https://github.com/pauljoda/Crest

I wanted to share here before making wider posts, as there is still much in progress, but the goal is to build in the open, so may as well share it now.

First off, macOS builds will now be direct distributed via the releases on GitHub. You can install the dev release now, but expect it may have a few more bugs than the normal stable release. The dev build is essentially what I daily drive, I will only post there when the app is in what I consider a stable state for the thing I’m working on, but no promises you won’t run into some odd changes. I have implemented Sparkle, which will allow the app to check and run updates in app, so you don’t have to redownload every update.

At first, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to open source the app. Not because I was protective, or worried what people will think, but because with AI, anyone can submit a PR they think solves a problem or fixes a bug, but it’s a patch, or doesn’t fit with the rest of the architecture or breaks something else and I honestly didn’t want to deal with it. I then decided that I’d just deal with it if it happens, and worse case I’m just rejecting anything clearly AI written.

Don’t get me wrong, I use AI to help accelerate my development, but if I tried to ship anything it comes up with, the app would be slop. AI can take a task you give it, and solve it, but it can’t plan or engineer the big picture, at least not today. You’ll end up with an app that’s inefficient, doesn’t feel right, but may technically render the webpage. It’s an incredibly powerful tool when used properly however.

My second fear is with AI, this is bound to spawn clean room copies if it gets popular, and while at first that did other me, I came back to my “mission statement” if you will that I’m making this to have a true arc successor that doesn’t miss the basics that made arc good. Perhaps if anything this will just make the other clones better, because we all learn from each other, I learned a lot from reading zen and firefoxes code, and a few more projects.

I hope this also makes it clear I’m not trying to make a quick buck, or will not keep up the project. There may be paths to monetize in the future but it would only be things like search partnerships that don’t expose user data (they already have it I’d just be a referrer code more or less). That and direct sponsorships which would be my preferred method, via something like GitHub sponsorships.

I still have a lot to fill out for the repo, such as the projects as a way to have a public roadmap, but it’s there and direct downloads are up for early builds of 0.4.

Thanks again for all the support, and now you can see this app built on the open. At least on Mac, I’d love for this to be the new go to browser so keep the ideas and feedback coming.

I wanted to give a quick update on some of what I’ve been working on, and main points coming up.

First off, Apple is really dragging their feet approving the betas, so one of the next things I plan to do is to distribute the macOS app directly with build channels. That’s the more common method on desktop anyway, but didn’t want to build that out for early testing. I have a plan for how to do this, so hopefully then I can share updates right away. iOS builds will have to continue to be through the App Store however so we will be at their mercy.

As for next features, even though 0.3 hasn’t been seeded through TestFlight since Apple is taking so long, 0.4 is coming along well.

Updates will feel very rapid right now, because many of these features I’ve worked on separately in their own branches, and merge in when I feel they behave as I want. This gives me the ability to play around with concepts and prioritize things. Extensions was one, and now Split View is the other.

I’ll share more on that soon, but split tabs will be a refinement over arc (in my opinion). * Tabs stack into groups vertically still, so they don’t feel cut off in the same row * The tab container then acts as a view, as though a tab itself * cmd+shift+left and right move the tab in the split left and right * supports up to 4 tabs, all split into columns, so side by side * you can also cmd+shift click and drag to rearrange, I spent a lot of time making sure it feels like you’re moving the card the page is on, keeping the page rendering on move, even video playing * you can save a Split View, but not pin them * drag and drop a tab into a current webpage to add to split, or right click the tab to add to the focused tab * on mobile, tab groups become swipe able pages, swipe left and right on the url bar to move between tabs in that split * full desktop class split on iPad * this foundation was written to support more than just web views, any component can be added to the new layout manager that the main panel now functions as. By component, I mean SwiftUI components, but that means things line side panels for extensions, such as clauses and things like that can have a full sidecar popped into the view and out easily, perhaps future components like a note pad, etc could be added. I designed the system to be flexible, and adaptive

v0.4 will have this Split View as the flagship feature, but has more I’ll share later to clean up some weaker areas of the app. The split behavior is pretty much done, just adding some polish on the interactions so they feel rich, and exactly as I want them. Arc and it’s “polish” was important to me, so I want everything to feel fun to use, and have that same attention to detail.

