We are gathered here today to celebrate the life and the memory of the browser known as Arc, who is survived by thousands of users around the world, born to Josh Miller and The Browser Company of New York. It was a great browser, and it had ideas that have shaped the way many of us use our computers to this day.

In all seriousness, I’ve come to accept that The Browser Company is no longer going to be working on Arc, and I’ve accepted that it’s time to start letting go. While I’m sad about the browser dying, I do think that the world will go on. Ultimately there were a lot of good ideas that the browser had, but I don’t think it really caught on like we all had hoped, especially like the company had hoped.

What I Liked

Honestly my favorite part of this browser were the ideas it had about web apps. It really felt like the best version of a take on “an operating system for the web.” I think Chromebook had some decent ideas, but I just don’t think “web terminal” was the right route there. Arc felt like you could organize it in some ways that just were unlike any other browser. Tabs felt less like ephemeral annoyances that I would try to close, they felt more like apps on a dock or a Home Screen. While other browsers were able to copy things like pinned tabs and a vertical sidebar arrangement, nobody was able to get it to work quite like Arc did.

That’s another aspect of the browser that I really liked: the fit and finish. There were a lot of really nice interactions within the app itself, especially on mobile. The haptic were always satisfying, animations were always snappy, and it took advantage of every input and it all worked as expected. It rivaled Apple’s own interaction design at times.

Why I Don’t Think it Caught On

That’s kinda simple: it was too different. It wasn’t something that everyday people could just pick up and start using. That was something that never sat quite right with The Browser Company. They wanted to build a browser that could rival Chrome and, while Arc was great, there’s no way that was going to happen. When they finally realized that, it was time for them to move on.

Dia and the Future

If you’ve seen The Browser Company’s initial renders of Dia (or if you’re lucky enough to be one of the few people alpha testing it), you can see that it’s a way more familiar design. It’s got horizontal tabs and generally looks a lot like Chrome. Now, The Browser Company isn’t betting on the web, they’re betting on AI. For some people I don’t think that this will sit right, but BCNY has always been trying to build an AI browser. This was a logical next step for them.

Closing Thoughts

While I’m sad to see Arc be forgotten by the company that built it, I do think that Dia will be an interesting evolution in the world of web browsers. Arc was a good idea, but good ideas aren’t everything, enough people have to think it’s a good idea and that just wasn’t happening. Right now I’m using Safari for its native iCloud Passkey support as well as Apple Pay. Those are two features that I use a lot personally. While I find myself missing Arc while using Safari, I’m excited for the future of the software industry. Have any thoughts? Let me know over on Bluesky or Mastodon.