Arc, the innovative web browser developed by The Browser Company, has officially launched its final version for Windows computers. This follows the pre-release version released in December, which has been adopted by over 150,000 users, according to the company.
The startup, aiming to craft a unique browser experience, recently raised investments of $50 million with an evaluation of $550 million. Now anyone can access Arc for Windows without a waitlist, which registered over 1 million users previously. The Browser Company originally launched their macOS version of the browser in 2022, which was invite-only. It became open-access by July 2023.
The development of the Arc for Windows was conducted in the Swift language, leveraging the substantial codebase from the macOS version. Swift was developed by Apple for iOS and macOS applications, and using it for the Windows version ensures feature parity. The company actively shares its Swift development experience to support colleagues porting their initial macOS applications to Windows.
Arc for Windows retains several functions from its macOS counterpart, such as a side panel featuring frequently visited web pages, grouping tabs of different purposes, viewing multiple tab pages in a single window, and a picture-in-picture video player support. The Windows version also introduces the unique Peek feature, which allows previewing saved pages on pinned and favorite tabs without clicking on the link and provides touchscreen support. The developers launched the Arc Sync service in April, providing data synchronization across all devices.
However, some features are absent in the Windows version, one of which is Little Arc – a floating browser window for short-term use. It’s still unclear if the artificial intelligence-based features like link previews, file renaming, and automatic active folder updating are available. Currently, the new browser version is only compatible with Windows 11, but there are plans to support Windows 10 as well. The company intends to bring all features available on the macOS version to Windows, although no timeframe has been provided. Additionally, they have already released the Arc Search app on iOS, with plans to extend it to Android in the future.