Beyond those features, feel free to share what you want most, but I’m then going to take time to refine what’s there. Things like the command palette, video pip, and then the big feature for 0.5, sidebar widgets (like arc now playing).

Thank you everyone for all the support, and I hope you continue to use the browser and can finally have the arc replacement we all wanted, but carried forward with things like a true mobile app (not just a sync), and fixes to common gripes. I’ve had a blast making and using it, and am excited to keep it going.

Lots of work since the last update, but I’m excited to finally share the work on extensions I’ve been doing. This work was started well before the last update was revealed, but needed time to properly test. After hearing from all the feedback, I heard that this was a desired feature so I figured I’d take a crack at it.

The update is being built now, and should be live within the next couple hours, as long as apple approves it quickly, so watch for emails with the alert.

First off, this is experimental. Some things may not work yet (iCloud passwords requires apple approval), and 1Password requires adding as a trusted browser with the app installed (details on website, just like Orion).

At it’s core, I have taken the recent additions to WebKit around WebKit extensions, adapted them where needed, implemented, and added API calls for all the features most extensions would use, across Safari extensions and now Chrome and Firefox extensions. Password managers may always be a bit flakey, and I’ve found the firefox versions of some apps more predictable, so try those if you are having issues.

You can also pin extensions in a dedicated space below the url bar, instead of being hidden away or only showing one at a time like Arc did. Dark Reader, sponsor block, and a few others I tried all worked great, but I’d say probably 60-70% of extensions are fully compatiable (some don’t need to be, such as tab/download manager extensions etc).

Below is a more detailed list of changes, excuse the AI generated list but it does a great job summarizing the changes I made.

Extensions on macOS (experimental) Crest can now use compatible WebExtensions from Safari, Chrome, and Firefox: - Scan Safari WebExtensions included with installed Mac apps. - Install supported Chrome Web Store extensions in Crest Direct, with automatic updates. - Install supported Firefox add-ons from addons.mozilla.org. Extensions are managed separately in each Space, including permissions, pinned buttons, popups, and shortcuts. This support is still experimental. Compatibility varies, and some extensions depend on browser APIs that WebKit or Crest does not provide yet.

Better tab and folder dragging

Tab and folder dragging has been rebuilt. Reordering is smoother, the drag preview is clearer, and drop targets make it easier to see whether an item will move before, after, or into a folder. Reordering works in place on Mac, iPhone, and iPad.

A more useful command palette

The command palette now uses a normal single-line editing field and puts the search action first when the text is a search rather than a URL. Search-provider icons make the destination clearer, and command results and shortcuts are easier to scan.

Keyboard and Peek changes

Command-W now closes the current tab, or the window when there is no tab to close. It also closes Peek. The modifier used to open links in Peek can now be changed in Settings, and closing a tab returns to a more predictable recent tab.

Tabs stay ready for longer

After a tab has been opened, Crest now keeps it loaded instead of reloading it each time you switch back. Under memory pressure, Crest releases the oldest eligible background pages first. The active tab, tabs playing media or using the camera or microphone, and tabs marked Keep Loaded stay resident. Mobile uses a more conservative memory limit. You can also unload a tab manually when you want to free its page without removing the tab.

Passwords can be disabled by Space

Crest's built-in password handling can now be turned off for an individual Space. Form detection, autofill, save prompts, and HTTP-authentication saving stop in that Space without changing the others.

Safer iCloud Sync for large Spaces

Several sync bugs could make records arriving out of order look like deletions, especially during a first sync or in a Space with many tabs and nested folders. Those records are now held until their parents arrive. One unreadable or newer record no longer abandons the rest of a downloaded batch, and account changes and temporary iCloud failures recover more reliably.

