Reprinted from TidBITS by permission; reuse governed by Creative Commons license BY-NC-ND 3.0. TidBITS has offered years of thoughtful commentary on Apple and Internet topics. For free email subscriptions and access to the entire TidBITS archive, visit http://www.tidbits.com/ Arc Search iPhone App Now Syncs Arc Sidebar Tabs Adam Engst Although the new [1]Arc browser has transformed how I use my Mac (see '[2]Arc Will Change the Way You Work on the Web,' 1 May 2023), its iPhone story was a little weak, with an app initially called Arc Mobile Companion and then renamed to Arc Sidebar Sync. Two months ago, The Browser Company introduced a new iPhone app focused on searching ('[3]Arc Gains Instant Links, Tab Grouping, and Arc Search iPhone App,' 15 February 2024), but it had no connection to Arc on the Mac or Arc Sidebar Sync on the iPhone. Frankly, it was a bit of a mess. However, Arc's cross-platform situation has improved with this week's updates and announcements from The Browser Company. Most importantly, the [4]Arc Search iPhone app can now access your sidebar tabs thanks to the Arc Sync technology that replaced iCloud-based syncing earlier this year. (The previous Arc Sidebar Sync iPhone app is being deprecated.) Arc Sync also syncs your tabs with the betas of [5]Arc for Windows, which is now available to Windows 11 users already using Arc on the Mac (alas, it doesn't yet run under Windows 11 for ARM for those virtualizing Windows on Macs with Apple silicon). The company also said it is starting work on [6]Arc Search for Android. The glaring hole remains the iPad, where Arc Search runs only as an iPhone app, even though the iPad needs a full-fledged desktop version. Enabling Arc Sync in the Arc Search app provides two key capabilities: * As noted, you can access all your sidebar tabs'both pinned and Today tabs'from Arc on the Mac. That's huge because nearly anything you can get to on the Mac, you can load on your iPhone with a couple of taps. * You can create a pinned tab for any page you're viewing in Arc Search, making it available in the sidebar for all your versions of Arc. Enabling Arc Sync in Arc Search Setting up Arc Sync in Arc Search is easy. Tap the tabs button in the lower-left corner of the screen, tap it again after that button turns into a monitor, tap Sign in with Arc on the next screen, and provide your Arc account credentials when prompted. Creating Pinned Tabs in Arc Search Arc Search encourages you to make sure you can easily access its icon in the iPhone's share sheet. If you haven't rearranged share sheet items before, it's easy. Tap the share button to open a share sheet, and in the list of apps, swipe left and tap More at the end. Tap Edit at the top, tap the green '¨ button to add Arc Search to the favorites at the top, and drag the hamburger control at the right to move Arc Search to the desired position. Tap Done twice to return to the share sheet. When you find a page you want to save, tap the caret in the lower-right corner of Arc Search's screen, tap the Share button, and tap Arc Search in the share sheet. Arc Search remembers the last location you saved a tab, so you can just tap Done if that's correct. If not, tap the menu and choose a different space or a specific folder. If you change your mind about saving the tab, swipe down on the Saved screen to dismiss it. Tabs saved to a workspace appear at the bottom of the pinned tabs section of the sidebar with a little icon to their right that indicates they came from Arc Search. Using Sidebar Tabs in Arc Search As its name suggests, Arc Search is focused on searching. When you open the app, it usually displays a sheet with a search field and a few pinned or suggested sites. That's great for quick searching, but if you want to get to your sidebar tabs, you have to swipe that sheet down, tap the tabs button in the lower-left corner to display the tab history, and tap the monitor button that replaces it in the lower-left corner. Only then does Arc Search display your sidebar, and if you have multiple spaces, you may need to swipe left or right to see the desired one. Tapping any tab in the sidebar opens it. This approach works, but it's clumsier and slower than it should be. I'd like to see The Browser Company let us view our sidebar tabs with a single tap from that initial search sheet rather than requiring three taps. I could imagine a button next to the search field or an optional item in the list below the search field. Interface quibbles aside, the addition of Arc Sync to the Arc Search iPhone app is extremely welcome, and I was happy to delete the previous Arc Sidebar Sync app. Internally, Arc Search is just WebKit like Safari, so it works well with most websites. I have noticed a couple of hiccups with sites that wanted to hand off to other apps, but such rough edges will be sanded down over time. References Visible links 1. https://arc.net/ 2. https://tidbits.com/2023/05/01/arc-will-change-the-way-you-work-on-the-web/ 3. https://tidbits.com/2024/02/15/arc-gains-instant-links-tab-grouping-and-arc-search-iphone-app/ 4. https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id6472513080?pt=120729021&ct=arcnet-blog-post&mt=8 5. https://browserinc.notion.site/Getting-Started-with-Arc-for-Windows-145ece36acbb40f381ce1817747cb7ca 6. https://browserco.typeform.com/to/i5p2MBU5?typeform-source=resources.arc.net Hidden links: 7. https://tidbits.com/wp/../uploads/2024/04/Arc-Search-Arc-Sync-scaled.jpg 8. https://tidbits.com/wp/../uploads/2024/04/Arc-Search-share-sheet-scaled.jpg 9. https://tidbits.com/wp/../uploads/2024/04/Arc-Search-saving-scaled.jpg 10. https://tidbits.com/wp/../uploads/2024/04/Arc-Search-tabs-scaled.jpg .