Arc shuts down on 22 December: the browser that was supposed to topple Chrome makes way for the AI browser Dia

The Browser Company is shutting down Arc, the browser with which it promised a few years ago to change the way people surf the web. On 22 December Arc stops working on Mac and Windows, accounts are deactivated, and personal data is deleted within 30 days. New accounts have been blocked since the day of the announcement. Users are being pointed toward Dia, the company's new browser, built around artificial intelligence.

The shutdown comes in phases. On 23 November the Arc Search mobile app on iOS and Android loses its AI features, including "Browse for Me", and sign-in and tab syncing stop - what's left is an ordinary local browser. On 22 December the app also disappears from Google Play.

The official explanation is security: "Keeping a browser secure requires constant, dedicated work, and that only grows in the AI era," the company says. That's true for any browser. But it's also true that development of Arc stopped back in 2025, when Atlassian bought The Browser Company for 610 million dollars. The company itself admits that the "novelty tax" and Arc's complexity kept it from becoming a mass-market product. Fans loved it, but it never became a Chrome alternative for millions of people.

On social media, users are asking for Arc's code at least to be open-sourced. This is where the story gets more honest. CEO Josh Miller had previously explained that Arc is built on the Arc Development Kit, an internal tool that is also the core of Dia. Opening up Arc would mean giving away the intellectual property of the new product, and that tool, according to Miller, "is still key to the company's value". In other words: the old users get a deadline, the new product keeps the engine.

Profiles (formerly Spaces), vertical tabs, pinned tab groups, passwords, bookmarks, extensions and history are carried over to Dia, and Arc's features will be free, with AI as an option. The company claims Dia already beats Arc on speed, stability and security. How many times have we watched this film by now - a beloved product, a big buyer, then a "move" to something new with AI written on it?