Arc shuts down on December 22, 2026
Stedding is a free, open-source browser that works the way Arc does: tabs in a sidebar, the address across the top or in the sidebar, Spaces, Favorites and pinned tabs. On a Mac and on Windows it moves your Arc setup over in one click. It runs on Chromium, so your Chrome extensions work, and it asks for no account.
What happens to Arc
The Browser Company has told Arc users that Arc will be sunset on December 22, 2026. This is what its notice says happens, and when.
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Until December 22
Arc keeps working
With basic updates only. It has had no new features since May 2025, when its makers turned to Dia.
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Arc stops working
Arc for Mac and Windows no longer opens, and Arc accounts are deactivated.
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Within 30 days
Account data is deleted
Personal data tied to an Arc account is deleted.
Move before December 22, 2026, while Arc still opens and your setup is still in place. The move reads Arc’s own files on your computer, not your Arc account.
What comes over from Arc
The first start offers Move everything from Arc, on a Mac and on Windows. It reads Arc’s own files on your computer, not your Arc account, and nothing leaves your machine.
- Your Spaces, with their colours and icons
- Your Favorites, the first twelve as essentials at the top of the sidebar; any more are left out
- Pinned tabs and folders, nested folders included
- Splits and archived items
- Open tabs
- History and saved passwords
On a Mac, passwords need one keychain prompt; on Windows, none. On Windows, a password Arc will not let another program read is left out. You can run the import again later from Settings; nothing is duplicated. Arc’s per-Space profiles are not carried over.
Move in three steps
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Download Stedding
The macOS disk image, for Apple silicon. Open it and drag Stedding to Applications.
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Open it
The welcome flow’s import step shows what it found in Arc: Spaces, pinned tabs, folders, essentials, history and passwords.
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Move everything from Arc
Choose it, and allow the keychain prompt for your passwords. Skip it now and it waits in Settings.
On Windows the installer is not code-signed yet, so SmartScreen asks once, and it installs for you alone. Moving from Arc works there too, with no keychain prompt.
Stedding in 51 seconds
What you get after the move: the address in the sidebar, peeks over the page, the command bar, split view, sidebar sync through a folder or storage of your own, dark pages. A Space can keep its own sign-ins. No sound.
Arc and Stedding, side by side
What each part of Arc is called here, in a line. The keys are the Mac’s; on Windows, Command is Ctrl.
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In Arc: URL bar
In Stedding: The address, on top or in the sidebar
Across the top as Stedding starts, or at the top of the sidebar, with Back, Forward and Reload.
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In Arc: Spaces
In Stedding: Spaces
A colour and an icon each, or a colour for each look; Control 1 to Control 9 or a swipe moves between them.
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In Arc: Favorites
In Stedding: Essentials
Cards at the top of the sidebar.
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In Arc: Pinned tabs and folders
In Stedding: Pinned tabs and folders
Folders nest, among the pins too. A pin remembers its page; Command W sends it home.
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In Arc: Command bar
In Stedding: Command bar
Command T for a URL, a search or any tab in any Space.
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In Arc: Split view
In Stedding: Split view
Drag a tab onto the page.
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In Arc: Peek
In Stedding: Peek
A pinned tab’s link to another site opens on a card over the page.
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In Arc: Little Arc
In Stedding: Little windows
Links from other apps open small; Command O keeps one as a tab.
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In Arc: Air Traffic Control
In Stedding: Sites routed to a Space
A site always opens in the Space you choose.
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In Arc: A profile for a Space
In Stedding: Independent session
Right-click a Space. Its sign-ins stay apart, inside one profile.
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In Arc: Auto-archive
In Stedding: The archive
Idle tabs go to the archive, once you turn it on.
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In Arc: Hidden sidebar
In Stedding: Folding sidebar
Command S folds it to icons, or hides it.
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In Arc: Sync
In Stedding: Sidebar sync
Through a folder you already sync, such as iCloud Drive, or your own WebDAV or S3 storage. No account.
Not in Stedding yet
- Boosts
- Easels
- The sidebar’s mini player
- The Library and Live Folders
- Netflix, Disney+ and Spotify’s web player (no Widevine yet)
There is no AI in the browser, by design. An extension can add one. Mobile apps are not planned.
Stedding or Dia?
Dia is The Browser Company’s next browser, and it imports Arc too. The difference is what it is built around, what becomes of your Spaces, and who holds the code.
Dia
- Built around
- An AI browser
- Your Spaces after the move
- Brought over as profiles, according to The Browser Company
- Source code
- Closed
Stedding
- Built around
- Arc’s sidebar, Spaces and pinned tabs; no AI in the browser, by design
- Your Spaces after the move
- Kept as Spaces in one profile. Arc’s per-Space profiles are not carried over; a Space can be given its own sign-ins
- Source code
- Open, under the BSD-3-Clause licence, on GitHub
Because Stedding is open source, no company decision can take it away: the code is on GitHub, and every release is built from it.
Questions
When does Arc stop working?
The Browser Company says Arc keeps working, with basic updates, until December 22, 2026. On that day Arc for Mac and Windows stops working, Arc accounts are deactivated, and personal data tied to an Arc account is deleted within 30 days.
Can I bring my Arc setup to Stedding?
Yes, on a Mac and on Windows. On first start, Move everything from Arc brings over your Spaces with their colours and icons, your Favorites as essentials (the first twelve; any more are left out), pinned tabs, pinned folders, folders, splits, open tabs, archived items, history and saved passwords. On Windows, a password Arc will not let another program read is left out. Arc’s per-Space profiles are not carried over. You can run it again later from Settings; nothing is duplicated.
Do I need my Arc account to move?
No. Stedding reads Arc’s own files on your computer, not your account, and nothing leaves your machine. On a Mac, passwords need one keychain prompt; on Windows, none. Move before December 22, while Arc still opens and your setup is still in place.
Does Stedding run on Windows?
Yes. Windows 10 and 11, x64, installed for you alone. The installer is not code-signed yet, so SmartScreen asks once.
Is it free?
Yes. Stedding is free and open source (BSD-3-Clause), with no account, no subscription and no telemetry.
Do my Chrome extensions work?
Yes. Stedding is built on Chromium, so extensions install from the Chrome Web Store as usual.
Where is Air Traffic Control?
Stedding calls it routes. Settings → Stedding → Sites routed to Spaces lists every site that opens in a Space, and Route sites here… on a Space’s menu goes straight to it.
Can several Spaces use the same profile?
Yes, that is how it starts: every Space shares one profile until you give it an Independent session, which keeps its sign-ins apart. Several Spaces sharing one separate session is built and not released yet. One Space holding tabs from different profiles is not planned; Arc did not do that either.
Does Netflix play? Is there a Safari mode?
Not yet. Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video and Spotify’s web player need Widevine, which takes a licence from Google. Until then these sites show a notice with a button that opens the page in Safari on a Mac or Edge on Windows. There is no Safari mode: Stedding is Chromium changed directly, with no wrapper around another engine.
More in the main FAQ, and every keyboard shortcut is in the shortcuts list.
Move before December 22, 2026
Free and open source, with no account. macOS 13 or later on Apple silicon; Windows 10 or 11, x64, installed for you alone. The Windows installer is not code-signed yet.