Arc is currently in public beta, requiring an invitation code or queuing for access. Each user has 5 invitation codes to share with friends. If you'd like to try the Arc browser, feel free to DM me for a code.
As of this blog post's publication, the Arc browser is only available for Mac and iPhone.
Preface
Browsers are familiar to everyone. Personally, I believe the essence of computer science lies in data and data processing, while the essence of the internet is information exchange. Thus, how to enable the general public to process the vast amounts of internet data more efficiently is a crucial area of research. Since most people are unfamiliar with computers, command lines, etc., a tool that visualizes internet data and information is essential—hence the birth of browsers.
Typical Browser Design
A browser is a tool that translates the code languages of the internet into visual interfaces and issues commands to interact with them. Beyond this, its role is to help users better manage the internet’s vast information. Currently, mainstream browsers offer the following features, which we’ll explore one by one.
Account System
If you only use a browser on a single computer, an account system may not seem important. This explains why many users migrating from Windows XP to Windows 7+ systems stick to local accounts instead of Microsoft accounts. However, if you use the same browser across multiple devices, the account system exists to sync data seamlessly between them.
Additionally, accounts align with browser vendors’ strategic goals. Using the same account grants access not just to their browser but also to other products like antivirus software, forums, etc. This also lays the groundwork for vendors to deliver targeted ads.
Note, however, that most browser account systems only sync bookmarks, saved URLs, and settings (sometimes)—not the tabs currently open on Device A to Device B. To open the same pages on Device B, you’d either need to dig through “History” (if browsing history syncs) or check “Tabs from other devices.”
Address Bar
As the name suggests, the address bar displays the current page’s URL. Often, users don’t care about the path (the part after the domain, e.g., in www.baidu.com/personal.html, /personal.html is the path, and www.baidu.com is the domain)—nor do they need to. Knowing the domain suffices, mainly to guard against phishing sites.
Chrome doesn’t allow customization here—it always shows the full URL:
Safari, however, lets you choose whether to display the full address, though this setting is buried under Preferences > Advanced > Smart Search Field:
Safari showing the full address:
Safari showing only the domain:
The downside of hiding the full address is accidentally clicking “affiliate links”—URLs with appended codes like www.jd.com/goods/123?reffercode=xxx. Using such links to shop means the referrer earns a commission. While this doesn’t harm you (you were buying anyway), it can feel exploitative. Hence, I prefer showing full URLs.
Moreover, modern browsers treat the address bar as a search tool. This serves two purposes: simplifying search workflows and partnering with search engines for revenue. Rumor has it Google pays Apple billions annually to remain Safari’s default search engine.
Bookmarks (Favorites)
Bookmarks, or favorites, store URLs for quick access or future reference. But two issues arise:
- Over time, bookmarks pile up, making them hard to navigate.
- Some pages are saved for “read later, then delete,” but users forget, cluttering the system.
For the first issue, folders help—but they’re a stopgap. Nested folders don’t solve the core problem of bookmark overload.
For the second, Chrome recently added a “Temporary Bookmarks” feature—“Read Later”:
Safari tackled this earlier with its “Reading List” (essentially “Read Later”):
Arc Browser Design
With so many browsers available, why another one? The answer is simple: Arc aims to address pain points in conventional browsers. Below, we’ll examine its solutions for specific scenarios.
Scenario 1
Your colleagues or friends send you **multiple** links via WeChat, QQ, etc., asking you to open them to vote, grab a slot, or "cut a price" for them.
Standard Browser Workflow:
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Open the multiple links sent by your friend in the browser you’re currently using—which already has hundreds of tabs open, making it impossible to distinguish which favicon belongs to which tab.
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Handle the requested tasks in the newly opened tabs.
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After completing the tasks, locate and close each of the tabs opened from your friend’s links among the sea of tabs—a tedious process, especially when you can’t remember which ones were just opened or where they appeared relative to your existing tabs.
👇🏻 Can you accurately identify which tabs were temporarily opened from your friend’s links and need to be closed after handling the request? Especially when you’re unsure whether new tabs open to the left or right of your current ones.
More often than not, you might find it too bothersome to track down these tabs and just leave them open, worsening the tab overload.
Arc Browser Workflow:
First, Arc tackles this problem at its root by preventing tab overload. How? Through a feature called “Little Arc” (the official name; I personally call it “Temporary Window”).
The design principle of Little Arc is simple: links opened from external apps (e.g., via shortcuts or other applications) default to opening in a standalone temporary window, not your main Arc browser:
This solves the issue of “too many tabs making it hard to find and close temporary ones, leading to tab accumulation.”
