Arc Browser For Linux? Solutions & FAQs
Want an Arc-like experience in your current browser? Try a free Arc alternative for Linux ➞
The Arc browser is quickly becoming one of the most talked-about browsers on the web, and the Linux community is no exception. With its sleek design and unique approach to managing tabs, it's built for users who want a clean, organized browsing experience.
One of Arc’s most popular features are what’s known as spaces, which allow you to organize the tabs for a given project into separate browsing environments — making it easier to stay focused on one thing at a time, and seamlessly context switch between projects.
With Mac and Windows users gushing about how spaces have transformed their workflow, many in the Linux community been wondering when they’ll be able join in the all the fun.
Is the Arc web browser on Linux?
The short answer: No.
While it’s been making waves on Mac, and recently became available on Windows, support has yet to come to Linux. If you're someone who prefers Linux as your OS of choice, this might feel like a bit of a letdown. But rest assured, there are options for Linux users.
To be fair to Arc, Mac and Windows are the vast majority of the market. Plus, with The Browser Company (the makers of Arc) raising $128M so far and making some big promises around AI, it’s understandable that Linux isn’t the top priority right now.
In the meantime, Linux already has great browsers that get the job done with a bit of help from browser extensions. Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Brave are all fully supported on Linux. Although those browsers might not offer Arc’s popular features like spaces out of the box, they can provide a similar browsing experience when combined with popular browser extensions like Workona.
Can you run Arc on Linux with Wine?
No, we don’t mean the alcoholic beverage. We’re pretty confident that won’t help.
The Wine we’re talking about is a compatibility layer that’s used to run Windows applications on Linux without needing Windows itself. Naturally some users have wondered if they could use Wine to get Arc running on their Linux machine.
Indeed dozens of Linux users on Reddit have attempted to install Arc through Wine, with no success. The community has unfortunately had to come to terms with that it's impossible.
While Wine is a handy tool for a lot of Windows apps, perhaps because it’s Windows version is built on port of Swift, it looks like Arc isn’t one of them. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t solutions for the Linux community, which we’ll outline below.
When will support for Arc on Linux come?
The Linux community has been buzzing with questions about when Arc will ever come to Linux. But so far, there’s been no announcement from The Browser Company about when — or even if — Arc will ever come to Linux.
To understand why Arc doesn’t support Linux today, and why the Linux community is likely to be waiting a while, it’s helpful to understand a bit about the technology Arc’s is built on. Arc doesn’t work on Linux for a few reasons, but one of the biggest ones is probably the fact that it’s built in Swift, a programming language made by, and for, Apple.
Even on Windows, Arc is technically a Swift port, and users there have reported buggy experiences & performance issues.
Moving Arc to Linux would likely require overcoming additional technical hurdles, especially since porting Swift-based apps to Linux is notoriously challenging. With their attention focused on AI, support for Linux isn’t likely to happen anytime soon.
Try a free Arc browser alternative for Linux
If you’re looking for a free alternative to Arc that works on Linux, Workona is a fantastic option.
Workona’s spaces feature works just like Arc’s, allowing you to organize sets of tabs into distinct work environments, and seamlessly switch between them. In fact, Workona was the first to coin the concept of “spaces” way back in 2017, with Arc mimicking the feature as well when they launched 5 years later in 2022.
With over 800,000 users and counting, Workona has since grown into a mature browser productivity suite that’s supported on all popular browsers and operating systems, including Linux.
Whether you’re juggling multiple projects, or bouncing between work and personal browsing, Workona gives you the same productivity benefits that Arc users love.
Best of all, Workona works perfectly on all operating systems and browsers, including Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Brave, making it the ideal Arc alternative. Even better, since Workona works on all platforms, you can even seamlessly sync your spaces and tabs between different browsers and OSs.
No need to change your preferred browser. No need to deal with compatibility headaches. Simply install Workona and start enjoying the modern browsing experience you’ve been missing out on today.