Bare 1.0.0-alpha.2 RC3

Bare 1.0.0-alpha.2 RC3

Third release candidate, and the first release under version 1.0.0-alpha.2. RC3 is a small, focused
update: three patches on top of RC2, all of them fixes for problems reported by people running RC2,
plus the first 32-bit ARM build.

The version number moves from 1.0.0-alpha.1 to 1.0.0-alpha.2 so that existing installs can be told
this release exists: Bare's update check compares version numbers, and a release that keeps the same
version is invisible to it.

Bare is Chromium with the Google parts taken out, maintained as a patch series rather than a fork so
every change stays readable. It is still alpha. Treat it as something to test, not something to
depend on.

What's new in RC3

• Improves GPU compatibility and fixes startup crashes reported on some devices. Devices whose
  graphics driver refuses an OpenGL ES 3 context now retry lower versions instead of losing the GPU
  process at startup.
• uBlock Origin now works in incognito. Extensions allowed in incognito actually run there —
  previously the permission toggle was respected but the extension never started, so nothing was
  blocked in incognito tabs.
• The bundled uBlock Origin is allowed in incognito by default. A content blocker that stops at
  the incognito boundary is a surprise rather than a safeguard. If you have ever explicitly turned
  its incognito access off, Bare respects that and leaves it off. No other extension is granted
  anything: everything else keeps Chromium's default of no incognito access until you allow it.
• A 32-bit ARM build. RC3 ships a separate armeabi-v7a APK for older 32-bit devices, which
  could not install Bare at all before.
• Update checks can now see new releases. The version bump above is what makes this and every
  future release visible to the checker you chose during setup.

Which APK should I download?

• Bare-1.0.0-alpha.2-arm64-v8a.apk — for normal modern 64-bit Android devices. If you are
  unsure, this is the one you want; almost every phone from the last several years is 64-bit.
• Bare-1.0.0-alpha.2-armeabi-v7a.apk — a compatibility build for 32-bit ARM devices only.
  It is not better or lighter for a 64-bit phone; it exists for hardware the 64-bit build cannot
  reach. Android will refuse to replace an installed 64-bit Bare with the 32-bit APK, so you cannot
  downgrade by accident.

What's changed in RC3

GPU compatibility

• Chromium on Android promises a software-renderer fallback it does not actually ship, and that
  promise was switching off the built-in retry that walks down from OpenGL ES 3.1 to 3.0 to 2.0.
  On devices whose driver refuses an ES3 context, the GPU process died at startup with no second
  attempt. The retry is now allowed to run. Devices that get ES3 on the first try never reach any
  of this — the retry only runs after the first attempt has already failed.
• The GLES version the browser settles on after a retry is now logged, so a report that says "it
  starts now" can also say what it started with.

Incognito extensions

• Extensions you allow in incognito now genuinely run in incognito. The permission was stored
  correctly, but on Android nothing ever started the extension's background page for incognito, so
  a blocker that stopped two requests in a normal tab stopped none in an incognito one.
• The bundled uBlock Origin starts with incognito access. The grant is the ordinary Chromium one —
  the same preference the Allow in incognito toggle in the extensions page writes — so the toggle
  still shows and controls the real state, and switching it off is remembered permanently.

Versioning

• The two APKs of a release now carry distinct version codes that encode the ABI, so Android and
  app stores order them correctly and a 32-bit build can never silently replace a 64-bit install.

Upgrading from RC2 or RC1

Install RC3 over your existing Bare. Do not uninstall first.

Your data is kept: tabs, history, bookmarks, extensions and settings all survive.

The welcome screen appears once after this upgrade, and that is expected. It is shown once per
version, and this release moves the version. Your existing choices are already filled in; press
Start and nothing you did not touch changes. It will not appear again on later launches.

If you are upgrading from a release before the DuckDuckGo default landed, an existing profile keeps
whichever search engine it already had — change it in Settings → Search engine if you want the
default.

Known limitations

• Alpha software. Expect rough edges.
• Android 10 or newer.
• The 32-bit build is young. It passed the same test round as the 64-bit build, but on far less
  hardware. If you run it on a genuinely 32-bit device, feedback is especially welcome — including
  memory behavior with many tabs.
• The GPU retry does not cover every broken driver. Some failure modes still end in a crash;
  if Bare still will not start on your device, an issue report with the device model helps.
• Passkeys work only through a third-party password manager, and only after you trust Bare
  once. Google's own passkey path is restricted to Google-signed browsers, so passkeys held in
  Google Password Manager are out of reach and no patch here can change that. With Bitwarden,
  1Password or Proton Pass, the first attempt fails with "browser is not recognized" — choose
  Trust when prompted.
• Password managers need one setting turned on. Turn on Settings → Autofill options → use
  another service.
• External downloads lose your sign-in. With an external download manager on, a file that
  requires you to be signed in will fail in the other app.
• Web Push does not work, as a consequence of removing the Google messaging channel.
• Extension popups can be cropped, and the address bar gets squeezed when several extensions
  are pinned. Unpinning all but one works around it.
• Some links no longer hand off to other apps. All http(s) navigations stay in Bare, which
  means a few OAuth flows and deep links that expect an app handoff will not get one.
• The New Tab Page still has Discover.
• The first incognito tab of a session is slow to appear.
• One host is still contacted on its own, deliberately: Chromium's component updater, which carries
  certificate revocation, Certificate Transparency, TLS interstitial quality, download danger
  classification and Widevine. Bare is not completely free of Google and does not claim to be.

Download

64-bit (most devices):

Bare-1.0.0-alpha.2-arm64-v8a.apk

SHA-256  5b7e464971d55dc6bd46b8c01f3df84248ba5fd33acb2cac50c12b102e1020ef

32-bit ARM compatibility build:

Bare-1.0.0-alpha.2-armeabi-v7a.apk

SHA-256  04cedc54cf511b8eaa90a3c4775baf34ff8f561b20da95233419df787f08025c

Verify before installing:

sha256sum Bare-1.0.0-alpha.2-arm64-v8a.apk

Feedback

If something breaks, open an issue at
the issue tracker with your device, Android
version, and what you were doing. Crash reports are especially useful.