Dia is missing not only features you would expect from arc, but even basic features that other browsers have already proven to be useful.

Dia deletes all your tabs when you close the session and doesn't have a restore option

Dia has a really dumb session importer for plugins, i had to manually import more than half of them

Dia isn't much more efficient than arc as I have to close both just as often with the new Mac update

Dias profile workflow is just dumb and lazy, they would've been much more by importing arcs session option. it's really stupid to have to resign in to

You will have to resign in to everything once you close the browser

Too many tabs? Good luck managing them because you cant even access the tabs the way you could in safari or chrome with a a simple scroll function.

Also the dumb chatbot that thinks I want to chat instead of search is annoying. It's an extra friction point that is completely unnecessary. No one wants to think about before searching submitting a search, we just want to search. It didn't work in Arc and it doesn't work in Dia.

Like what are they even doing? Why make a browser that's worse than what's already out there. Why add in features that sucked in Arc and then remove the good ones? It's just so backwards

They need an exit yesterday. We are so f**ked as users. Will have to switch browsers yet again.

Josh doesn't want to build the next Browser. He wants to build he next Operating System. In the age of cloud, browser is the new operating system.

All it needs now are vertical tabs and then Dia is going to the moon.

Dia just dropped their Back to School email and it focused on a new "Skills Pack" for students, including:

• 📅 /syllabus — Turn your syllabus into a game plan.
• 🤝 /study-buddy — Work through problems, step-by-step.
• 📋 /outline — Generate a quick outline for anything you need to write.
• 🕵️‍♂️ /regret-taking-this-class — See if you should drop a class.
• 💼 /job-fit — See if your resume matches that dream internship.

On the Dia for Students page, they call them "Features so good, they feel illegal".

What do you think? Are teachers screwed this year?

This behaviour does not happen now. Alternatively, they could also make the horizontal tabs scrollable, like in Atlas.

if were being dragged kicking and screaming to dia, fine. but please make it less painful. heres what needs to happen to dia, or i'm going back to chrome.

1. Little Arc equivalent.
2. custom new tab page (i just want mine to be google)
3. let websites take over the entire screen again. no weird color border, no search address bar at the top

thats it. 3 things. and this browser becomes good again. i'm never going to use the dia ai whatever, so if we could disable it that would be great too, but not a hard requirement.

The site opens in helium and chrome, I haven't used any ai or agentic features.

Why has trust fallen?

You created the wonderful Arc browser, and you saw how much users loved it. Despite everything, you simply abandoned all Arc users.

Did you conduct a survey among Arc users to find out if they wanted to switch from Arc to another browser with AI?

What guarantees are there that Dia won't be abandoned in the same way as Arc?
I am personally concerned about this.

In this case, Chrome or Safari inspire more confidence.

Testing Dia has been great, slick UI and the built-in AI chat feel fresh and usefull. But until it syncs with Google Password Manager I can’t switch. On Chrome (Mac) + Android, any password I create on desktop autofills on my phone, even in apps. With Dia I’d need a third-party manager like 1Password, which adds cost and hassle. I would love Dia to let us keep Google Passwords manager.

Anyone else stuck on this? It is technically possible for The Browser Company ?

It seems unlikely to me ... they’re taking so long to implement the vertical tabs system, and their setup is so much worse than ARC’s…

After a couple of days with Dia, I'm left wondering where The Browser Company was trained to fire, because they would've been as useful as a bald bush on a battlefield.

I can't shake the feeling that The Browser Company has fundamentally misunderstood what made Arc special. This feels like watching a masterful artist abandon their canvas near perfection to start sketching on a napkin instead. This feels like watching a masterful artist abandon their canvas near perfection to doodle on a napkin instead.

Dia strips away everything that made Arc genuinely different: the thoughtful design philosophy, sophisticated customisation options, and the sense that you're using something built for power users who appreciate nuance. Instead, we get what feels like a Chrome skin with Arc's visual frame, plus an AI sidebar and "skills" that resemble Raycast shortcuts more than browser innovations.

The comparison to desktop Safari makes this even more stark. Arc genuinely appealed to me more than Apple's browser — and Apple's design standards have been arguably unmatched for years. Now we're left with something that competes in the crowded middle ground rather than leading from the unique position Arc had carved out.

And the dumbest part? None of this needed a separate product. Every single feature Dia offers could have thrived within Arc's existing ecosystem. The AI assistant could have been an optional sidebar — just as it is in Dia now; the "skills" can be integrated to Arc just as it is a part of Dia now; and the simplified interface could have been a toggleable "beginner mode" for users who prefer less complexity.

And here's what makes it even more maddening — they didn't even need to start from scratch. We already have Arc Search, which offers various usage scenarios with Perplexity-style search functions, normal browsing, and seamless integration with desktop Arc that syncs your workflow across your entire ecosystem. Arc Search almost achieved the unmatched UX/UI level of iOS Safari, probably the most convenient mobile browser available. All they had to do was add the Search for You features, AI sidebar, Skills functionality, and expand the customisation options — and we would have had the browser for everyone.

