Ryan Trimble
Command line terminal showing Fig running a command

Arc Browser is Awesome

Products and Tools

Arc browser, by The Browser Company of New York, is a new Chromium-based web browser that I have been using as my daily-driver browser. Arc is a refreshing take on a web browser in my opinion and has a few standout features.

Great Features

Arc has a lot of functionality built in that I like a lot. Many of these features could probably be attained through extensions in other browsers like Chrome and Firefox, but having them available out-of-the-box is super convenient.

Split Screen Tabs

One of the nicest features, which I’m surprised other browsers haven’t added, are split-screen tabs.

Arc can split-screen in either horizontal or vertical layouts, and can quickly swap between the two. You can join two existing tabs together or separate existing split-screen tabs.

For development, it is nice to be able to have your project and technical documentation open side-by-side.

Arc browser with split tabs

Screenshots

The built-in screenshot tool is a super convenient feature. You can grab screenshots of the full-page, specific elements by hovering, or portions of a page by dragging to select.

With Chrome, this is functionality that I usually need to reach for in an extension.

Workspaces

You can split up groups of tabs into easily switchable workspaces in Arc. I find this helpful whenever I want to have a separation between personal browsing and work-related tasks.

Workspaces can be customized, given different colors and names to help distinguish between them.

Boosts

Boosts are super neat. I’m not sure I have found a practical use case for them yet, but as a developer, I find them very interesting.

Boosts give you the ability to add custom CSS or JavaScript to websites that you visit. These custom scripts and styles are persistent as well, so they will be applied anytime you visit a site where one is enabled.

One Drawback

The main thing I want from Arc is for it to become available on more operating systems. Currently, Arc is only available on macOS and iOS, with browser sync happening within iCloud.

I am device agnostic. I use a Macbook, a Windows desktop, and an Android phone. It would be great to be able to use Arc on each, as well as synchronize my settings across devices. Arc for Windows is in the pipeline, so there is hope that it will become available for more devices.

Closing Thoughts

I’m looking forward to how Arc browser evolves over time. Arc has received frequent updates as they are on a weekly release cycle. Their changelog is usually a fun read too.

As mentioned, Arc is currently only available on Mac and iOS. At the time of this writing, Arc is also invite-only, but you can sign up to receive an invitation on their website.

Let's work together!