The Browsing Company is known for its innovative features that challenge the status quo and seek to make its Arc Browser a force to be reckoned with. They have another feature to add to the mix that is sure to ruffle some feathers – Instant Links.

What are Instant Links? With Instant Links, Arc Browser seeks to cut the middleman from your search. Which middleman are we talking about? The Search Engine! How does every search you've ever made gone till now? You open a browser, type your query, and press Enter. Then you go through the search results the search engine has curated for you, click on a link, and voila! you have the information you were looking for.

But with Instant Links, Arc Browser is going to go and search the Internet for you and come back with what you were looking for. It eliminates a step in the middle, essentially fastening the entire process (and pissing off Google in the process? Only time will tell!)

Instant Links uses AI technologies from OpenAI, but the only data that is sent to OpenAI for this feature is the content of your query.

Instant Links are an Arc Max feature, i.e., they are powered by AI. If you haven't configured all Arc Max features to be enabled automatically on your browser, you won't have access to them until you enable them. They are currently only available on Arc Browser for Mac. Make sure you're using Arc version 1.28.0 or later to use them.

  1. To enable Instant Links, click on 'Arc' from the menu bar and select 'Settings' from the menu. Alternatively, use the Cmd + , keyboard shortcut.
  1. Switch to the 'Max' tab. You can also directly type 'Arc Max' in the command bar.
  1. Then, enable the toggle for 'Instant Links'.

    If you want to enable future Arc Max features by default when they are released, enable the toggle for 'Automatically enable future Arc Max features' as well.
  1. To use Instant Links, open the Command Bar on your Arc Browser (Cmd + T).
  2. Then, type your query as you normally do, but instead of Enter, press Shift + Enter. For example, top spots to visit in Paris.
  1. Arc Browser will browse the Internet for you and automatically open the top result for that query.
  1. You can also enter multiple queries in one go or experiment with your queries. For instance, if you want to find a video of something, add "video of" before your search. It can also return multiple videos in one go if you type it all in your query. For example, videos of Taylor Swift's August, Lover, and Wildest Dreams.
Instant Links opened by Arc.
  1. Similarly, if you want to create a folder, enter "Folder of" before your query. For example, type folder of latest book recommendations from The New York Times, press Shift + Enter, and Arc will automatically create a folder in your pinned tabs with 5 different links.
Folder created by Arc.

Instant Links can potentially streamline the web browsing experience by cutting out search engines as intermediaries. By directly searching the internet and returning relevant results, Arc Browser aims to deliver faster, more direct access to information. Of course, not every instance calls for Instant Links, like when you want to do deep research on something. But for queries with straightforward results, Instant Links can become a staple of your everyday browsing.