The Browser Company, makers of the Arc web browser, released its Windows version today. The company started testing the Windows client in December, and it said that more than 150,000 people have been using it.
The startup, which aims to replace your current browser, recently raised $50 million at a $550 million valuation. Today, The Browser Company opened access to its Windows version to all users without any waitlist. Previously, the waitlist had more than 1 million people on it.
The company started with an invite-only Mac-based version in 2022 and opened it to everyone in July 2023.
The Browser Company decided to build the Windows version in Swift so it could reuse and share the majority of the codebase with the Mac version. Swift is a programming language that Apple originally designed to develop iPhone and Mac apps. 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 in Swift on Windows to help developers looking to port their Mac apps.
Features on the Windows version
Arc on Windows has some core features of the Mac version, including the sidebar with most-used web pages pinned up top; Spaces, which are like folders for different sets of tabs for different tasks such as “Work,” “Entertainment,” “Vacation” and “Notetaking”; profiles for separate browsing data and preferences; split view for opening multiple tabs in a single window; and support for picture-in-picture video player so you can look at other tabs while watching a video clip.
The Windows team has also included the Peek feature, which was missing from the initial version. Peek lets you see a quick link preview from the pinned and favorites tabs without clicking on the link.
This month, it introduced Arc Sync across devices to let users access their sidebar, spaces, folders and tabs which are accessible across devices. This feature will work on the Windows version as well.
One of the primary differentiators between the Windows and Mac versions is that the former supports touchscreens.
However, the newly released Windows version is missing features like Little Arc, which is a floating browser window for temporary uses such as opening a link. The company didn’t specify if the Windows version has AI-powered features such as link preview summaries, renaming downloaded files, instant links to serve websites directly and automatically updating live folders.
What’s ahead
Currently, Arc for Windows only supports Windows 11, but the startup is working on support for Windows 10.
The company also said that it wants to bring feature parity to both Mac and Windows but didn’t provide a timeline for it.
Earlier this year, The Browser Company released a mobile app for iPhone called Arc Search. With the latest release, the company said it plans to release an Arc Search client for Android.
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