Arc Browser fell off — here’s why I’m returning to Chrome

Over the past year and change, the Arc Browser has become something of a darling among certain circles on the internet. The Chromium-based navigator offers a truly unique experience in a sea of all too similar browsers.

However, in recent weeks, you may have noticed that Arc has begun to lose the favor of even the most loyal fans. Though the shift may seem sudden, there are legitimate reasons as to why many users are ditching Arc for greener pastures.

New features, not coming to an Arc near you

Say goodbye to Arc Thursdays

Pocket-lint

One of the most exciting parts of using Arc in the earlier days of the browser was seeing what new features they were going to introduce next. The browser received weekly updates that even came with a very nicely laid out change log and sometimes even videos. While not every week was groundbreaking, there was something special in the waiting period between enormous feature drops.

Using Arc comes with an immediate wow factor, and it was truly incredible to watch that experience be regularly built upon. But, The Browser Company recently announced that development for Arc was officially winding down. Although Arc Browser will still be receiving security updates, there will be no new features coming to the browser — not even previously promised features.

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Needless to say, it’s left many Arc users incredibly disappointed. Partially because there had been a few features that were advertised as in Arc’s future, such as Arc Search’s “Browse for Me” element.

However, a larger share of this disappointment resonates among Windows users, as Arc Browser’s Windows release is vastly inferior. The Windows release is still missing many features that are on the macOS version. Thankfully, Shannon Potter, an engineer at The Browser Company, has stated on X that “the intent for now is for Windows to keep pace with macOS.”

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Why is Arc not receiving new features?

The future of The Browser Company

The Browser Company

The natural question to the news that Arc won’t be receiving new features is, “why?” The answer is that The Browser Company is shifting focus to their next big product. Josh Miller, CEO of The Browser Company, explained that their next big product is vastly different from Arc — so different that it might not even be a browser as we know it.

This led to more questions and speculation from Arc users, which eventually led to Miller making a longer post on X going over why this came about. The brunt of his points mostly came down to wanting to build something outside the “niche” that Arc fills. Miller compared Arc to the Power Mac G4 Cube and The Browser Company’s next browser to the translucent iMac.

Miller’s reasoning hasn’t entirely quelled concerns from Arc’s user base. One prominent argument is that the audience for a browser that isn’t Google Chrome or Safari is always going to be niche, especially one that’s trying to radically depart from the typical browsing experience. This niche — and loyal — crowd has always been Arc’s primary audience, and the company just abandoning Arc feels like a betrayal.

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The Arc migration destinations

Where to now?

Due to this news, many Arc users have been discussing switching browsers. Unfortunately, there isn’t anything else quite like Arc — but that hasn’t stopped a few browsers from consistently cropping up in these conversations.

One of the most frequent names in this discussion is Zen Browser. Zen, much like Arc, uses vertical tabs. Zen is also receiving consistent updates that are frequently bringing new features and customization options. There are also some distinct differences Zen has over Arc, such as it being open source and being based on Firefox rather than Chromium.

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Aside from Zen Browser, there’s also been a lot of talk about switching to Vivaldi, another Chromium-based browser. Vivaldi isn’t a whole lot like Arc in terms of work flow, but it is one of the most aesthetically pleasing browsers out there. And while its work flow isn’t really like Arc’s, it is still distinct from the standard browser experience.

And of course, there is always the option of just returning to the mundane with plain old Google Chrome or Firefox. Either way, for those abandoning Arc Browser, there are plenty of browsers in the sea.