Should You Make the Switch?

Arc Browser: Fast information Key options: User-centered, extremely customizable design, wealthy in options, integrates apps with net looking to create an all-in-one multitasking expertise. Pricing: Free. Best for: Users searching for a contemporary, customizable, and personal browser.

Web browsers have at all times been a sector dominated by large names, however Google’s Chrome, Apple’s Safari, and Microsoft’s Bing have a brand new competitor in Arc. The idea behind this hyper-personalized browser, developed by The Browser Company, is to offer a customizable net expertise and act as the net’s working system, integrating on-line content material with apps and recordsdata.

Pricing

Arc is a freeware net browser. It’s out there free of charge to all Mac and Windows customers. Arc can be out there for iPhone,  iPad, and Android customers in a stripped-down model.

Is Arc out there for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS?

As of January 2025, Arc is obtainable for Mac and Windows however not Linux.

Arc is especially designed as a desktop browser; due to this fact, its cell iOS model for iPhones, iPads, and Android has some limitations.

SEE: The U.Okay.’s competitors watchdog in November alleged Apple’s WebEquipment browser engine restricts competitors and shopper selection.

Key options of the Arc browser

Not solely has The Browser Company invested in a contemporary design, however Arc has a variety of options for superior and nonadvanced customers.

Going vertical with tabs

The important options of most net browsers are at all times positioned at the prime in a horizontal construction, however in Arc, the whole lot a person wants is on a left panel.  This contains the search bar, tab listing, bookmarks, apps, and extra. The vertical placement of the browser’s options creates an unique design and frees up house whereas permitting customers to multitask. For instance, a person might browse in Arc throughout a video assembly.

Arc could be personalized and arranged extensively. Tabs could be pinned, and “Spaces” could be created to handle tabs. The browser additionally presents split-screen mode.

Design, design, design

Everything in Arc is oriented towards person expertise. From colours and themes to layouts, customers can play with the browser’s settings intuitively, remixing elements effortlessly.

Boosts

With Arc’s Boosts, customers can save and share their themes and customizable looking experiences with different customers. Arc shares the greatest Boosts customers create in a central gallery.

More superior customers with HTML, CSS, HTML, and JavaScript information can modify recognized web sites and even take away total sections of websites equivalent to YouTube, TikTook, and Gmail. The unique web sites aren’t modified; the solely side that modifications is how customers see that web site once they deploy a Boost.

Currently, Arc hasn’t confronted authorized issues attributable to giving customers the energy to vary web sites; nonetheless, media like Engadget have referred to this function as able to ” … vandalizing any web site.”

Rapid onboarding

Setting up Arc Browser is a quick and intuitive course of that solely takes just a few steps. From the begin, customers are requested to decide on a shade and theme, create their account, and import bookmarks and different net browser knowledge if they need. The browser may sync between gadgets with its proprietary performance. Arc Sync.

A browser or an OS? Why not each?

The Browser Company needs its browser to be the “web’s operating system.” To meet this objective, the firm innovates and creates totally different apps built-in inside the net browser. Apps can be utilized with out ever leaving the browser.

Apps and Easels

Arc can combine recognized apps equivalent to Gmail and Google Calendar and current them to customers as apps as an alternative of net pages by putting fast entry on the left panel.

Additionally, the browser has its personal apps. The Easel function is used to create good whiteboards; customers can draw, write, add photos, take screenshots, and accumulate and share concepts whereas looking the web. The Easel options embrace instruments for typing and drawing and every Easel could be stored personal, shared with others, and even posted on-line.

Arc has a pocket book app that may be accessed from the left panel. Other apps and options of the Arc Browser embrace:

• Little Arc: A small floating window that enables customers to rapidly browse new tabs with out cluttering their workspace.
• Proactive tab administration: This function mechanically closes tabs that haven’t been used shortly, preserving the browser tidy, and cleanup time could be personalized.
• Ad blocker: This function blocks advertisements to enhance looking experiences and security whereas rushing up the browser.
• Smart picture-in-picture: Users can watch movies in a floating window whereas multitasking.
• Listen to music whereas looking: Users can play music or podcasts when looking the net and combine apps equivalent to Spotify into their browsers.
• Arc Search: This is a model of the Arc browser for cell gadgets. Users can sync Spaces and pinned tabs between Arc Search and the important browser.
• Tidy Tabs: Organize tabs with one click on.
• Instant Links: Use Search + Shift after typing a question in the search bar to deliver up the prime outcomes for that question.
• Peek: A preview of a Pinned or Favorited Tab will seem when a person clicks on the hyperlink from the tab.

