The Browser Company, maker of the Arc web browser, released its Windows version today. The company began testing the Windows client in December and said more than 150,000 people were using it.
The startup, which aims to replace your current browser, recently raised $50 million at a valuation of $550 million. Today, The Browser Company opened access to its Windows version to all users without a waitlist. Previously, the waiting list had more than a million people.
The company started with an invite-only Mac version in 2022 and opened it to everyone in July 2023.
Image credits: The Browser Society
The Browser Company decided to build the Windows version in Swift so they could reuse and share the majority of the code base with the Mac version. Swift is a programming language originally designed by Apple to develop iPhone and Mac applications. Using Swift on Windows will make it easier to maintain feature parity in the future. The company has also written extensively about its experience building Swift on Windows to help developers wanting to port their apps to Mac.
Features on Windows version
Arc on Windows has some basic features of the Mac version, including the sidebar with the most used web pages pinned to the top; Spaces, which are like folders for different sets of tabs for different tasks such as “Work”, “Entertainment”, “Vacation” and “Note Taking”; profiles for distinct browsing data and preferences; split view to open multiple tabs in a single window; and support for picture-in-picture video player so you can view other tabs while watching a video clip.
Image credits: The Browser Society
The Windows team also included the Peek feature, which was missing in the initial release. Peek allows you to see a quick preview of the link from the pinned and favorite tabs without clicking on the link.
This month it introduced Arc Sync across all devices to allow users to access their sidebar, spaces, folders and tabs across all devices. This feature will also work on Windows version.
One of the main differentiators between the Windows and Mac versions is that the former supports touchscreens.
However, newer versions of Windows lack features such as Little Arc, which is a floating browser window intended for temporary uses such as opening a link. The company did not specify whether the Windows version has AI-based features such as link preview summaries, renaming of downloaded files, instant links to directly serve websites, and automatic updating live files.
What awaits us
Currently, Arc for Windows only supports Windows 11, but the startup is working on Windows 10 support.
The company also said it wants to bring feature parity to both Mac and Windows, but did not provide a timeline for that.
Earlier this year, The Browser Company released a mobile app for iPhone called Arc Search. With the latest release, the company announced plans to release an Arc Search client for Android.
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