Heliarc
Download

Tabs in a sidebar. Trackers out.

A private browser for Mac and Windows. Blocks ads and trackers by default, runs your Chrome extensions.

Download View on GitHub
The Heliarc window: a sidebar with favorites, a folder and tabs on the left, and a Wikipedia article about auroras on the right.

Your tabs, in order.

Pin favorites, tuck pages into folders, split the screen in two. Spaces keep Home, Work and Fun apart, each with its own logins.

  • Swipe two fingers to go back, forward or change space
  • Peek at a link with Shift+click, without leaving the page
  • Tabs you stopped using archive themselves
  • A playing video floats on when you leave its tab
Close-up of the Heliarc sidebar: address bar, a pinned GitHub tab, a Reading folder with two pages, a new tab button and the Aurora tab selected.

Type anything. Land anywhere.

One bar for tabs, history and search. Bangs jump straight to a site, or add your own.

!w!yt!gh!g!ddg

The Heliarc command bar with the word aurora typed in. It offers to search, and to switch to the open Aurora tab.

Privacy

Private from the first launch.

Every switch in plain sight

Cookies, HTTPS, WebRTC and fingerprinting each get one toggle.

Heliarc settings, privacy section, with switches for third-party cookies, HTTPS, WebRTC and fingerprinting turned on.

Ads and trackers, blocked

Filter lists run on every page. Allow ads on one site with a click on the shield.

Private space

No history, no saved tabs, no extensions. Wiped when its last tab closes.

Fewer ways to follow you

Third-party cookies blocked, HTTPS upgrades, a plain browser fingerprint.

Sites ask first

Camera, microphone, location, notifications and clipboard need your yes. What you chose to remember is listed in Settings.

Bring your extensions and your history.

Chrome extensions

Bitwarden and Proton Pass run in the toolbar. Add anything from the Chrome Web Store with one button.

Import from your old browser

History, bookmarks and passwords come over from these browsers and Edge, or from an exported file.

Free and open source.

Heliarc is released under the GPL-3.0 license. Latest release

Mac

Signed and notarized by Apple. Pick the build that matches your Mac.

Apple silicon Intel

Windows

Not signed yet. If Windows warns you, click More info, then Run anyway.

64-bit

Protected video such as Netflix and Spotify does not play yet. Heliarc updates itself on Mac and tells you when a new version is out on Windows.