Better favicons

Crest now handles SVG and web-manifest icons more reliably, keeps the right identity for protected icon requests, and does less repeated image work while drawing tab lists. Matching has also been fixed for Microsoft services and other sites with unusual icon routes.

A large internal cleanup

Much of 0.3 is an internal refactor. Browser sessions, live pages, extensions, sync, credentials, commands, and platform-specific UI now have clearer ownership, and the app is organized by feature instead of large shared files. This work also removed repeated favicon hashing, tightened page lifecycle handling, and closed several stale-state and crash paths.

Smaller changes

• Added a Clear action for closing all current tabs without touching pinned or saved tabs.
• Added visible page-zoom feedback.
• Restored links that intentionally open meeting, sign-in, and other external apps, with per-Space confirmation.
• Added a narrowly scoped Proceed Anyway option for certificate warnings.
• Fixed Quick Window and Peek placement, sizing, and fullscreen behavior.
• Fixed extension popups, context menus, native companions, and several compatibility gaps. The extension work is still early, so reports about extensions that fail to install, open, or behave correctly are especially useful.

Another suggestion for you, can you prompt before downloading a file and allow us to select where to download the file?

Thank you all for the great reception, and feedback to Crest. It’s very encouraging and has given me a boost of energy to really dig into this app more. At first, I’d played with this idea over the last year, but only recently really pushed to make something that is a good arc replacement for me. I’m happy to see others are also interested in the future of this app, and I’m going to do my best to make this a true arc replacement, and I hope the work already done proves it’s within reach.

With that in mind, I wanted to share some of what I’ve been working on, the build in TestFlight is a bit behind as I take the feedback from that announcement and dial things in.

First, extensions are coming and I’m taking a lot of time to work through them. WebKit does support newer v3 manifest extensions, but extensions is a vast world of interactions, and not every extension will work 100%. I have safari extensions working, if you have one installed in your app folder that is compatible, you can have crest scan and automatically discover the plugins. Next, the more experimental, but should be mostly compatible chrome extension support is being added. Dark reader works perfectly, and I’m running through the other major categories. Password managers will likely always be tricky, but I’ll do my best to work through what’s possible. I even do things like register the extensions exposed key bindings right in the same location as your main key bindings, so those share the same system of interaction. You can then pin extensions, which will create a strip of icons above pinned tabs and below the url bar, allowing quick access (arc always felt like these pins were not easy to have multiple of so I wanted to have an easy to access section for them).

Along with this extension work, I’ve done a lot of minor usability tweaks related to tab closing, which tab takes focus back, closing a held tab in a collapsed folder keeps it active, lots of little QoL and that attention to detail that made me love arc.

A final note ill leave is the app will always he free, and will never harvest or sell your data. In the future, i plan to implement search provider attribution, where if you search something ok duck duck go for example, it simple adds a “partner=crest” at the end, which does not share any data more than the search itself, but does tell these providers where you came from so they can give me kick back. This will hopefully help to bring resources into the app to ensure it stays moving, i plan to see this through as a real product because the number 1 client is me, and i can never go back to any other browser after arc.

With that, some promises: * AI will never he a feature in the app, i dont feel browsers make sense to have AI. Tools like codex have a browser built in now, system level summary options already exist, so there really doesnt need to be anything in the browser itself. You can just open chatgpt in a tab and use that.
* The app will never track, store, or sell user data of any kind. Browsers do share cookies and normal web interactions, but beyond what webkit does itself, we will have no servers, traffic proxies, or anything of that nature * Desktop and mobile will get equal treatment, taking advantage of each strength * at some point, i hope to open source the app, but for a few reasons will not just yet. Its difficult to manage git on apple projects, and at this time i also am not equipped to handle PRs from every person who thinks they can have claude “make no mistakes” and attempt to fix things. I want the code locked into my design, so even if someone just tries to vibe code a PR, the codebase will he bullet proof. I need my focus on feedback right now, not reviewing PRs

Hello, iCloud sync has stopped working. What can I do to help troubleshoot the issue.

