I tried the Arc Browser on Windows and here’s why I love it

5 min readMar 7, 2024

I took the Arc browser for a spin and here's what I've found.

First and foremost, let’s highlight the fact that it’s freeware, a masterpiece crafted by none other than The Browser Company.

Why was I excited about this browser?

The Browser Company released the Arc Browser in July 2023. In the last 7 months, people using the Arc on their Mac OS have been overly happy. Every other mac user was posting stuff about the browser.

Since it’s been released on macOS, I’ve been borderline jealous of the people who tried it firsthand. As a Windows user and a UX designer, I knew that this cool named browser was planning to give a huge productivity boost using it.

Features overloaded but still in Beta

The Arc browser brought features no other browser thought of like split screen, and even if the others tried to copy them from the Arc, Arc just did it better. No hard feelings, other browser creators — you gave it your best shot.

The Windows version was just green-flagged in the last week of Feb 2024. It’s still in beta, a little rougher around the edges, but it works fantastically great.

Why use Arc

To get into the technical details, the Arc browser is written in Swift and it is based on Chromium. That means…yes…it supports all of your Chrome extensions.

Arc aims to act as an operating system for the web and tries to integrate web browsing with built-in applications and features.

You can bring all of your data over so no problemo.

Now, let me tell you why Arc won my heart.

1. The blank screen.

Tried too many themes on your favorite browser? Ever ended up having a beautiful-looking wallpaper on a new tab on your browser that you could stare at all day?

Often people take too much joy in customizing their browsers than using it as customized to their liking. I've been there myself, Vivaldi tempted me to customize the home screen. Name any feature, Vivaldi has it. I still remember those beautiful landscape videos on the Edge browser’s home screen. And on the good old Chrome, you couldn't stop yourself from installing your favorite theme from the Chrome store.

But what is the fundamental purpose of using a browser in the first place? if you're working, you wouldn't even get to see the background wallpaper you set.

Arc does it better. No fuss with a home screen — because who needs it? Arc keeps it functional and yet simple.

2. The spotlight

It has a standard spotlight like the one you’d find on macOS. Think of this like a command center. You can paste links here, mute tabs, and much more.

3. No more empty tabs

Ever noticed on the browser of your liking, that you can have multiple new blank tabs open? Such a waste of your precious time and space on your screen.

Sometimes you'd even open a tab just to forget why you opened it in the first place.

Also, when you open a new tab and you click somewhere other than the URL bar, you'd have to navigate to press ctrl+l to be able to type your desired address on the web.

Well, no more with Arc.

The Arc browser doesn't even let you open a tab without putting in the address, let alone have a single blank tab.

It saves you from having a pile of empty tabs and multiple windows to keep track of and gives a space to breathe.

4. Profiles and spaces

On the Chrome browser, let’s say you have more than 1 profile, one for personal adventures and the other for work, it takes 2 whole clicks to switch profiles, and let’s face it, that can be a tad inconvenient.

A special mention

Believe me when I say, it is equally important to mention the workspace feature of the Edge browser here. You can create a workspace in your edge browser and invite people to your workspace to browser together on the web.

Profiles and spaces

On Arc, changing profiles it's just a matter of a swipe. One thing to mention here is that Profiles on Arc are used by spaces. No more, having multiple windows for a task. You can do it in a single window. It’s like the browser took a crash course in efficiency.

A long way to go

Arc still needs much improvement to go head-to-head with the likes of Edge and Vivaldi but I'm glad that it's on its way. Can you imagine having 25 thousands Windows users choosing Arc over any other browser to improve? It's just a matter of months till Arc finally reaches there, where we want it. Right next to the big players in the market.

Join the tribe

Also, folks who are planning to test and try the Arc browsers on Windows, head over to https://www.isarconwindowsyet.com/ to join the waitlist.

I’ll give you one more reason to join the Arc tribe. On my PC it came in default with Ublock Origin, the OG ad blocker. Welcome the ad-free experience and join the tribe.