Why I Like Arc Browser

I remember when everyone used Mozilla Firefox, and nobody needed anything else. Then, a few years later, Google introduced Chrome, and everything changed. Since 2008, I primarily used Google Chrome on every laptop I owned and sometimes even on mobile devices (though I eventually started to prefer Safari on my iPhone).

Then I heard about Arc. Another Chromium-based browser. Who cares?

I didn’t expect to say this, but I do.

Right now, I think Arc browser is one of the best things to happen to the web in the past few years. It has such a great interface and so many innovative features.

But first things first.

What is Arc Browser?

Arc is a Chromium-based browser for Mac, Windows, and iOS. It’s relatively new, but many influencers on YouTube and Twitter use it, and so do I.

The main idea behind Arc is to reimagine the browser experience. It has its own philosophy, making web surfing much more comfortable.

There are so many great features—handy shortcuts, previews of popular services, developer mode, built-in picture-in-picture support, automatic tab archiving, weekly updates, and many more. But I’ll tell you about the most amazing parts, which never cease to surprise me.

Design

If Arc had bad design, I wouldn’t even try it. So the appearance is something special here.

First of all, all the tabs are located on the left in a special section. Yes, it is kind of annoying since we are all used to a bulky horizontal tab-line on the top. But after a few hours, I understood that I really enjoyed it, especially with the fact that all desktop/laptop displays are kind of wide.

Second, you can adjust the theme of the browser. You can change it for each space you are using (more about spaces later). This is a nice touch to differentiate the focus areas.

Third, it is so easy to organize everything—you can create folders for any occasion and collect all the tabs you need right in there.

Instant Preview

Arc has a built-in preview window called ‘Little Arc.’ For example, when you click a link in your email service, you don’t go to a separate page; instead, you see a small window that opens right there. The same happens in any other service.

It helps a lot to keep the focus on the task you are working on right now.

I have a shortcut set in Raycast—Cmd + Shift + G—which opens Little Arc with a Google search. So whenever I am working in VScode or typing another article, I can easily check something and continue to work without changing my window.

Profiles and Spaces

Arc has Profiles. You can set up a few profiles, and each of them will be kept separately. I really like it because I don’t like to mix personal and work-related tabs. Profiles in Arc “remember” logins, passwords, history, etc., so you don’t have to choose or type them every time. Just swipe to another space, and you are ready to go!

I have two profiles and four spaces. One profile is personal, and here I have these spaces:

World Wide Web – for web surfing
Hustle – all my projects live there
Family – planning, Amazon searches, videos for new parents, and other family things
Study – I go to this space when I learn new material or attend another frontend class

The other profile is dedicated to my work, so it has only one space:

Work – My daily work-related tabs live here.

The coolest thing is that it syncs between my personal and work laptops and iPhone, so I can access all this material whenever I want.

GitHub Live Folders

This is a pretty new feature, which is extremely useful. Whenever a person assigns you a PR to review, Arc browser creates a separate folder where tabs with all assigned PRs are collected. You can easily check the status of each PR—once it is approved and merged, the tab disappears itself.

I really like that I don’t have to ask my teammates to review my PRs, since they see them in their browser. So do I. This is a really nice function that makes working with PRs much easier.

Mobile App

The unexpected thing is that I really like its mobile app. For a long time, I thought there was only one suitable browser for iPhone—Safari—but nowadays, I really like using Arc Search on my phone. The UI/UX is amazing, and it also has several features that I can’t stop using:

Page summarizing: When I want to see the summary of a page, I just pinch two fingers. And that’s it! It is so handy, and I use it daily.
Arc search: I use Google less and less, and Arc Search contributes to this. Whenever I type anything to search, I click the ‘Search for me’ button and see the results in a very summarized way. If that’s not enough, I can click one of the links that Arc used as a source.
Save to desktop browser: I used to use Pocket for 10+ years, but now I just save interesting articles to the ‘Read’ folder and then check saved items whenever I have free time. Love it.

These features were enough for me to change my default browser on my iPhone to Arc.

Just Give It a Try

I know how difficult it is to change the tools you use daily. I was in the same boat.

The first time I heard about Arc was about a year ago. A friend of mine told me about it again, but I said I wasn’t very interested. Finally, I heard about it one more time, gave it a shot, and… didn’t like it at all. After two weeks, I tried it once more, learned some shortcuts, set everything I needed, and fell in love.

Since then, I have advised everyone to try it. If you want to experience an amazing web with a really beautiful and thoughtful browser, give Arc a try. You will love it.