Comment by danpalmer
Yeah I’m so torn. It’s honestly the best browser UX I’ve seen, the right combination of vertical tabs, auto archiving, spaces/collections, sync, etc. I don’t care for Easels, but the core is good.
Except… the growth hacks have started to creep in. They overlay an advert for their own AI services on top of regular Google search results pages in their mobile app. Not even a browser chrome UI element, it’s literally over the page content. That feels like a huge violation of what it means to be a browser.
I don’t want their AI features. I don’t want growth hacks. I don’t want to sign in except for sync. I’d happily pay $40 a year for Arc as a product-focused-product, but as a VC-focused-product it’s heading downhill.
It does get a lot right and feels smooth in ways that Chrome, the various Chrome-clones, and Firefox just don't. It's also ironically the only browser even trying to feel native on Windows, using WinUI/WinAppSDK for its UI there, despite originally being Mac only.
It's unfortunate that other cross platform browsers have such a strong tendency to phone in these little things, because they really do add up to make for a nicer experience.