How to Move from Arc to Helium

Helium is a minimal, private Chromium browser that has quietly picked up vertical tabs, split view and an Arc importer this year. It's not a clone of Arc, but for many people it's a cleaner place to land.

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Helium is a small open-source browser built on Chromium, with uBlock Origin built in and no background network requests until you do something. If what you liked about Arc was how quiet and fast it felt, rather than its Spaces, it's worth a look. And because it's Chromium, every Chrome extension you used in Arc works here.

What comes across

Helium added an Arc importer in version 0.10.3 (March 2026). It reads Arc's sidebar file and turns it into bookmarks:

The important difference from Zen and Dia: Helium has no Spaces. You get Chromium's tab groups, but nothing that gives you separate sets of tabs with their own look. Your Spaces become folders you can open from the bookmarks bar.

Step by step

1. Export your passwords from Arc first. Open arc://password-manager/settings, choose Export passwords, and save the CSV file. If you have more than one Arc profile, do this once for each.
2. Install Helium from helium.computer. It runs on Mac, Windows and Linux.
3. Quit Arc, so its files aren't locked.
4. Import from Arc when Helium offers it on first run, or later from Settings → Import bookmarks and settings, with Arc as the source.
5. Import the passwords CSV in Helium's password manager settings (chrome://password-manager/settings), then delete the CSV file. It's plain text.
6. Turn on vertical tabs if you want the Arc layout: press Cmd+S on a Mac, or pick the Vertical layout in Helium's appearance settings.

Arc features in Helium

• Vertical tabs: yes. They left the experimental stage in March 2026.
• Split View: yes, two tabs side by side.
• Spaces: no. Use tab groups, or separate Chromium profiles for work and personal.
• Sync: no. Helium doesn't sync between devices, so a password manager such as Bitwarden or 1Password is the way to share logins.
• Mobile: no. Helium is desktop only.

Is Helium the right move?

If you used one or two Spaces and mostly want a fast, private, Chrome-compatible browser, Helium is a good landing spot, and your extensions come with you unchanged. If you lived across many Spaces, you'll miss them: Zen keeps them as Spaces, and Dia turns them into Profiles. Compare all the options in our Arc alternatives guide, or see how Helium differs from its closest relative in Helium vs Ungoogled Chromium.

Sources

• Helium: 0.10.3 release notes, Arc importer source, importer password handling and helium.computer
• The Browser Company: How do I export my data from Arc?