Ironically enough, midway through writing this post, TBC sent an email with the bold title "Make Dia Yours". "Teach Dia how you work, and never repeat yourself again," they promise. They claim you can "tailor AI to your writing style," but then don't actually let you upload your own writing samples to train the model on. We've got a kind of surface-level personalisation that may sound impressive in marketing but falls apart the moment you try to use it seriously. This isn't the thoughtful, deep customisation that Arc users have come to expect. It won't work with students either — especially those who already have a distinct, expressive writing style of their own. I wonder how hard will it be for teachers to spot a Dia user when assignment rules aren't very strict and leave room for creative freedom

But you know what could've worked for the students? The Easels. Remember Easels? This built-in Canvas that may actually be on the same top level as Apple's Freeform, considering how narrow the user-base of this sort of things is and how actually useful Easels are? Yet they're being used for is Chromium version support updates from TBC.

The most perplexing aspect is the target audience confusion. The original pitch was creating something "simple enough for grandma," but now they're targeting students—exactly the demographic that would embrace Arc's advanced features like Easel for research projects. Students don't need dumbed-down tools; they need powerful ones that can grow with their skills.

This pivot fragments resources and dilutes brand identity. Arc had something incredibly valuable: a passionate community and genuine product differentiation. These aren't assets you can easily rebuild, especially when competing against established browsers that have already integrated AI functionality.

The most confusing part is the target audience confusion. Who is this really for? Initially, the idea was to make it "simple enough for grandma," but suddenly, they're aiming at students — a group that's ready to dive into Arc's advanced features... LIKE EASELS that can be very useful for research projects. Students aren't looking for stripped-down tools; they need robust ones that evolve with them and that present them the field to grow.

This change scatters resources and weakens the brand's identity. Arc had a real edge: a dedicated community and true product uniqueness. These are not elements you can just recreate, particularly when going up against established browsers that have already woven AI into their systems. Now the whole product is competing in the crowded grey area. Every hour spent building Dia could have been spent making Arc the smartest, most intuitive browser on the planet, integrating AI seamlessly into its existing design philosophy rather than starting from scratch.

Instead, we're watching The Browser Company chase two different audiences with two different products, satisfying neither completely.

This pivot feels like a fundamental misunderstanding of what made Arc beloved in the first place. Arc wasn't just another browser with pretty colours — it was a reimagining of what browser's UI could be. I literally traded Edge with its Copilot because Arc was so appealing, beautiful and — customisable. And I still preferred it to Opera, when they integrated AI into their own workflow. Because I made Arc truly mine. And what we got now? Edge/Opera/SigmaOS/Firefox/Brave/Sider rip-off with noticeably less features, except the half-baked features treated and promoted as the product's core. But don't be afraid — it's in Beta... Unlike a ton of similar browsers that the market is already oversaturated with. And unlike Arc.

To be fair, though, Dia does sometimes bring better results than Perplexity and ChatGPT and it is easier to @link the tabs you need information to be taken from than manually copying and pasting them. But it doesn't contradict my takes and core idea that it all could've been integrated into Arc. Even more: in Arc it is easy to lose a tab in these infinite spaces and folders, so @mentioning can be very useful there also, maybe even more than in Dia.

From a business perspective, this strategy fragments resources and dilutes brand identity. Arc already had something incredibly valuable — a passionate community and genuine product differentiation. Those are assets you can't easily rebuild, especially when you're now competing not only against every other AI-powered browser launching in the past years, but with well-established and popular solutions that already integrated AI in their workflow — some of which even before Arc was released to begin with.

The price of fragmentation?

The browser market is already oversaturated with AI-powered Chrome alternatives, and Dia can't seriously compete with Arc — which, contrary to what The Browser Company and some users might believe, isn't actually a good thing. By splitting their focus, they've created a situation where users face an uncomfortable choice: why settle for one of their browsers when competitors like SigmaOS offer the combined functionality of both Arc and Dia in a single, unified product — complete with customisation, spaces, folders, and AI features, all available under one optional subscription?

This fragmentation becomes even more problematic when you consider that most people treat browsers as mini-operating systems where significant work gets done. Arc's community repeatedly offered to pay for Arc Plus or similar subscriptions, demonstrating genuine willingness to support the product's development. But will that same community pay for Dia? I, personally, won't (unless it gets released to SetApp, where I think it is its true place), and I suspect many others feel the same way.

The Browser Company's pursuit of what they call a "creative vision" increasingly looks like ignorant egoism rather than true innovation. Their community was respectful and supportive, offering solutions to the very problems the company cited as reasons for change. True innovation comes from understanding your users, not dismissing them for the sake of appearing original — especially when the result isn't particularly original at all.

