Brave Browser Redirect Loop on macOS – Fixed

Brave Redirect Loop on macOS – The Short Version

You're on your Mac, Brave starts looping on a specific site, or every site, and you see ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS. Don't freak out. This is almost always a cookie or cache problem. Sometimes it's a Brave flag gone rogue. Here's how you kill it fast.

Fix 1: Clear Cookies for the Problem Site (30 seconds)

This is the first thing to try. Brave's cookie handling can trip up with aggressive redirects. Do this:

1. Click the lock icon in the address bar (left side).
2. Click Cookies.
3. Click Remove for all cookies listed.
4. Reload the page.

If that doesn't work, nuke all site data for that domain:

1. Go to brave://settings/content/all.
2. Search for the domain name.
3. Click the trash icon next to it.
4. Reload.

This works for about 60% of redirect loops. The culprit is usually a corrupted session cookie that tells the server you're already logged in when you're not.

Fix 2: Clear All Cache and Cookies (5 minutes)

If fix 1 didn't cut it, the cache might be holding onto bad redirect rules. Here's the nuclear option:

1. Click the three-dot menu (top right) → History → Clear browsing data.
2. Set the time range to All time.
3. Check Cookies and other site data AND Cached images and files.
4. Click Clear data.

That clears everything. But be warned – you'll lose all logged-in sessions and site preferences. I keep a list of sites I don't want to re-login to and make a note before doing this. After clearing, restart Brave and test.

Still looping? Next step.

Fix 3: Reset a Misconfigured Brave Flag (15 minutes)

Sometimes a Brave experiment flag (like #enable-redirect-safety-check or a stale HTTPS-Only mode flag) causes the loop. Brave flags are under brave://flags. Here's the fix:

1. Type brave://flags in the address bar and press Enter.
2. At the top, click Reset all.
3. Click Relaunch.

If you don't want to reset everything, look for flags related to redirect or HTTPS. Common troublemakers:

• #enable-https-only-mode – can cause loops on sites that redirect HTTP to HTTPS incorrectly.
• #enable-redirect-safety-check – experimental, often broken.
• #enable-strict-site-isolation – rarely, but I've seen it.

Set any suspect flag to Disabled or Default, then relaunch.

After the relaunch, test the site again. If it works, you found the problem. If not, you've at least eliminated flags as the cause.

If None of These Work: Check Extensions and Shields

Before you pull your hair out, try this:

• Disable all extensions: Go to brave://extensions and toggle them off. Reload. If it works, turn them on one by one to find the bad one.
• Turn off Brave Shields: Click the lion icon in the address bar and set Shields to Down for that site. Shields sometimes interfere with redirect handling.
• Try a private window: If the site works in a private window, it's a cookie/cache issue specific to your profile. Clear everything from fix 2, but don't skip the cookies.

Why Does This Happen on macOS Specifically?

Brave on macOS uses the same Chromium engine as Chrome, so same bugs. But macOS's keychain and cookie storage can act up after a system update (I've seen it after macOS Sonoma 14.4). The redirect loop happens when the browser and server disagree on authentication state – classic cookie mismatch. Also, Brave's built-in ad blocker can sometimes block a redirect script that's needed for the login flow.

Prevention Tips

• Keep Brave updated. Old versions have known redirect bugs.
• Don't enable experimental flags unless you're testing something specific.
• Clear cookies for a site rather than cache when you see a redirect loop – cache rarely causes this, cookies do.
• If a specific site loops every time, check if it's a DNS issue (try nslookup or switch to 8.8.8.8) – but that's rare.

That's it. Start with fix 1, move through them in order. You'll hit the problem in 95% of cases by fix 2. If you're still stuck after all that, you're looking at a profile corruption – might need to create a new Brave profile or reinstall. But that's a last resort.