As far as browsers go, Android has always had the upper hand. But, it misses out on this cool browser that has been at the top of every iOS user’s app list, and that’s Arc. The mobile app released only last year, and has been much talked about for all the good that it brings to the table.
From a squeaky clean UI to a snappy search experience, there’s a lot going for it. Now, there’s another feature that lets you call this quirky little browser and squeeze a bit more fun out of it!
Arc Browser’s makers, The Browser Company, posted a hilarious trailer of the Call feature via its social handles. Watching it gave me some serious itch to try it out. And, I did, after a few hiccups (will talk about that later). But, man oh man, it was worth it.
How Does the New Arc Call Feature Work?
If you already have Arc browser installed on your iOS device, well and good. Just update it if you haven’t already and you’re good to go. If not, install the browser and then, there are two ways to summon the new feature.
The fun way to go about it is, when in the Arc browser, simply bring your phone up to your ears like you’re calling someone and Arc magically appears to greet you with a quick “Hello”. Well, that’s your cue to start voicing your query. The other way to summon it is by simply long pressing the app icon in the library and tap on the dedicated Call Arc button.
Once you’re done, there’s some elevator music to vibe to, while Arc Call searches the web for the best answer. While it’s much slower compared to your conventional browsing experience, it’s undeniably fun. Moreover, the call-hold music did make me giggle at how the browser was trying to make mimic an actual call.
…there’s some elevator music to vibe to, while Arc Call searches the web for the best answer. While it’s slower compared to your conventional browsing experience, it’s undeniably fun.
Besides, the call page doesn’t go away on its own. So, you can have it resting right beside you, like I did, and it keeps on listening. Unless, you tap on the voice bar, and then it starts listening. The attention to detail is also pretty nice, with the call duration appearing at the very top.
Under it, there’s this happy floating emoji, representing Arc. It’s not there just for show, since you can see the emoji’s mouth move with every response you get. That’s another nifty addition to the feature.
If you want to explore your query further, after Arc responds to it, there’s the Read More icon at the bottom right. This will take you to a page that goes into a lot more details. If you want to search the query on Google, there’s a button to do so at the very top itself.
Some Hiccups, but Nothing Major
As I said before, I ran into a couple of hiccups when trying to get the feature to work. Even though I had updated the browser app, I couldn’t see the Call Arc button. However, upon deleting and installing the app again, the feature was live.
This time though, although I had given the app its required permissions, it wouldn’t detect that and the call feature wouldn’t work. Another reinstall fixed the issue, and the feature finally started working for me.
What impressed me was how well-thought-out the browser and intuitive the feature is. Not the fastest, yes. Silly fun? Hell yes. It’s like you have your personal talking browser at your disposal 24×7, making something as simple as a browser come to life.
In an ocean of browsers that bring more or less the same functionality and feature to the table, it’s good to have something stand out like this. I’d honestly love to see the browser make it to Android asap. For now, it’s limited to iOS, macOS and Windows.
With that being said, I’m certainly off to give Arc Browser another call. What about you? Have you given it a try? If so, do let me know in the comments down below if you like the quirkiness of it all!
