Questions, answered.

A free web browser for the Mac. Your tabs live in a sidebar, sorted into Spaces, with split view, a command bar and a built-in blocker. The interface is written in Swift for macOS, and pages render with Chromium.

Orb is published by Dennis Yilmaz.

Orb isn’t affiliated with Google, Apple, the Chromium project or The Browser Company.

Nothing. Orb is free, has no ads and doesn’t sell your information.

No. Orb’s own code isn’t public. It’s built on Chromium, ungoogled-chromium’s patches and other open-source software, used under their licences, which the third-party notices list in full.

No. Orb was built independently and contains no code or assets from Arc. It can import your Spaces, tabs and favorites from Arc, though.

Macs with Apple silicon, from M1 on, running macOS 14 Sonoma or later. Intel Macs aren’t supported.

No. Orb is a Mac app.

You can install extensions from the Chrome Web Store, where the install button reads Add to Orb. They’re built for Chromium, which Orb uses, but Orb can’t promise every extension will work. By default Orb fetches them through its own server, so Google sees neither your IP address nor your list of extensions.

Orb downloads Google’s Widevine module automatically, which sites use for protected video. The download goes through Orb’s server, so Google doesn’t see your IP address.

Yes. Orb imports from Arc, Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Brave, Edge and Vivaldi, during setup or later from Settings. From Arc it brings Spaces, tabs and favorites, then passwords and history. From Safari it brings bookmarks and history, after macOS asks you to allow Full Disk Access. Importing happens on your Mac and sends nothing to us.

Yes. Save passkeys in Orb on your Mac, sign in with one on your phone or tablet by scanning a code, or use a USB security key. With Sync on, passkeys can sync between your Macs, end-to-end encrypted.

No. Orb has no accounts at all, and Sync works without one: you add a Mac with a six-digit code.

Update checks, certificate and blocker list updates, Safe Browsing lookups as short hashes, and Chrome Web Store requests through a proxy. Crash reports and anonymous daily diagnostics are on by default, and Sync and the Tweaks Gallery send data only if you use them.

The privacy page lists each one, and the privacy policy says how long anything is kept.

Yes, in Settings, under Privacy. Orb shows you both switches before either starts, and turning one off deletes anything waiting to be sent.

Yes, from the first launch. The built-in blocker uses 38 filter lists for ads, trackers, cookie banners and malicious sites. If a site breaks, turn blocking off for just that site from Site Controls in the address bar.

Yes. Everything you sync is encrypted on your Mac with keys from your 24-word recovery key, which we never receive. The server stores the encrypted data and the little it needs to deliver it, such as each record’s size and when it changed. We can’t read your data, and we can’t recover it if you lose every Mac and your recovery key.

Email orb@denni.sh. The security policy explains what to include, what’s in scope and how disclosure works.

Download the disk image, open it and drag Orb to Applications. Or install it with Homebrew:

brew install --cask orb-browser/tap/orb

On its own. Orb checks for updates and installs them, security fixes included, and it only installs updates signed with its own key. Automatic updates can’t be turned off, because an out-of-date browser puts you at risk.

Quit Orb and drag it to the Trash. Your data stays in your Library folder, under Application Support/Orb, until you delete it. With Homebrew, brew uninstall --zap --cask orb-browser/tap/orb removes both. The install page has the details.

Email orb@denni.sh.