How the Arc Browser changed the way I surf on Mac — 5 Reasons You Should Switch

Safari and Chrome is not just boring but also way behind of what Arc has to offer with its browsing experience. From its AI features to design language and utility… Arc has got it all!

Since I bought my first Mac in 2015, I have stuck to some stock apps from Apple as if my life depended on them. These include the Notes app, Reminders, Calendar, and Safari. While the former three are quick-capture or once-in-a-while-glancing apps, Safari has been the main ingredient that made browsing the web easy and fast.

Source: Author | My Mac since 2015

Until I switched to Chrome when I started at university. I needed a better browser that enabled plugins and had better developer tools and Safari just didn’t work sometimes. But the new romance was short-lived as I moved back to Safari after being done with University. I could finally use my personal computer the way I wanted.

And that’s when I came across Arc Browser by The Browser Company. It was gaining popularity day-by-day and I just couldn’t resist. It’s been 6 months since I switched to Arc on my Mac and finally, I can say, I got the best of both worlds (Safari and Chrome) and am not switching back!

And here’s why you should be making the switch too:

👉 INDEX 👈

Reason #1: The vertical tab management
Reason #2: AI Features Done Right - Browse For Me & Summarization
Reason #3: Customizing using Boost
Reason #4: Easels - the Freeform alternative within your browser
Reason #5: A Developer community that cares about the browsing experience

Then what doesn't work?

Conclusion

Reason #1: The vertical tab management

Though macOS has a split-tab management built-in, it doesn’t do justice when you have multiple tabs in your browser and some other app open for reference at the same time.

This is where Arc’s vertical tab management comes in, allowing you to open up to 4 tabs on your browser and manage them along with other apps on your desktop. It’s as simple as dragging them or using a keyboard shortcut if you remember it.

Reason #2: AI Features Done Right — Instant Links & 5-Second Previews

While the whole tech community is figuring out how to integrate AI into their products and services, very few have succeeded in that endeavor because, in the end, you don’t want a cyborg but a very human-like assistant. Browsers could benefit a lot from ChatGPT-like integration but the popular ones like Safari and Chrome seem to be leaving it all to the search engines.

But The Browser Company got it just right with Arc Max features. These Arc Max features are a bunch of AI features built within the browser. My favorite among this suite of Max features is ‘Instant Links’. This feature allows you to quickly find the top result for a search without having to go through the list of results that a search engine usually brings back and also cuts down on all the unnecessary Ads that keep popping up to derail you from your search. The amount of time you end up saving without having to click every other link makes this a huge productivity hack for me. All you have to do is hit ‘Shift+Enter’ instead of just ‘Enter’.

Source: Author | Instant Links — letting your browser browse for you

And then there is ‘5-Second Previews’. By just hovering on a link, a dialogue box pops up giving you a summary of what you are to find on that page, saving you that click by previewing it in five seconds.

Source: Author | 5-Seconds Preview popup

Can’t find something on the page or simply confused about what it says? CMD+F on Arc not only finds you specific words from the page you are on but also answers your question by reading through the content of the page.

Source: Author | ‘Ask on Page’ allows you to quickly summarize or ask questions about the content on the page

And that’s not all. The Max feature has other great features in its suit which are sure to become a part of your daily browsing experience. 

Source: Author | Arc Max is a suite of AI features within the Arc browser

This is hands down, the best implementation of AI within a browser.