SkieCan a student install Firefox or Brave to get past the filter?
No. Firefox, Brave and the other alternative browsers are on the never-allow list, and installs outside the allowed apps are removed. Unknown sources are blocked, so a downloaded installer will not run either. The only browser a student can reach is Chrome, under its enforced rules.
This is the first thing a curious student tries, so it is worth being plain about the layers. Three separate things stand in the way.
First, the Play Store is either hidden by policy or limited to the organisation's approved apps. Second, the never-allow list blocks more than 50 alternative browsers by name, whatever any app list says. Third, the install guard removes silently any app installed after enrolment that is not allowed, with a baseline snapshot of the apps present at setup so that existing apps are never wrongly removed.
A student who tries a website that offers a browser as an APK file meets another wall: unknown sources are blocked, and developer options and adb are off, so there is no sideloading route from a computer either.
For the admin, the practical signal is a clean one. Nothing needs to be checked daily. If you want evidence, the effective policy view shows the blocked set, and the compliance score confirms that the protections are in place on each device.
If a hostel or college has a genuine need for another browser on a few devices, the better answer is usually to keep the group on Chrome with the right policy, since the rules around it are what make the filtering reliable. Ask the Skie team if you have a case that does not fit.