What I like about Arc Browser
I changed my default web browser to Arc from Safari a few days ago. I had a vague idea why I did that.
I have moved back to Arc again. The experiment with Safari lasted a couple of months — it’s fine and I would love to support non-Chrome browsers. But there are so many minor tweaks in Arc that once you experience, you just can’t go back.
I wanted to expand on the tweaks I enjoy that Arc brings to the default browser experience. So, here's the list below, in no specific order.
- With no toolbars and easy access to the sidebar, the clean overall look is its most significant differentiator. It allows focused browsing that no other browser does. All I see is the website, with no other icons to distract me. Plus, Split View and Spaces only elevate the overall multitasking experience when I need it.
- Boosts is a brilliant feature that allows me to customize how an individual website looks—for example, a readable Daring Fireball or a larger text area in some web editors. This can be added to other browsers through extensions, but it is built in tastefully in Arc.
- Peek and Little Arc are brilliant because they avoid opening many tabs. I can quickly glance, decide whether something needs to be a tab, and return to what I was doing.
- The mini-player where the video I am watching continues to play in picture-in-picture mode even when I move away from the tab.
- The developer mode that turns on automatically for localhost URLs also impresses the coder in me every single time. Sidenote: Safari does it the worst.
- Even though I am not a big fan of Arc Max, which ropes in many AI features, Ask Page and ChatGPT in the command bar are a big timesaver.
- I don't use a few others, like Easels, that often, but I can see the potential.
Overall, I have become used to the Arc experience. I don't like that I have no idea of this app's future. How long can it survive without a business model? Will I become "the product" that they sell one day? But as things stand, it remains my default browser.
