Arc Browser Review: It’s Great, But I’m Going Back to Safari

Arc can keep you hostage with its good looks, but I like the functionality of Safari better.

A few months ago, I laid down my thoughts on the SigmaOS browser. Although aesthetically pleasing, it was not without its functional flaws, which eventually became unbearable.

Although I left SigmaOS for a different reason, both it and Arc share the same problems, which is why I have finally reverted back to Safari. More on that later.

SigmaOS: Cursed Shortcuts

My major sticking point with SigmaOS is the custom keyboard shortcuts.

Instead of sticking with conventional combinations like ‘CMD T’ for a new tab and ‘CMD W’ for closing one, SigmaOS resorted to single keys such as ‘T’ and ‘D.’ This made tab management a frustrating task when working in a text field.

While you can adjust the shortcuts individually to conventional commands, the process is cumbersome. To make matters worse, certain standard actions like CMD R for refresh and CMD P for print still faltered in a text field.

There were other drawbacks too, like basic features hidden behind a $10/month paywall. These factors led me to try out the Arc browser, a browser that, in my opinion, looks better and keeps standard keyboard shortcuts intact.

Why Arc Caught My Eye

Conventional Keyboard Shortcuts

Arc doesn’t tamper with what works. It adheres to the standard keyboard shortcuts, avoiding the need for users to adapt to a new system. One minor hiccup I encountered was a clash between Arc’s CMD + Shift + C shortcut and Google Docs.

In Arc, the shortcut copies the link of the current webpage you’re on. In Google Docs, it’s supposed to bring up your current word count. Arc overrides Docs’s functionality. While it’s a small annoyance, it doesn’t disrupt the overall user experience significantly.

Attention to Aesthetics

Arc scores big with its sleek design —possibly the only factor that kept me tied to it for this long.

Automatic Tab Archiving

Being a notorious tab hoarder, I appreciated Arc’s automatic archiving of idle tabs after 12 hours, a setting that can be extended up to 30 days. It was a simple solution, albeit still annoying at times when a tab I wanted to keep suddenly disappeared.

But of course, you can restore archived tabs quite easily by clicking on ‘Archive’ in the menu bar.

Chromium-Based

Arc’s Chromium foundation means most Chrome extensions work seamlessly with it, making the transition from Chrome to Arc quite easy.

Why Arc and I Parted Ways

Chromium Dependency

Ironically, one of Arc’s strengths doubles as its Achilles heel. As a Chromium-based browser, Arc shares Chrome’s notorious memory consumption.

Additionally, for those of us embedded in the Apple ecosystem, the lack of seamless support for features like ‘Continue with Apple’ and the missing sync between Arc and Safari on iPhone and iPad, can be bothersome. Yes, Arc for iPhone exists, but it carries the same limitations and more.

Since Apple requires all browsers on iOS to use Safari’s WebKit, the Browser Company opted not to register its iPhone app as a browser. Because of this, you cannot set Arc as your default browser. It acts more as a search engine than a browser, so it’s no Safari replacement.

Although it does sync with the desktop app, it’s not a nice experience having to consciously use Arc when links open in Safari by default.

Column-View Tabs

Column-view tabs, while likely a personal preference, was a feature I found difficult to adopt. The vertical tab bar consumed too much screen real estate for my liking.

Underutilized Features

Although Arc offers an impressive list of features, I found that I barely used most of them. ‘Little Arc’ and ‘Spaces’ are innovative in concept but failed to find a place in my day-to-day browsing needs.

Little Arc

‘Little Arc’ is basically a miniature window that appears when you click links from other apps or press CMD + Option + N.

As you can see, it’s separate from the main Arc experience. This means you can do quick searches without cluttering your main workspace. Conceptually, it’s pretty neat, but I never used it, at least intentionally. Usually, I just want to open a tab in my main workspace.

Spaces

‘Spaces’ is another feature that sounds great in concept but is not used much in practice, for me at least.

In the beginning, I created multiple spaces including Personal, College, and Work. I tried using them all, but quickly I just started using one space for everything. I believe the company has even said that spaces is a work in progress.

Back to Basics with Safari

In the end, I realized that Arc’s looks were the only reason I stayed in a relationship with it for as long as I did. Of course, looks are not the only thing you should consider in a relationship.

Thus, I returned to Safari. It may not be the most visually appealing, but it offers crucial functionalities absent in Arc.

Features like ‘Continue with Apple’ and Apply Pay behave seamlessly on Safari but not so in Arc, and I sorely missed syncing between Safari on iOS and macOS.

I suppose it depends on how invested you are into the Apple ecosystem.