The Browser Company, the startup behind the alternative web browser Arc, announced on Thursday it’s launching its Arc Search browser on Android in open beta in a move to become a cross-platform app.
Arc, already had apps in the Apple ecosystem until last year, then launched a Windows client in April ahead of launching on Android. The company said it tested the Arc Search for Android with 18,000 users for nearly four weeks in a closed beta program before today’s public debut.
The company launched Arc Search for iPhone earlier this year with search as a central focus. The app’s “Browse for Me” feature, which is also included in the Android version, looks at multiple web pages and builds a new page for you for the search query.
The company’s premise for this has been that for things like finding a recipe, you need to go through a lot of content while not finding important information. With “Browse for Me,” an AI-powered algorithm weeds out the noise and presents relevant information.
However, people have criticized Arc Search’s approach by pointing out that AI-search would harm small websites whose content these tools are summarizing. In a recent episode of the Decoder podcast, The Browser Company CEO Josh Miller said that the company is improving citations on these results to make people click on outbound links more.
“We’re also having a bunch of conversations with media companies right now. At the end of the day, I think media companies and publishers need to get paid. And I think the truth is, as you know, the scale of that will not mean that it works for everybody, but we are trying our best behind the scenes and out front to be better here,” Miller had said.
The Android app also has an ad-blocker for ads, popups, and banners, along with a tab auto-archiving feature. The company said it will mark the Android app as generally available sometime this fall.
At launch, the Android version doesn’t have some features of Arc Search for iOS, including pinch to summarize and call to ask.
Earlier this year, The Browser Company raised $ 50 million at a $ 550 million valuation. However, the company is not generating any revenue at the moment. On Decode, Miller hinted that when the company releases its 2.0 products, it will charge businesses and individuals.