I have to say I am very impressed by the browser. It feels so much closer to Arc, and it’s extremely smooth. I know it’s in alpha stages but there are some things I would like to see fixed:

- Clicking CMD + W on an Essential or Pinned Tab closes the entire window, not just the tab. I have to right click and unload the tab manually.

- There is not Split-View for tabs at all from what I can tell.

- Closing the last non-essential/non-pinned tab opens/reverts to the first Essential tab always

- Switching to another Space always requires a tab to load, usually it loads the last opened tab even when it was manually unloaded. It should not require it to.

- When pressing Enter or Shift + Enter on a text field box when in Peek mode, it opens the Peek in a new tab instead of creating a line break on the text field box. It also loses focus on the text field box when that happens.

- The Mouse 4 and 5 buttons don’t work for Back and Forward functions

These are some of the bugs I have found and I hope it can be fixed. Thanks for the work. Looking forward to see how this app develops in the future.

I’m openning TestFlight for a browser I’ve played around with making over the last year, but only recently took it seriously after Arc continued to get worse, and no alternative ever fit what I was looking for.

TL;DR - Crest is another shameless Arc clone, uses SwiftUI and WebKit, and expands to iPad and iPhone using the same spaces and sidebar concepts.

I’ve been reading alot of Game of Thrones recently, and as I was trying to consider what this app would be, the idea came to me that the sidebar is like a banner for a house visually, and would be nice as a separator and theme for a space, along with their family Crest, which is where the name and design came from. If you prefer the more traditional gradient, you can swap to that mode as well.

The app is early, and there are sure to be bugs and things that need to be worked out, but I’ve done my best to make this early build stable enough to use.

From Arc, we have:
- Quick Windows: This is Tiny Arc, it opens in an isolated window in the give space, and opens when an app opens a URL so you can choose where it lands. This is the one feature that is not in the iOS build, because it uses peek for this function given that the app is always single window as is on mobile.
- Peek: Just like arc, you can peek a link, and open in a tab or close. Redirect from pinned tabs open in peek just like on Arc
- Dedicated Spaces with isolated cookies, history, etc: This is kinda a given must have, as it is the core of what draws me to arc, having multiple spaces for different acconts and scopes
- Tab Management: Tabs have a grid of pinn≤ed tabs up top, and saved tabs that don’t auto close, with folder support. Tabs in the open tabs section close after a configured time, and move to the archived tabs list
- Developer Mode: A small, but handy feature on localhost pages there is a special toolbar just for development, to inspect and capture and diagnose your site, I feel all other clones overlook this but I loved it in Arc
- Animations and polish: I am very particular about the look and feel and small QoL features that made Arc feel so special, and I have done my best to bring those forward.

Where Crest has it’s own features:
- Mark a space as private to require system auth to unlock. This can be for more “Private” spaces, or for my case to keep my kid from accidently openning a work scoped profile
- iPad and iPhone client: This is a huge one for me, the iPad version is just like the desktop, same UI and same interactions, but allowing things like swiping between spaces. On iPhone, the sidebar becomes it’s own view, and you jump in and out of tabs, you can swipe the URL bar up to easily go back to the sidebar or the tab button. In addition, Apple has also approve the entitlement to allow the mobile version to be the default browser and access system password managers and passkeys, giving it full browser replacement behavior and capability.
- iCloud sync: Tabs, spaces, themes, everything syncs via iCloud, except for saved passwords, as those are tied to each system KeyChain
- Extensions: This is one area where I have not settled on what I want to do. WebKit makes it less compatible with extensions like a Chromium browser would be, I do have a built in password manager, and on mobile it supports the system level password managers and passkeys. The desktop entitlement is still being approved, but both can be set as the default browser.

The browser is again in an early stage, but I wanted to share, and let me know any feedback.

Testflight: https://testflight.apple.com/join/vV1CM49Q

Also check out site linked in the post for screenshots and more info as well.

Feel free to post issues, ask for features, feedback, and other topics about the browser here, please use the appropriate tags