Arc has been in maintenance mode for more than a year, so the news itself isn't a shock. What's new is the hard date. Arc users on Windows now have a deadline to move or lose their data.
What's changing and when
The shutdown happens in three stages, and the dates differ by platform.
| Date | What happens | Who it affects |
|---|---|---|
| October 22, 2026 | New Arc accounts can no longer be created. Existing accounts keep working | Everyone |
| November 23, 2026 | Browse for Me and "other AI features" will be disabled on iOS and Android, and users will no longer be able to "sign in or sync their tabs." | Arc Search mobile users |
| December 22, 2026 | Arc will no longer be accessible on macOS or Windows, Arc accounts will be deactivated, and Arc Search for Android will be removed from Google Play. | Desktop and Android users |
Some details matter more than the headline:
- Desktop Arc keeps working until the cutoff. The company says Arc for macOS and Windows will remain available until December 22, 2026. Until then, Arc will continue to work as usual and will receive basic updates.
- Your data gets deleted after shutdown. Arc accounts will be deactivated, with their personal data deleted within 30 days. The FAQ adds that from December 22, the company will no longer be able to find or retrieve Arc user data for data requests. If you want to keep anything, export or import it before then.
- iOS and Android end differently. After November 23, Arc Search on iOS stays usable as a stripped-down "lite" browser. On December 22, the Android app is removed from Google Play and also from the devices it's installed on.
- If you have both Dia and Arc accounts, the company says the deletion only covers data tied to your Arc account.
Section summary: Account creation is already closed. Mobile users lose sign-in and sync on November 23. On December 22, Arc stops working on Windows and macOS, and account data is deleted within 30 days after that.
Why The Browser Company is doing this
The company frames this as a security staffing decision. In the farewell post it said: "Our priority is to deliver best-in-class security for our members. Keeping a browser secure takes constant, dedicated work that is only increasing in the age of AI. Dia was built from the ground up to meet today's security standards, so that's where our engineering and security teams will focus moving forward."
That's a fair point. Maintaining a Chromium fork means shipping every upstream security fix quickly. Arc's own macOS release notes show the company kept doing that right up to the announcement. Version 1.170.0, released October 22, 2026, moved Arc to Chromium 156.0.8078.48 and contained only security fixes. A week earlier, version 1.169.0 moved to Chromium 155.0.8059.80 and fixed seven flaws in the most serious category. In September, version 1.164.0 included a patch for a flaw that was being actively exploited. That release cadence is real ongoing work, and doing it for two browsers at once costs a small company a lot.
The longer backstory is about AI. In a May 2025 letter to Arc members, CEO Josh Miller said the company had stopped actively developing Arc's core experience. He argued that Arc was too complicated for mainstream users, and he backed that up with usage data:
- Only 5.52% of daily active users regularly used more than one Space
- Only 4.17% used Live Folders, including GitHub Live Folders
- Just 0.4% used Calendar Preview on Hover
By comparison, Miller said Dia's tab chat and personalization features were used by 40% and 37% of daily active users. Keep in mind these are the company's own 2025 numbers, which it chose to share to support a decision it had already made. Even so, they explain why Arc's most loved features weren't enough to save it.
There's also a corporate angle. Coverage of the shutdown describes Dia as the designated successor under Atlassian ownership. Atlassian acquired The Browser Company in 2025, which helps explain why Dia's roadmap leans toward workplace tools. Wikipedia's entry on Dia notes that in March 2026, The Browser Company introduced integrations with Slack, Notion, Google Calendar, Gmail, and Amplitude.
Section summary: Officially, the company wants its security effort focused on one browser. In practice, Arc's niche feature set lost out to Dia's AI-first direction, and Dia now sits inside Atlassian.
What Dia offers Arc refugees
The Browser Company says it keeps the Arc features you rely on, like vertical tabs in the Sidebar, Spaces (now called Profiles), Pinned Tabs, Folders, and Split View. A few things get new names:
- Arc Spaces become Dia Profiles. You still swipe between them to switch contexts.
- Arc Folders become Dia Tab Groups.
- Pinned Tabs and Favorites come across with their custom names.
- Sidebar tabs keep the vertical layout. Ctrl+S hides the sidebar on Windows.
The company also says the browser features you use in Arc are free in Dia, and the AI is optional. According to XDA Developers, Dia's AI features include writing help, a morning brief and the ability to ask questions about webpages.
Then there's the headline claim that Dia now surpasses Arc benchmarks in stability, speed, and security. The announcement doesn't publish a methodology or point to any independent testing. Treat it as a vendor claim until someone outside the company checks it.
How to move from Arc to Dia on Windows
According to The Browser Company, Dia can bring over your passwords, history, tabs, Profiles, Folders, bookmarks and extensions on both Windows and macOS.
If you're new to Dia:
- Download Dia. It's free to download for macOS and Windows at diabrowser.com.
- When setup asks which browser to import from, pick Arc.
- Let the import finish, then check your Profiles, Tab Groups, Pinned Tabs and saved passwords.
If you already use Dia:
- Open the Dia app menu.
- Select Import from another browser.
- Choose Arc and confirm. You need to do this before December 22, 2026.
(On a Mac, the option is under Dia > Import from Another Browser in the menu bar.)
What success looks like: your Spaces show up as Profiles, your Folders show up as Tab Groups, and your Pinned Tabs and Favorites keep their custom names. If something is missing, run the import again while Arc is still installed and working. You can also ask for help through the chat on the Arc Help Center until December 22, or from inside Dia via the app menu, Help > Chat with support.
Not going to Dia? Export your tabs first
Some Arc fans will pass on an AI browser and go to Edge, Chrome, Vivaldi or something else. The official export works like this on Windows:
- Open Arc's settings with Ctrl+,, or open the Arc menu and choose Settings.
- In the Advanced section, find Export Spaces and tabs and select Export Data.
- Pick a save location and select Save.
On a Mac, go to Arc > Settings > Advanced > Export Data. For Arc Search on iOS, tap the Tab Switcher, then Settings, then Export Data. On Android, tap the Tab Switcher, then Settings, then Storage, then Export data.
One caveat: the company describes this export as saving your tabs as a list of links. It doesn't promise to carry passwords, extensions or account services into another browser. Your bookmarks and passwords need their own path. Most browsers can import directly from Chromium-based browsers, but check that for your target browser before December 22.
Haven't opened Arc in a while? The company says you can download it again and export your data from inside the app, as long as you do it before the cutoff.
Is this the right call?
For Arc users this is a bad outcome dressed up as an easy migration. Arc's sidebar, Spaces and Split View made it the browser people raved about. Now it's being replaced by a product built around a different idea: that AI chat belongs at the center of the browser.
Still, give the company some credit. Two months of notice, built-in import, documented export paths, and weekly Chromium security patches right up to the end are better treatment than many discontinued apps get. Shutting a browser down cleanly is also safer than letting an unpatched one keep running on thousands of PCs.
For IT admins, this is a review job, not a copy-paste. Nothing in the announcement covers enterprise management controls, how Dia handles AI data, or whether every Arc workflow carries over. If Arc slipped into your organization as a shadow-IT favorite, treat Dia as a new product to assess against your browser, extension, credential and AI-use policies. Don't assume it's simply Arc 2.0.
Bottom line: if you use Arc on Windows, pick your next browser now and move your data while Arc still works. After December 22, there's nothing left to export.