Discover Arc Search, the groundbreaking iPhone app from the creators of Arc Browser for Mac. Explore the future of browsing with AI-driven innovations, starting with Instant Links for quick results and Live Folders to curate updates. Get a sneak peek into the upcoming Arc Explorer, promising a unified browsing, search, and site experience using Large Language Models. Join the mission of Arc Browser to bridge the gap between search engines and websites, making the internet more intuitive and useful. Embrace the future of browsing with Arc Search’s ambition to redefine your online experience
What is ARC Browser?
Starting this week, the team behind the Arc Browser for Mac has released a brand-new iPhone app called Arc Search. As you might expect, it incorporates AI to enhance your browsing experience by creating web pages that consolidate information from various sources on the internet, providing answers to your queries.
This is just one part of what the browser company Arc calls Act 2, and they’ve teased details about three other significant features coming to the browser in the coming weeks and months.
All these updates are geared towards Arc Browser’s mission of bridging the gap between search engines and websites, aiming to bring them together to make the internet more useful for users. In a promo video released today, members of the browser company passionately discuss a browser that can browse for you.
Instant Links
Arc Search app introduces a feature called Instant Links. When you search for something, you can instruct Arc to search by pressing Shift + Enter, and the relevant result will automatically open at the top. It won’t be 100% successful, but it works in certain situations, like in the example where searching for “Detective Season 4 Trailer” instantly opens the trailer from YouTube in a new tab by just using Shift + Enter.
This tool allows you to easily obtain multiple results. For instance, I asked it to “show me five different soup recipes,” and Arc created a folder for me with five tabs, each containing details of different recipes. It’s straightforward, but I am looking forward to its integration with more smart features, not just pulling in search results but becoming more proactive.
Similarly, the upcoming Live Folders feature will gather updates from sites you want to follow, such as a specific type of RSS feed. The idea is to predict which sites to browse and bring the latest results into a folder. For instance, on GitHub, tagging things with “recipe” could result in a new tab being added to the folder every time a new item is tagged. The demo for this feature was brief, but it should be available in beta on February 15th for further testing.
It feels like developers will need to make their sites compatible with Live Folders to update through them. So, it’s not as if you can add anything according to your preference and expect it to work. This reminds me of other Arc features that provide a glimpse into your latest messages or upcoming meetings on the Gmail or Google Calendar tab, making you wait for it to unfold.
Finally, the most intriguing new feature is the Arc Explorer, set to be ready for testing in the next two months. According to the company, this browser aims to combine the browser, search engine, and site into a unified experience and uses Large Language Models (LLMs) to achieve this.
In practical terms, it feels similar to what Arc is already doing with its new browser but more advanced. An example showed the reservation process in a restaurant, starting with a request for a reservation in one of two different restaurants, and Arc Explorer brought back details on reservation pages for each location. Book a table for two at the scheduled time.
Another demo showed how using Arc Explorer can be more than just searching and clicking on results. It’s centered around soup, as all good demos are. After Arc Explorer, details about a specific type of soup are immediately provided, such as lists of ingredients, step-by-step instructions, and relevant videos.
In the face of navigating through cluttered sites with auto-play ads, videos, unrelated text, and more, Arc Explorer offers a much more focused browsing experience. Of course, this is only the case when it brings back relevant results for you. But using LLMs, you can engage in a conversation with Arc to get closer to what you’re searching for.
After using Arc Search on my iPhone, I can commend the browser company for its ambition – however, breaking old habits of how I usually put things in Google’s search box and navigate through the results will not be a small feat. It means these tools need to work exceptionally well when launched if they are going to change years of habits of putting things into Google’s search box and navigating through the results.
However, it summarizes the philosophy and mission behind Arc: attempting to end those habits in the pursuit of a better browsing experience. Not all experiences will stick, and others may change significantly from these initial ideas, but I am genuinely curious to see how things unfold from here.
