Home Forums Networks & Cross-Platform Networking Try It, You May Like It.

In the beginning there was Netscape, which I used at Microsoft in preference to Internet Exploder Explorer. Then my wife got a Mac and I discovered Safari. Over the years I have experimented with Firefox, Opera, Brave, TOR, and I have lost track of how many others I have tried, but in the end I always came back to Safari for multiple reasons including…

• Security
• Integration with other Apple and third party apps
• availability
• security
• stability
• familiarity
• security
• habit
• etc.

Recently I read about a new browser in town called Arc based on Chrome. (Netscape begat Mozilla, Mozilla begat Webkit, Webkit begat Chrome) Chrome's association with Google was an immediate YELLOW if not RED flag, but after reading more about The Browser Company watching a few of their videos and some testing. I decided to give Arc a try and found…

• Arc is NOT like any other browser I have found.
• Arc is organized differently
• Arc can be used entirely from the keyboard
• Arc works on any Apple Device and Windows is in development
• Arc multitasks like a pro
• Arc's development team listens and responds with new releases every Thursday
• Arc Is so different in use that it took me at least a week to adapt and get comfortable with it
• Arc is now my default browser and likely to remain so for the foreseeable future.
• I find new features every day including a builtin markdown note editor and the ability to spawn multiple micro-windows as needed

NEEDFUL THINGS

Although I like Arc, a lot, I was not entirely happy with its security suite until I added uBlock Origin and EFF's Privacy-badger.

DISCLAIMER: I have no pecuniary or other relationship with thebrowser.company other than that of a satisfied user.

This link does not work.

...he dislexia'd the spelling....try the next link.

Yuor'e rghit!

Is the download available without providing an email?

I didn't see a requirement that an email address be submitted.

Follow the "Arc" link in joemike's original post, but correct the spelling in the URL from "broswer" to "browser," and you should be able to d/l Arc forthwith.

https://arc.net/

ARC’s own website. Email address required to get link to downlaod.

I clicked on your link, clicked on "Download Arc," and got my d/l.

I don't see anything about either email address or link.

Please post a screenshot of whatever you're seeing.

You must be getting a different page from their homepage link. I have no idea why this would be so. It will not give me a download unless I enter my email address.


Oh, well. I tried.

I'm seeing this at arc.net.

I'd like to see a screenshot of what you're seeing.

Exactly. And when I click on the RED TAB to download, the email address request pops up.

FWIW : https://bgr.com/tech/i-want-to-try-...if-they-force-me-to-register-an-account/

OK, when I click on the red tab I get a d/l'ed dmg, so as an experiment, I opened it, dragged the app to my desktop, launched it, got a "Welcome" splash-screen, clicked past it, and (finally) got this, at which point I promptly quit the app and deleted all vestiges of it with Find Any File.

Why I wasn't asked to create an account before getting the d/l, as you were, will, I guess, forever remain a mystery. (*)

To be honest, I was intrigued by joemike's post, but after following a few of his links, I decided that barring an unforeseen Safari calamity when I upgrade to Ventura, I'm sticking with it. It may be lacking some Arc features that a power user like joemike finds attractive, but it works just fine for me, and after years of use, I'm comfortable and happy with it and don't feel like getting involved in a major learning curve to gain features that, at the moment, I see no need for. As far as I can tell, Safari combined with the Wipr and Roadblock extensions gives me all-encompassing privacy ans security. ((*) Hmmm... I wonder if one of those extensions blocked the email request you got?)

Also, when I follow joemike's uBlock Origin link, I get this, which apparently doesn't bother him, but makes me wonder...

Just turned off Wipr and Roadblock and still got the d/l with no further ado. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I am deeply into ARC at this point and

• I have have been asked for my email address to download anything, but I was invited to subscribe to Arc's weekly blog after I had installed the browser. (It is an interesting insight into the developers and their development process.)
• The fact that ARC uses the Chrome extension "store" did give me some heartburn, but EFF's Cover Your Tracks and third party reviews give ARC a clean bill of health on security so I elected to live with it. (Brave, another well reputed secure browser based on Chrome also uses the Chrome extension "store" too but that still makes me cautious.)

]



CLARIFICATION

1. ARC does NOT have any unique or high tech features. It is a solid stable browser based on the currently most widely used browser engine.
2. ARC IS a COMPLETE RE-THINK of how users interact with the browser and the internet It is difficult to explain and you have to experience it to see if it fits with your internet work style..
3. ARC is under active development, evolving rapidly with new revisions every Thursday and the developers are very responsive to user input.

The most significant feature I saw with ARC was the use of profiles (look at the screenshots on their web site to get a sense of this). But I just read that the new Safari update included with macOS 14 (Sonoma) also has a profile feature. I have not checked it yet.

These are (relatively) early days for ARC.

Given that an “account” is required to use ARC, my hunch is that, in time, it will become more invasive . . . similar to how Google and Facebook evolved.

Although there is an ARC account it has one purpose and one purpose only, to synchronize ARC settings, etc. with other copies of ARC on the same account in the same manner that Safari synchronizes with other copies of Safari on the same Apple ID. I gather this is in anticipation of ARC on Windows and other platforms that may not have a "built-in" synching system. However, I was able to install and run ARC on my Mac without activating the account. I only activated the account when I installed ARC on my iPhone as well.

Mentioning iPhone does bring up my one complaint so far — an iPad version is desperately needed. The iPhone version is only scaled for the 6.1 or 6.7" iPhone display and some navigation features I have grown to really like in the MacOS version are omitted because of the smaller iPhone display. The full panoply of features would fit nicely on the iPad. But it is still early days, — very early!

Re : However, I was able to install and run ARC on my Mac without activating the account.


. . . which brings us back to my earlier inquiry.

How can the ARC be downloaded or installed without opening/activating an account with one’s email address.

1. go here
2. then click here
3. and here
4. and, if necessary, here

or just click here then look in your download folder.

Huh? The first link, and any of the others, leads me to a screen popup with a BLUE d/l tab … When clicked, it asks me if I want to download a product called CLEAN SHOT?

Seriously : Should a LEGIT browser be this difficult to get?

I've already succeeded with step 3 and opened the dmg, but when I launched Arc, I was immediately required to create an email account.

The object is to launch Arc without creating an email account.

You misunderstood joemike's screenshots. Step one is to go to website <thebrowser.company> but as I said, it doesn't contribute anything we haven't already been through.

Thanks, Artie. I , too, keep getting the “must” set up an account with one’s email … no matter which approach I use.

The fact that a browser insists that I give up my email address to use it gives me pause. Opera and others have not required that I do so. (I do not need to be on, yet another, email list to be bombarded with more promos and adverts.)

I understand joemike's response that the email address is for syncing between devices, but it should be optional for users who've got only one device or don't care to use Arc on other than one particular device.