/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24800996/CleanShot_2023_07_21_at_09.24.31.png?w=1200&resize=1200,628&ssl=1 "The excellent Arc browser is now available for anyone to download")
Arc, the Mac and iOS browser from The Browser Company, is finally ditching its waitlist. The company has been testing the app for more than two years and has, until now, made every interested user sign up for a waitlist. But now, it’s launching for real. Arc’s version number just jumped to 1.0, and anyone who wants to use Arc can go to arc.net and get the browser.
We’ve covered Arc a lot in recent months, both because it’s a good browser and because it’s a big new idea about how you use the internet. The Browser Company’s ultimate plan is to build “the operating system for the internet.” Arc isn’t just a place to see webpages; it has tools for taking notes, making visual and collaborative easels with others, redesigning webpages to your liking, and more. (Personally, I love Arc’s picture-in-picture mode above everything else, especially now that it works with Google Meet calls.)
Arc 1.0 doesn’t seem to come with any splashy new features. Rather, The Browser Company seems to just feel like it’s ready to launch more widely. Arc has been pretty stable for me in recent months, though it does run into some of the same performance issues you’ll find with any browser based on the Chromium engine — you can always open a couple dozen tabs and watch your computer grind to a halt.
There’s still plenty for The Browser Company team to do, of course. The Arc iOS app feels like more of a companion app than a full browser, for one, and there’s still no Arc for Windows (though that’s apparently coming this year). The company is also thinking about how to integrate AI into the browser. And the team has spent the last few months focused on reining in some of those performance issues, trying to make Arc both fun and fast.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23951355/STK043_VRG_Illo_N_Barclay_1_Meta.jpg?w=100&resize=100,100&ssl=1 "Meta is rolling back its covid-19 misinformation rules in the US")
Personally, Arc has been my default browser for the last year or so, and I’ve had no reason to think about switching. It won’t be for everybody — its way of thinking about tabs and bookmarks is pretty different from Chrome and Safari, and its whole structure and aesthetic takes some getting used to — but the app has caught on with a lot of tech and design folks in recent months. And now, you don’t have to take my word for it anymore; you can just try it for yourself.