As we patiently wait for The Browser Company to release the Windows version of its game-changing Arc web browser to more people next year, the tech startup is also teasing a new version of its mobile app for phones.
The official Arc account on X posted the below two images, teasing “fluted glass textures” created by one of its product designers, Karla Mickens, for what appears to be a refreshed version of Arc Mobile. We already know that The Browser Company has seeded pre-release versions (known as TestFlights) of Arc Mobile 2 to testers.
The Browser Company’s CEO Josh Miller reposted the images with his own message: “Allow us to reintroduce ourselves !! new year, new energy, going for it.” Going with a new design language sounds exactly like the kind of thing Miller and the gang would do. This is the same company that decided to sort of bring skeuomorphism back, after all.
Arc Mobile 2 Will Reimagine the Mobile Browser
In November, Miller confirmed that The Browser Company was “reimagining the mobile browser from the ground up” and that “sync with Arc desktop will be core.”
“We want to do the mobile form factor justice. Blank page!” Miller posted on X. He said the decision to rethink its mobile app was largely because the community asked for it.
The current version of Arc Mobile is more of a companion app — essentially the sidebar of the desktop version of Arc detached for iPhone. The app keeps all of your pinned folders, tabs, and currently open tabs synced across their respective “spaces” on Mac and iPhone. The biggest criticism of the app (besides the sometimes finicky syncing) is that it’s not a full-blown mobile browser like Safari or Chrome. While the app does have a “search” bar for Googling or loading websites, there’s no tab functionality; it only lets you pin a site, which isn’t the same. Other features users want: incognito mode, a way to set it as a default browser, reader mode, and proper bookmarks, to name a few.
There’s no word on when Arc Mobile 2 will launch, but it’s probably safe to say the app will come out in 2024 and likely launch on iPhone first.