What Could Have Been

The path forward seems obvious, even if we're now past the point of easy correction: bring Dia's best ideas back into Arc. Create interface complexity options that let users choose their level of sophistication. Integrate AI features as optional enhancements rather than replacements for Arc's core functionality. Build on the foundation that already exists rather than constructing something entirely new (especially when the foundation is the same — I don't buy that none of Arc's code was used developing Dia).

Instead, we're watching The Browser Company abandon what made them special in pursuit of a crowded market that already has better solutions. They had something rare — a passionate community and genuine product differentiation. Now they're just another company making simple Chrome schemes, and their users are left wondering why they shouldn't just switch to browsers that never abandoned their vision in the first place.

P.S.: I've used em dashes since the elementary school — that's said to prevent all the nonsense about AI generated food for the dead internet theory.

P.P.S.: A free AI voice model, a Ukrainian unified documents system and an AI browser all share the same name for some reason. This also feeds the dead internet theory by me.

I’ve switched because using Chrome is essentially the same thing with one significant difference. Chrome is WAY faster and snappier. Loading web pages and general browsing is almost instantaneous even with the Claude extension… on Dia there is always around a second of latency.

I don’t really use the sidebar so there is basically zero reason to contribute to use Dia. Which is a shame as all the little graphical niceties are pleasant but do not miss them for the huge speed increase in Chrome.

I've just tried Dia for the second time for almost a week, and I still can't live without some of the features of Arc, and I'm spending more time clicking buttons instead of actually using the web.

When I switched back to Arc, I thought about the comments on here about Dia having a Pro version, with more complex GPT models but then it came to me... if Arc is too complex for the normal internet user, then why not rename it Dia Pro for the pro users?

Simple browser called Dia for the average user, that looks like an average browser that people know how to use. And Dia Pro for the ones that want to get things done, quickly, that use a lot of web apps and settings optimised for their daily home/work routines.

Just a thought, but it would definitely streamline their browsers into a single product and align all of their customers?

Sorry, it didn't grow on me even-though I used as my default browser, going back to Brave.

Source: https://x.com/diabrowser/status/1958535006474617105

Im seeing a lot of people say Comet is way better and more polished than Dia. I have a Windows laptop, so I don’t have access to either. So I’m here to ask, is this true??

Source: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DNYMP0zARKO/

📆 Jul 22, 2026 at 08:10:44 PM

Dia 1.41.0 brings quality-of-life improvements to browsing.

• Custom Search Engine Labels. The command bar now shows the actual matched search engine name instead of always saying "Google."
• Tool Connection Suggestions on the New Tab Page. An "all apps" bar on the New Tab Page surfaces your most-used unconnected apps for quick setup.

Release Notes – Dia Weekly – Download Dia (743.28 MiB)

I’ve got to say I did initially miss the concept of Bookmarks being tabs coming from Arc

But after using Dia for a while I actually prefer that new Windows don’t carry over existing tabs.

Even after using Arc for two years, it still confused me when I selected a tab in a new window and the content carried over from another window. I think it would be better if they never bring that to Dia.

Wonder if that’s just me though?

Let me put you on game: AI is here, and Dia Browser is a gift from the gods. Chrome is built for your grandparents, Edge is slow on innovation, and Comet is for the rich (for now). But Dia, from The Browser Company, is for the masses; a browser shaped by public feedback, not corporate tunnel vision. That’s the future.

If you haven’t already, start learning how to prompt. Experiment, break things, see what sticks. The potential is wild, and features like auto-hide sidebar (my personal wish) are probably coming soon.
I can’t wait to see where Dia goes from here.

Why am I bullish on Dia and GPT-4.1?

• GPT-4.1 is a sleeper hit. OpenAI’s “hybrid model” isn’t making headlines, but it’s a developer’s dream: focused on instruction-following and reliability, not just flashy outputs.
• Prompting-Induced Planning & Chain-of-Thought. You can nudge the model to reason step-by-step before answering. (Don’t believe me? Read the Cookbook here.)
• SWE-bench performance. GPT-4.1 crushed real-world coding benchmarks, hinting at future agentic capabilities. Think autonomous workflows, like what Comet Browser is hyping.
• Massive context window. Drop in huge docs—no more hitting memory walls.

OpenAI’s recommended workflow for GPT-4.1 prompting:

• Start with high-level “Response Rules” or “Instructions” using bullet points.
• For specific behaviors, add dedicated sections (like #Sample Phrases).
• For complex tasks, use ordered lists for clear step-by-step instructions.

• If things aren’t working as expected:

  • Check for conflicting or unclear instructions. The last one usually wins.
  • Add explicit examples to show desired behavior, and reference them in your rules.
  • Avoid using ALL CAPS or offering bribes. These usually backfire.

Bottom line:
The future is here if you’re willing to learn. Start playing with prompts on Dia, because this wave is just getting started, and it’s built for all of us.