You might wonder: How does Arc decide whether a link should open in the main browser or Little Arc? The answer is “Air Traffic Control.” As the name suggests, you can manually set a whitelist to specify which domains open in the main Arc and which open in Little Arc:
(Ignore the “Open in” setting above for now—we’ll cover it later.) By default, links not on the whitelist open in Little Arc. You can also move a Little Arc window to your main Arc by clicking “Open in XXX” (where XXX is the Space name, explained later) in the top-right corner or pressing Cmd + O.
Scenario 2
You're at work, reading a fascinating blog post when suddenly it's 6 PM—time to pack up and head home. Later, at home, you recall that brilliant article.
Standard Browser Workflow (Chrome Example):
- Click “History” in the top bar.
- Select “Show Full History.”
- Click “Tabs from Other Devices,” then choose the tab you had open at work.
Arc Browser Workflow:
No! Action! Needed! Any tab opened in one Arc browser syncs instantly to all other Arc browsers under the same account.
Even if you have multiple Arc windows open on the same computer, tabs opened in one window appear in real time in the others. (Makes perfect sense!)
Update 2023.06.02: Arc has since removed this design. If multiple windows are open on the same computer, each now maintains its own tabs. Closing a window prompts you to choose whether to transfer its tabs to the remaining active window(s).
One exception: Pinned tabs (covered later)—the up-to-12 tabs in the top-left corner—are globally unique and not Space-specific (more on Spaces later). If opened in one window, the corresponding tab in another window automatically closes (only applies to multiple windows on the same device).
Scenario 3
During work hours, you're scrolling through Weibo and Twitter when a colleague asks you to review some code. So, you open the code review link next to your Weibo window, but secretly, you want to procrastinate a bit longer. Just then, Senior T walks by, prompting you to quickly switch to the code review tab. Senior T nods approvingly at your apparent diligence—until they notice the glaring Weibo tab right beside the review tab. Your scheme of slacking off on Weibo while pretending to review code is exposed. As a result, you lose your year-end bonus, miss the general salary adjustment, get no promotion, and even face PUA and N+1.
Standard Browser Operations (Using Chrome as an Example):
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(Optional) Open an incognito window for Weibo while keeping the regular window for code review. The downside? When Senior T walks by while you’re watching a video of a dancing girl, you hastily close the incognito window—only to later forget the URL when reminiscing about her graceful moves.
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(Optional) Hide Weibo in a tab group for
seamless switching.
Arc Browser Operations:
Arc introduces the concept of Spaces. For example, I set up two Spaces: one named “Work” and another called “Serious Work.” Following the “traffic control” setup mentioned earlier, I open slacking-off sites like Weibo and Twitter in the “Serious Work” Space, while keeping actual work tabs in the “Work” Space. Then, I use CMD + 1/2 to switch between Spaces instantly.
Note: Pinned tabs are shared across Spaces, but Folders (similar to traditional bookmarks but with differences explained later) and open tabs are independent.
Other Design Philosophies of Arc
Beyond its core efficiency-boosting features, Arc incorporates other concepts to free us from the burden of webpage management. Below, we delve into these ideas alongside the earlier content.
Space
As the name suggests, Spaces act as partitions, akin to multiple accounts. The key difference is that only Folders and open pages are independent per Space, while Pinned tabs and extensions remain consistent.
Pinned
You can pin frequently used pages (up to 12) to the top of all Spaces. These pinned pages remain unchanged when switching Spaces. I typically pin pages I use across Spaces, like Notion, Gmail, and Spotify.
Since pinned pages have higher priority, the Arc team has optimized certain websites to display previews when hovered over (if supported):
Currently, some supported websites allow customized preview effects in settings:
Folder
Folders resemble traditional browser bookmarks/favorites but with a twist: clicking a Folder opens the pages directly instead of launching a new tab after the bookmark interface disappears.
Clicking the close button on the right shuts the Folder’s open pages, turning the button into a minus (“—”). Clicking it again removes the page from the Folder.
The biggest difference from traditional bookmarks is that Folders cannot be hidden. Thus, they typically host Space-specific, frequently accessed pages—like work reports or code review links in my “Work” Space. This forced visibility might seem like a drawback, but it encourages reducing clutter by internalizing content. Folders strike a balance between traditional “bookmarks” and “read-it-later” lists.
