Arc Browser was probably my top tech discovery of 2023. 

Can it be considered tech? I mean, technically speaking, it's a piece of software, right? A heck of a good one, let me tell you.

Arc is the best web browser I've ever used. Period. 

Over the last 15 years I've had periods where I've used pretty much every major browser there has ever existed. Internet Explorer, Safari, Chrome, Firefox... 

I've continued going back and forth between Chrome and Safari for the most part, until I ultimately started using Safari just out of convenience (I'm an Apple user through and through).

But then... The head of design over at Thrive Themes one day told me I should look at how this small little company was marketing its software through their Youtube channel...

And not only did I fall in love with their storytelling techniques, but I ultimately fell in love with the product as well.

This is how Arc has made me rethink what internet search should really feel like.

What makes arc browser so good?

Arc today still feels very much like a web browser, but with capabilities that no other browser has offered in such a user-intuitive way.

As someone who does web design and development for a living, I can 100% assure you that the user interface doesn't just have a tremendous impact on sales, but on churn too.

And Arc is capable of bringing features that were already available in other browsers, like bookmarking tabs or websites, but in a simpler and more productive way.

Here's an example...

What you're looking at highlighted is what Arc is calling your go-to primary sites. These are those websites that you always want to have pinned, regardless of whether you're browsing the web doing some shopping or you're fully immersed in deep work. For me, those tabs are...

• Youtube (you'll understand why in a second)
• X/Twitter (I should probably get rid of this one as it's often too much of a distraction. But I do interact with other people on there on an ongoing basis, and it's a good way of putting myself and my work out there)
• Chess.com (When I'm exhausted, I love jumping in there and playing a quick 3-minute bughouse game)
• ChatGPT (It's a quick way for me to do math, clean up some HTML code, or check my grammar)

What Sets Arc Browser Apart From Other Web Browsers

Now you may be thinking... Okay Tony, but Safari, Chrome, and Firefox all offer the possibility of pinning tabs.

And you're right, they do. So let's take a look at what sets Arc apart from all of these other web browsers.

First things first: folders.

What you're now looking at highlighted in the image above are Arc's pinned folders.

With Arc, you can have folders pinned to your sidebar. Inside each folder, you can have tabs saved so that you can quickly navigate to them.

And the best part? Your tabs don't have to remain open.

That means if your computer is running a bit slow because you're one of those people who have 2039403 tabs open at all times... You can now close them forever.

They can still be pinned inside your folders for you to quickly navigate to them, but they don't have to be running in the background.

Somehow, Arc has this ability to remember where exactly you left off. I've only had some issues when working with different Google accounts. For example, if you rely on Google Calendar and happen to use multiple Google accounts, even though you may have your calendar tab pinned inside one of your folders, you may have to switch back and forth between accounts.

Using Arc's Spaces To Organize Your Browsing Experience

Spaces are the last thing I'd like to talk about before we jump into what the future of browsing looks like.

To put it simply, spaces are a way for you to split your browsing experience into different contexts of life.

For example, I have one space dedicated to personal browsing. If I'm writing things here on my blog, or if I'm shopping on Amazon, or writing something for Thrive.es then I'll jump into my personal space and have all of these folders neatly organized in there.

I have another space for my ratio.dev agency work. This space is pretty self-explanatory. Here I have links to all of my bubble environments, infrastructure sites that I'm always monitoring... 

And finally, I have one more space for everything Thrive Themes. Links to my content calendar, Asana, and Drive folder where I put all of my video footage for my editor to download.

How Arc Is Revolutionizing The Meaning Behind Internet Browsing

And of course... Artificial Intelligence had to play a big role in browsing too, right?

Arc is taking AI pretty seriously.

You see, they strongly believe that not too long from today, the idea of having to use Google – or any other search engine for that matter – to find what you need will be outdated.

Why? Well, because there are too many steps involved in this process that we all know as browsing the internet.

You have to type in what you want to look for, then you need to look at a series of different options to pick from and hope that those sites have the results you're looking for...

What if we could trim this process down a bit? What if we could simply ask Arc to give us the top result for any search query?

Well, this is already a thing.

When browsing Arc, instead of browsing on Google, you can click shift + enter to have Arc automatically load up the top result for your search query.

Arc, the future of internet web browsing?

Look, things change so quickly and so often today that I wouldn't even bet $100 to say that Arc is going to be the king of search in 20 years.

Who knows if we'll even be searching with computers or if we'll have chip implants in our brains.

But as of today, Arc offers the best experience I've ever had from a productivity standpoint.

And hey, remember how I told you earlier I'd be sharing with you why YouTube is one of my primary pinned tabs?

Well, of course, I use it a lot. And Arc happens to be able to do something as simple as picture-in-picture display like no other browser.