Arc browser will completely shut down later this year

I saw this coming from a mile away, but I didn’t really expect it to be this soon. Today, The Browser Company officially announced that Arc would be completely shutting down later this year, in December.

The @arcinternet account on X published a long post explaining the reasons behind the shutdown, and it boils down to this: Keeping a browser secure in the age of AI is difficult and expensive. Dia is the company’s answer to it, and it’s difficult to continue maintaining Arc on the side. So, the team will simply continue focusing on Dia.

Just a few weeks ago, The Browser Company began sending out emails to people, encouraging them to make the switch to Dia. We detailed that here. The email claims that it has most features from Arc, and that it’s easy to switch over. In the previous post, we mentioned that there was no official confirmation about the shutdown. It’s out there now. That email was the first fall of snow.

The post goes on to mention that passwords, bookmarks, and history will transition to Dia seamlessly. Spaces, Folders, and Tab Groups are already available on Dia, and they’ll move over with your data. According to the company’s benchmarks, Dia is better than Arc in terms of stability, speed, and security.

That post on X aside, they’ve even published a full blog with FAQs, a “farewell” to Arc.

It contains more information than the post. For instance, there’s a timeline for the shutdowns:

1. October 22: You can’t create new Arc accounts. For existing members, there won’t be any changes, but the latest version lets you export your data out of Arc and enables a smoother transition into Dia.
2. November 23: AI features such as Browser for Me will no longer work on both iOS and Android. While Arc Search will continue working, you can’t sign in or sync tabs, which effectively makes it useless.
3. December 22: You cannot access or use the browser on macOS and Windows. All existing Arc accounts will be deactivated. The company claims that personal data will be deleted within 30 days as well. As for Arc Search, it will be pulled from the Google Play Store.

The blog mentions how similar Dia is to Arc. Spaces are called Profiles and serve the same purpose. The vertical sidebar remains. Folders, pinned tabs… everything can be imported.

If you’re thinking along the lines of “I’ll just use the browser even if they don’t give it a single update,” then there’s bad news: After December 22, 2026, the browser will stop working entirely. It’s not recommended to use a browser with outdated security in the first place, but just in case you were planning on it, you can’t.

For those who are interested in what’s happening to Arc Search, the iOS version will continue to work, though it’ll be a lite version without any of the AI features. On November 23, 2026, the features will be turned off. For Android, the Browse for Me and other AI features will be disabled on the same date. However, on December 22, there will be no more “lite” version like iOS. It’s being deprecated completely.

Nobody’s happy about the shutdown, of course. Dia’s audience is largely AI-focused, and even those features will be locked behind a paywall soon. Dia still doesn’t have Arc’s entire feature set. For example, the option to open any links from third-party apps into a separate floating window (Little Arc), which you can purge or expand into a workspace, is still not present.

In fact, almost none of the “Arc replacement” browsers like Zen, Dia, etc have the Little Arc windows. I found one browser that has it, called Crest, but that lacks many other features. There’s no Arc Boosts equivalent, no media tab for the sidebar, you can’t directly open a link into a Quick Window, and more. I covered this entire browser in detail here.

Curious about why I will continue to use Arc until the day it dies? You can read that here.

And finally, goodbye Arc. This browser has changed the way I use the internet thanks to the interactive sidebar, the floating windows, the Library, Archives, Media storage… and so much more. It was never just another browser.

To rub salt in the wound, just as I was wrapping up this post, Arc decided to tease me with a new version of the browser. It’s also probably futile to hold out hope for them open-sourcing the project. A lot of people have suggested the same, and the company is yet to comment on it, but it’s not very likely to happen. Their priority is just focusing on Dia, AI, Dia, AI, and did I mention Dia and AI?

Reverse-engineering isn’t very difficult in the AI age, and some companies have tried it, but it just won’t be the same.

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