Hovering over a Folder also displays a preview:
Daily Tabs
These are like regular browser tabs but with one key difference: they get automatically cleared (officially termed “Auto Archive”).
Use this space for pages you open daily and can close after work. For pages that need to stay open indefinitely, move them to a Folder.
You can set how often Auto Archive occurs:
Split View
This is quite a useful scenario. Sometimes you need to view different pages simultaneously. With a regular browser, you’d have to open two separate windows and manually adjust their positions to display them side by side. In Arc, however, you can split a window and choose which pages to open, allowing both to appear at once:
You can split the view into up to 4 sections:
Not only vertical splits are possible, but horizontal ones as well (which makes perfect sense):
Boost Site
This feature is similar to the Tampermonkey plugin, allowing you to easily customize the appearance of a website, such as converting all text to uppercase, modifying fonts, colors, etc. Those with CSS and JavaScript skills can write code to tailor the style and behavior of any website. Since this is quite hacky, we won’t delve deeper here.
Extensions
Since Arc is based on the Chromium project, the same foundation as Chrome:
Home https://www.chromium.org/chromium-projects/ https://www.chromium.org/chromium-projects/
You can essentially use it just like Chrome. All extensions supported by Chrome work here, and Chrome’s debugging console and other tools are also available. Even better, you can migrate all your content from Chrome (or Edge, both Chromium-based) to Arc with a single click—all content includes session data, saved passwords, cookies, etc. This means you can seamlessly switch from Chrome to Arc without having to re-enter account details, passwords, or rebuild your history.
Other Features
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Shortcuts: Arc prioritizes shortcut support, which raises a question: What happens when shortcuts on websites like Notion conflict with Arc’s? The solution is setting priorities. You can configure whether the browser or the website takes precedence for a shortcut, or toggle between them with a second press. You can also choose to exclusively respond to one or the other—quite practical.
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Search Bar: Users familiar with Alfred or VS Code will appreciate the ability to summon a search bar with a shortcut (CMD + T) and type queries directly. Arc implements this feature as well. The global search bar includes many details, such as how content is displayed by default. Interested users can explore further.
One thing to look forward to is the potential opening of this search API for integration with Alfred.
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Folder Integration: After downloading a file on a webpage, you can view it in the bottom-left corner of the browser:
Clicking here reveals other folders categorized by Arc, such as Media, Downloads, etc. Additional features like a full Space overview are also accessible here—worth exploring.
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Notes & Drawing: This feature exists but feels unnecessary. Who would use a mouse to draw in a browser? Still, it’s better than nothing. Judging by usage metrics, this feature likely sees little activity, as updates have been scarce since its launch.
Notes appear to be implemented natively, with no option to inspect the source code (CMD + ALT + I won’t open the console):
Details
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Mini Player. Music streaming sites like Apple Music and Spotify’s web versions (others like NetEase Cloud Music haven’t been tested) display a small editor button at the bottom during playback, allowing for global control:
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Local Development Support. Normally, when opening a webpage, the interface is minimal (as seen in the Arc screenshots above). However, if you open a [localhost]([object Object]) address, it switches to “Developer Mode,” placing commonly used tools like active extensions and quick console access at the top for easy use.
Drawbacks
Nothing is perfect. The reason Marxist dialectical materialism is the universal truth lies in its adaptability—it evolves with the times, offering different interpretations for different eras. Thus, we must use Marxist dialectical thinking to critically evaluate Arc’s design philosophy.
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No iPad-specific version. This is baffling. An iPad version would significantly boost the usage of the built-in drawing and note-taking features.
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On the iPhone version, after opening a webpage, if you want to open another one, there are only two options: either swipe down to close the current page (which then requires effort to find the swiped-away page in the Archived section); or tap the pin button in the lower right corner to place the page in a Folder. Honestly, neither option is ideal for me. Swiping down lacks the deliberate action of clicking an “x”—why not just keep it open in the tabs list?
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The iPhone version lacks an incognito mode. The usefulness of incognito mode is self-explanatory for those who know.
Conclusion
Arc is an outlier among browsers, yet many of its designs are highly intuitive. Its ability to carve out a niche in today’s crowded browser market speaks to the recognition of the solutions it aims to provide. Interested friends should give it a try!
From the author:
I often wish that when facing some key decisions in life, someone could tell me the best course of action so that I would not waste my precious time. Putting myself in others' shoes, I therefore write blogs often, hoping to record in this tiny corner of the vast Internet the once-in-a-lifetime experiences that matter to me, and to help those who seek help.
