Why I’ve switched to Arc (goodbye Chrome, Firefox, Safari…)

For many years, browsers have been mostly the same. Whether it was Chrome, Firefox, or Safari, I hardly noticed which browser I was using—until I discovered Arc.

TIMESTAMPS
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00:00 Introduction
00:42 First Impressions
01:11 Killer Features
06:56 Features That Don’t Resonate With Me
09:03 Who Is Arc For?

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List of Tools, Apps, & Services I Recommend:

[PeterAkkies]

What could you (or do you) use Arc’s spaces for?

[ShaunMcLane]

One of the cool features with Easels is that you can turn those "screenshots" into live-updating tiles. I have an easel setup for morning updates where I see weather, news, and a few other sites I just need a quick update on without a full tab for each. Because the tiles live-update, I can go to the easel and see everything all at once.

[SeanMarsalis]

Here are a couple of ways I've been using Arc:

Spaces:
I have one that contains all my distraction extensions when I need to use a site like youtube to get work done and don’t want anything pulling my attention away.

I also use a space linked with a different profile to log into the streaming accounts I share with family. I like keeping those websites auto logged in on a different profiles/space.

Sometimes If I’m doing a lot of work or research on a particular topic that’s going to span a few days/weeks I will throw it in a space. Basically if I notice my folders getting too full for a particular topic i’ll just make it a space

Boosts:
although you can get pretty crazy with these you can use them to quickly remove annoying parts of websites you don’t want to see (like some of the ads).

Easels & Notes:
I use these to manage wish lists. If I come across an item I want but don’t want to buy yet i’ll clip it and add it to my wish list. I don’t use notes much, but I do write notes within the easels at times to clarify something about the clipped page.

Thanks for the video, Peter.

[SAMPONRAJ]

ohh.. this is still not available for Windows. Please mention that in your video.

[baguapalm]

I have been using it for a year more or less. A must have! For me it has filled many gapes in my workflow and user experience. Go ahead those guys have done a great job and the updates are often impressive when the introduce a new feature. I recommend Arc, really!

[tspmcfarlane]

Video production and editing is really slick here, Peter. It’s obviously an area you’re pushing to be better and better in - well done!

[pasi]

I am definitely not sure if I would switch to this since I personally prefer the menus on the top and more things can be easily stacked there in my experience, but I do like some features Arc has and also baffles me no other browser thought of this yet. The overlay feature for example when you login somewhere is so much more seamless and feels like the way it is supposed to be. I also like the split view as a single selectable tab which seems great for certain things. I can't wait to still at least try this out when it's available for Windows!

[MaxHeadrom]

sounds pretty solid overall. but how is working with Arc on multiple devices. is there some kind of sync feature?

[gmontenegro]

How is privacy/security? Have you analyzed inbound/outbound connections made by the browser just for being open?

[HpDopeman]

Don’t overlook the energy factor, all these fancy animations come at a cost

[JohnTerhorstPhD]

My favorite feature of the way Arc uses pinned tabs is that each tab has its own "home" page. So say I have a YouTube tab, an Amazon tab, a reddit tab, etc. - as I browse around in each of those tabs, I can always return back to the home with one click. No other browser does tabs this way. Also the PiP video player that opens anytime you navigate away from a video that's playing is something I can't do without.

[HorizonHuntxr]

Arc was actually made with software devs being the primary users in mind, hence why certain features seemed geared towards them

[GofelipeGraphicDesign]

leaving Arc after 10 months of using it because it's no longer auto populating my saved passwords and they are getting rid of Notes making it just so-so.

[MartinHarvey]

Thanks and a useful prez. Comments:
- spaces sounds like tab groups on Safari which I find very useful for “project” type stuff I often need to go to - e.g. working on 3 trips right now
- rename feature nice
- one big issue I have with Safari tab groups is it’s a memory hog ( on OSX but not that I notice on iOS) - this caused me grief for a few weeks when I couldn’t get Lightroom to perform even adequately. So I shut down a lot of tabs and voila issue solved!
- one nice feature about Safari tab groups is that they work on all my Apple devices bot on OSX and iOS
- just noticed there is an iOS version - Safari looks pretty fully featured on desktop and mobile so I wonder if Arc the same?

[TheMrClaus]

I'm loving Arc so far, but Edge has a much easier split view mode, best I've seen so far.

[aladin_run]

I'll certainly try it when it comes to Windows, automatic archive and Peek sound very useful.

[robnowe]

Arc starts by asking for your mail address... that is a problem!

[elsaaforges]

I have been using Vivaldi with Workona to keep each space with its tabs organized. Arc would do both in one app? That would be cool! 😍

[RikThePixel]

Imma go off on a little tangent.

I like what Arc is trying to do. I like the effort that they put into thinking of all these new and innovative features. However, it is slightly worrying that it will be **another** Chromium based browser. I am a developer (specializing in web-dev), and I fear that browsers moving to a singlar basis for their browsers will stifle innovation.

The problem with more and more browsers that use Chromium is that chromium might get lazy, just as we saw with Internet Explorer. Less newer browser APIs, less new features that us developers can use.

Webdevelopers are usually thought to check out the way your website looks on almost every browser, so Firefox, Chromium (Brave, Chrome and Edge, etc.), Opera and Safari. Frontend developers try to create a good experience. Because usability is key on the web.

I highly support Arc however and like what they are doing. I just wish we got more alternatives that use base engines like Firefox's or another.

If you want tot takeaway anything from this comment, just know that there are alternatives to chrome browsers. Give 'em a try, it doesn't hurt, and usually it allows you to import most of your current features, extensions and bookmarks!

[nevilleantro-zpbm]

I tried it for 1 month, yet it can't replace Vivaldi for me