Mobile Companion

Arc has a cell model referred to as Mobile Companion, a stripped, light-weight app for customers to take their Spaces and Tabs wherever. The cell app is obtainable for iPhones by way of the Apple App Store or Android telephones by way of Google Play.

Profiles

Using Arc, customers can create personalized Profiles. The Profile function permits customers to modify from work to highschool or private mode with just one click on. Each profile can retailer a number of login credentials and save looking historical past and cookies. The Profile function can be personalized with themes, colours, Spaces, and tabs.

Privacy

Besides the advert blocker, Arc has robust built-in privateness options and a sturdy privateness coverage. The firm doesn’t preserve observe of on-line exercise or behaviors, doesn’t retailer or observe what a person varieties, and guarantees to not promote knowledge to 3rd events.

Users can management cookies and alter different privateness and safety settings by going to Preferences | General | Privacy Preferences. In the General Preferences window, customers can change their default search engine and switch search recommendations on or off.

SEE: Quick Glossary: Web Browsers (TechRepublic Premium)

Why ought to I take advantage of Arc as an alternative of Chrome?

A serious differentiator between Arc and Chrome is privateness. While Chrome shares knowledge with Google on customers’ looking habits, location, and different private data, Arc doesn’t observe looking historical past and doesn’t promote data to advertisers; nonetheless, Arc has an non-obligatory AI-enabled mode, Arc Max, which shares knowledge with organizations equivalent to Perplexity and OpenAI.

Arc has been praised for its pace and comfort.

Does the Arc browser use quite a lot of reminiscence?

The Arc browser has been criticized for placing extra pressure on RAM than different browsers. When testing each browsers on Mac with the identical tabs open — TechRepublic, YouTube, Reddit, and Wikipedia —Chrome used about 660 MB, and Arc used 320 MB.

What is the controversy with the Arc browser?

The Arc controversy probably refers to an August 2024 safety breach. A researcher referred to as xyz3va identified Arc’s misuse of Firebase, a database-as-a-backend service, may very well be exploited to permit an attacker to execute code by one other person’s account. The flaw was by no means exploited, and The Browser Company addressed it only a day after the researcher reported it. In response, they repaired many points that contributed to the flaw, deliberate to cease utilizing Firebase, and expanded their safety staff.

Arc browser’s professionals

• Unique: Arc is a one-of-a-kind browser; it seems to be and seems like no different browser in the market, and its total expertise is exclusive.
• Fast efficiency: Arc is quick, due to its optimized engine and the potential to place tabs to sleep.
• User-friendly interface: The intuitive graphical interface makes navigating and organizing your display screen straightforward.
• Privacy-focused: Arc is designed with privateness in thoughts. It has a built-in advert blocker and tracker blocker, and the firm doesn’t accumulate private knowledge.
• Open supply: Arc is open supply, which means anybody can contribute to its growth. The Arc net browser runs on the identical Chromium engine — an open-source browser venture — as Google Chrome.
• Free

Arc browser’s cons

• Learning curve: Arc is so distinctive and totally different that it could take time for customers to really feel comfy with it and learn to use it.
• Mobile: Mobile variations are stripped down. And, it’s solely out there for the iPhone.
• Limited availability: Windows variations will likely be out there in the winter of 2023. Availability for Linux and different OS have but to be introduced.

Alternatives to the Arc browser

The market presents a number of alternate options to Arc for customers who desire a totally different net looking expertise and to transcend conventional, well-established manufacturers. In this sector, three options stand out: Vivaldi, Brave, and Waterfox.

Vivaldi

Vivaldi is the strongest competitor of Arc. Both browsers provide extremely customized net looking experiences. Vivaldi’s options and person interface are customizable and optimized for pace and privateness. Vivaldi is obtainable for Windows, Linux, Mac, Android, and iOS.

Brave

Known for its excessive privateness focus, Brave presents a stable possibility for these involved about how browsers handle their knowledge. Brave is free and open-source and can mechanically block websites, advertisements, and web site trackers. Brave is obtainable for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS.

Waterfox

Waterfox is a well-liked open-source net browser for Windows, macOS, and Linux. It presents enhanced privateness monitoring safety options and is a fork of Firefox. The browser has excellent efficiency, because it’s light-weight software program. Waterfox’s design is user-centered, minimalistic, and decluttered.

Review methodology

To write this assessment and consider Arc, we examined websites that compile combination knowledge based mostly on verified person critiques. we scoured by the official Arc website and test-drove the browser and its alternate options. Arc’s options, user-friendliness, strengths, cons, value availability, and extra had been rigorously evaluated.

Megan Crouse up to date this text in January 2025.