Goodbye Arc
TL;DR: I’m leaving Arc after the Browser Company’s change in direction towards AI and away from browsing the actual web. Turns out other browsers are good too!
After a year with Arc as my default browser, I’m saying goodbye and moving back to a traditional browser. I love Arc’s interface and I think it’s improved browsing the internet in a lot of ways, but I can’t support their current direction. It’s time to put my money where my mouth is and make the switch.
For me, the alarm bells went off when they announced Arc Search, a new iPhone app, along with Arc Act II, a radical change in direction for the whole company. A big disconnect is forming between what I want a browser to be, and what Arc wants their browser to be.
Let’s start with the new phone app, Arc Search. Arc Search is not designed for reading and browsing the web by following links, which is how I spend my time on the web. The user-facing part of its design is made for quick, information-seeking searches. The app is very good at getting one bite of information and moving on with your day, which is why the app opens to a search field and tabs are de-emphasized1. Arc’s Browse For Me feature summarizes webpage content similarly to Google’s search summaries, directing my attention from long-form writing to short-form bits of information. This reduces the amount of time I spend on the web, which might be a feature for you if you don’t like the web, but I don’t consider it a good thing. The web vendor-facing part of its design is more openly hostile: Arc Search blocks ads by default, denying websites revenue even when users find their way to a real website.
In contrast, I spend my time on the web totally differently from the Browser Company’s vision. I spend time reading on the web every day, and I use tabs as a way to manage pieces I’m not finished yet. Most times when I open Safari I’m not trying to make a search, but looking for an open tab. My phone browser is where most of my reading happens these days, and I want it to be a peaceful place. How would you feel if your Kindle opened to the book store every time you unlocked it?
I found Arc Search uncomfortable, but the Browser Company’s new direction is much worse. Their explicit goal is to come between users and the web and to disrupt the way we use our computers. I don’t know about you, but I like the web! I like the way I use my computer! Browsing the web has led me to so many wonderful interests and talented writers and my life is all the richer for it. I will not let any company take control over that relationship, no matter how good their design is. I’m a believer in the web platform, which is why I want to build my career on it, and any threat to that is something I take very seriously. Whether it’s attacking the business model that sustains online writers, or directing users away from websites and towards generated search results with factual errors, the Browser Company is trying to hurt the web and I can’t support it. The Browser Company sees the web as a commodity, not as a place for humans to connect with each other.
The frustrating thing is that Arc’s design is very good. I love the desktop app, while trying to get away from it I’ve rediscovered old tools and found unexpected benefits. It turns out Safari is actually a pretty good browser! It has decent tab management features like Tab Groups, and it starts up about five times faster than Arc. Plus it doesn’t need as much screen real estate, and it can run app-like websites as standalone apps to get them out of a browser tab. I’ve replaced Arc’s pinned tabs with good old-fashioned browser bookmarks and mixed in Raycast’s Browser Bookmarks plugin, and as a result, moving on is a lot less painful than I expected.
If you’re a user of Arc and you’re feeling uncomfortable with their new direction, take the plunge and try switching back your old browser. The internet will thank you.
1: Other people might feel differently about their approach to tabs on mobile, but for myself I struggled to find old tabs in Arc Search. The tab UI is beautiful but it hid my many tabs in a stack, where Safari lets me see them more easily. When I returned to Safari on my phone, I immediately noticed that I had an easier time managing and following up on my tabs.