Arc browser is now available for Windows 11

I downloaded it, set up my account and signed in.

I can't theme the browser. Why? Looks like they didn't add it or they stripped it out. Themes from the Chrome Web Store don't work.

And, just as before, it runs once after installation and never again. Don't spend long on it until you check if it runs more than once!

Another Chromium based browser. Now I've four of them and two Mozilla Blink based browsers!

NormanF said:

Another Chromium based browser. Now I've four of them and two Mozilla Blink based browsers!

Click to expand...

IIRC, Blink is Chromium! Firefox is not Chromium!

You can run this batch file every time you want to open Arc

No problem for me, now on this site in it. Installed, opened, closed, 4 times, no issue. Rebooted and opened, still no operation issue. Not thrilled with having Google links automatically included on the Favorites bar. Four-month-old inexpensive HP Notebook not listed in My Computer.

My Arc sank. Bye Bye arc. I'm sticking with Brave.

I should have mentioned I do everything on this Notebook as Administrator with Microsoft Account, haven't tried it on one with only a Local Account.

If we could do what is at the end of The Video-I would use it!

The one thing I wish is that it came in a portable version instead of an installer version.

But I can say that about most of the major browsers, too, so....

I wonder how long it will take to get enough users to even be considered as a niche user browser.

I fail to see how a new player in the browser market could realistically ever generate enough revenue to support its development.

The easy swapping of Spaces and Profiles (assuming it actually works like it shows in the GIF) may be appealing to road warriors and WFH folks.

Though, I WFH, and I absolutely prefer full isolation by putting work stuff in a single Chrome profile, and sometimes using Edge for Azure / Entrada stuff, while using Firefox for personal / private stuff.

I'll give it a whirl and see if what they show really is true or not.

They say some nice things on their privacy page, but right now we can only take their word for those things. Same with their security page, especially with both GAIA and UMA being disabled, pus a lot more. The Max page shows some nifty (seemingly AI-generated) features like auto-renaming of tabs and downloads to relevant, human-readable names. The Boosts page shows some nifty customizations for some of the more popular sites like YT (blocking Shorts), as well as (general) theming, and more.

One feature that I see a truly unique is their Split-view function.

Split View: View Multiple Tabs at Once

This article applies to Arc on macOS and Windows.

Split View in Arc Browser revolutionizes your multitasking by allowing you to view and interact with multiple tabs simultaneously in one window. When you create a split view, it becomes its own new tab in the sidebar that you can come back to later.

This feature is perfect for users who need to compare information across different sites or want to keep essential content readily visible while browsing.

Click to expand...

I would absolutely love to see this in Firefox or Chrome.

Other features like Little Arc and Mini Player will be of interest to some people as well.

I need to test their execution of it, but I can see this becoming a niche product relatively quickly - as long as they can surmount their current usability issues (I've seen lots of reports on Windows particularly where the app thinks it is not installed after it has already been used lol).

Potential for greatly improved workflow tho not quite there yet for win11, but so far it's impressive and worth switching to soon.

This page froze up, so I had to post this with Brave.

The keyboard shortcut for Settings works correctly, but clicking on Settings from the menu opens the dialog behind the main Arc window. Also, no Settings from the Command Bar. Also, the font on the extension icon windows is too big.

Looking forward to the Win version being comparable to Mac version, hopefully, and being able to sync bookmarks.

hi,

did someone use Arc browser Based on Chromium version 125.0.6422.112 (Build officiel) (64 bits) on windows 24H2 ,and give me his first impressions please ?
have a good day all

It doesn't have a theme manager to download and install themes from the Chrome Web Store.

Have no idea why they stripped it out.

TahitianVibes said:

hi,

did someone use Arc browser Based on Chromium version 125.0.6422.112 (Build officiel) (64 bits) on windows 24H2 ,and give me his first impressions please ?
have a good day all

Click to expand...

Hi,
I tested it and found it very resource intensive.
I was an early tester in the 'limited release' and was hoping their first public version would be better.
It wasn't. There was just no incentive for me to keep it installed as Firefox & Edge meet my needs.
Mais à chacun ses goûts, you might like it.

So many Chrome based browsers.

Its obvious why Microsoft decided to give up developing a proprietary, in-house browser.

NormanF said:

It doesn't have a theme manager to download and install themes from the Chrome Web Store.

Have no idea why they stripped it out.

Click to expand...

ok thx for your reply ..not the first thing that i look in a browser .

OAT said:

Hi,
I tested it and found it very resource intensive.
I was an early tester in the 'limited release' and was hoping their first public version would be better.
It wasn't. There was just no incentive for me to keep it installed as Firefox & Edge meet my needs.
Mais à chacun ses goûts, you might like it.

Click to expand...

ok ok ..i tested it on first time too ..but I was very disappointed (it was the very beginning so ..) - so I'm going to try it again to see what it's all about. thx

NormanF said:

So many Chrome based browsers.

Its obvious why Microsoft decided to give up developing a proprietary, in-house browser.

Click to expand...

not wrong ^^ - thx

I've not used it on 24H2. I'm using it on 23H2 (build 22631.3672).

I stuck with it through the last several builds for one main reason - I want to see where it goes with this development. I use Arc like I do Firefox with the Container Tab Groups addon - I have separate 'Spaces' (in the Arc vernacular) that are also assigned to separate 'Profiles', isolating all login info, etc. by profile, which correspond to my domains and private Google accounts. It has some issues, but slowly they are being improved upon. Some of the same experimental features from Chrome and other Chromium-based browsers can also be applied to Arc, as well, via arc://flags, so that helps in the short term for a couple of minor things, and the resource usage is not all that bad, all things considered, for my build, anyway.

I've been using it as my daily drive for about 2 weeks now, and the best part of it is the swapping of spaces using [CTRL] + [ALT] + <-- / --> (left and right arrow keys). It's faster than multiple profiles in Chrome, which means either going to the top right and manually selecting a profile or else running Chrome again, having it open the profile chooser, and then selecting a profile, and faster than Fx with CTG, having to use the mouse to select each group individually.

Additionally, upon selecting a profile, the tabs are not automatically loaded, from what I can tell, similarly to Fx with CTG, and that is hugely beneficial.

One problem I've run into is that there is no way to re-order the Spaces. Another is that you an only pin 12 sites at the top. A final one is that pinned addons at the top forget their icons (showing blank spaces) - but the pinned addons are still in their proper spots.

Overall, though, because I prefer to have multiple Spaces, each with a dedicated Profile, Arc is actually working quite well.