users have complained

Multiple Brave community threads document incidents where running Clear browsing data or simply restarting/closing the browser caused stored passwords and session cookies to vanish, leaving users repeatedly logged out or forced to re-enter credentials; several longstanding bug/issue reports on Brave’s trackers and community forums describe this as intermittent but recurring behavior ^{[2] [3] [7] [8]}. Those community reports show a pattern: users encounter unexpected password loss after clearing data or on restart, and file complaints because the UI hints or defaults may not make it obvious that certain actions will remove saved sign‑ins ^{[2] [3]}.

3. Brave: developer attention and technical notes about in-memory and storage handling

Brave’s engineering discussions show active work on how passwords and wallet passphrases are handled in memory and on disk — for example, an open GitHub issue calls for zeroing password memory and other secure-clearing measures to avoid lingering sensitive data in RAM — which indicates the project is conscious of both persistence and secure cleanup, but this is distinct from UI behavior about deleting saved passwords on Clear browsing data or uninstall actions ^[9]. The technical issue tracks a security hygiene approach to memory management but does not negate the user-facing reports that stored passwords have been deleted in practice when users clear data or reinstall ^{[9] [5]}.

4. Firefox and other privacy browsers: reporting gap in the provided sources

The supplied Mozilla support thread is a user question page and does not establish an authoritative summary of Firefox’s behavior when clearing browsing data or uninstalling the app in the same way Brave’s help center and forums do, so the sources here do not allow a definitive, sourced statement about Firefox’s defaults or uninstall semantics ^[4]. In short, the available reporting lets Brave speak for itself (official doc + multiple community complaints) but does not provide the same coverage for Firefox or other privacy-first browsers; therefore, any precise comparison to Firefox’s treatment of saved passwords would require consulting Firefox documentation or support materials outside the supplied set ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}.

5. Practical takeaway and balanced framing

Users should treat Brave’s uninstall as destructive of local data unless they have used Brave Sync or exported passwords beforehand (Brave Help Center; community reports) and be cautious with Clear browsing data because community reports document unexpected removal of saved passwords after that action or on restart ^{[1] [2] [3] [7]}. At the same time, the absence of robust, sourced reporting here about Firefox or other browsers means the broader claim—“other privacy browsers behave the same”—cannot be supported from these materials; seeking each browser’s help pages and known issue trackers is necessary to confirm differences in defaults, sync behavior, and what uninstalling actually deletes ^[4].