Crest field guide

A browser made of Spaces.

Crest gives work, home, research, and private browsing separate places to live. Switching Spaces changes the browsing context—not just the color of the window.

The short version: each Space keeps its own signed-in sessions, cookies, history, tabs, pinned sites, passwords, permissions, website data, appearance, and sync identity. A Sub-Space shares its group's sign-ins, website data, history, passwords, site permissions, and extensions, and its pinned tabs unless the group separates them.

Looking for step-by-step help? The new Crest Help Center has searchable installation, settings, and troubleshooting guides. This field guide remains the compact product overview.

Spaces

A Space is both an identity and a boundary. Use the Space switcher to move between them; Crest restores the tabs and session that belong to the destination Space.

A Space keeps	What that means for you
Signed-in sessions	Your Work accounts do not automatically sign you into the same sites in Personal.
History and archive	Research, recently closed tabs, and recovered pages stay with the place where you used them.
Tabs and pinned sites	Every Space opens with its own working set and familiar destinations.
Crest Passwords	Suggestions match both the current website and the Space you are browsing in.
Appearance and controls	Banners, permissions, website data, and other preferences remain contextual.

Sub-Spaces

A Sub-Space shares another Space's sign-ins, history, passwords, and extensions while keeping its own tabs and look, like Spaces on one Arc profile. Share sign-ins across Spaces with Sub-Spaces.

Make a Space recognizable

Think of every Space as a banner. Open the Space editor to choose its colors and crest; the full sidebar wears that identity and carries it into the Space switcher, making a context change visible before you read its name.

Banner or Gradient

Banner mode uses distinct color fields and heraldic patterns for an expressive, unmistakable Space. Gradient, the last choice in Crest Studio's Sidebar step, preserves the familiar Arc-style theme: blend one to three colors into a smooth atmosphere, then adjust its direction, strength, readability, and optional texture.

Private Spaces

A Private Space is temporary. Its website data is non-persistent and it stays out of normal history, restoration, archive, and synchronization.

Tabs, pins, and the archive

Crest gives tabs different roles so the sidebar does not become one endless list.

Pinned and saved

Pin the destinations you return to constantly. Save tabs that should remain available but do not need to stay in the active working set.

Current, recent, and archived

Current tabs are what you are using now. Recent items make short-term recovery easy, while Archive keeps older closed work available without crowding the sidebar.

Tab identity

Tab icons normally follow the current website. You can pull and keep an icon, choose an emoji, or use Clear Icon to return the tab to automatic website icons.

Split View

Combine two to four live tabs into one durable sidebar group. Drag a sidebar tab onto the page, use a tab or link context menu, or run Split With Next Tab. The focused card owns the address and page controls while the other pages stay live.

Mac and iPad show resizable columns. Move focus with Control-Command-Left/Right, reorder cards with Shift-Command-Left/Right, or use Option-Command-U to separate the group. iPhone retains the same group as a focused pager; swipe horizontally on the compact toolbar to move between its cards.

Read the complete Split View guide.

Quick Window and Peek

Quick Window

Quick Window carries forward the idea behind Arc's Little Arc. On Mac, links opened from other apps can arrive in a lightweight browser instead of immediately joining your durable tabs. Choose the right Space and it uses that Space's signed-in session and Crest Passwords; close it when you are done, or keep it by opening it as a full tab.

Peek

Peek opens a link above the page you are reading. Close it to return immediately, or open it in the current or another Space when it earns a permanent place.

Link Routing

Crest carries Arc’s Air Traffic Control idea forward as Link Routing. Add exact or contains rules in Settings → Links, choose a destination Space, and order narrow rules before broad ones. Matching external links route before Crest applies the normal Quick Window, Most Recent Space, or Chosen Space default.

Build and test a Link Routing rule.

Moving to Crest

On Mac, Crest can discover Arc, Zen, Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and other Chromium browsers and turn their browsing data into a visual import review. Choose one or more sources, then work through every Space or profile before anything is committed. If your browser isn’t listed, choose Scan for more and Crest looks for other Chromium-based browsers on your Mac.

Source	What Crest can bring over
Arc	Spaces (each profile's as one Sub-Space group), tabs, folders, split views, colors, icons, extensions, and passwords.
Zen	Spaces from every profile (each profile's as one Sub-Space group), Essentials, pinned tabs, folders, split views, open tabs, icons, and colors.
Chrome	Profiles, bookmarks, open tabs, tab groups, split views, extensions, and passwords.
Brave, Edge, Vivaldi, Opera, Dia, Comet, Aside, ego lite, Chromium, and Chrome Beta, Dev, and Canary	Profiles, bookmarks, open tabs, tab groups, split views, extensions, and passwords.
Safari	Bookmarks, windows, open tabs, and pinned tabs.
Firefox	Profiles, windows, open tabs, pinned tabs, and tab groups.

Review before anything moves

Keep or remove individual tabs and folders, choose whether a source becomes a new Space or joins an existing one, and include supported passwords only when you want them. Each Space shows the Chrome Web Store extensions it brings under its address bar; Crest installs the ones you keep once the import finishes. The before-and-after preview updates as you make decisions.

Customize during setup

Open Customize Space from the review to rename the destination and edit its colors, crest, and Banner or Gradient presentation before importing.

Mac first, then everywhere: direct browser migration happens in Crest for Mac. Once imported, your Spaces and tabs can sync to iPad and iPhone with iCloud.

Chromium and WebKit

Crest for Mac requires Apple silicon and macOS 26.1 or later. Updating keeps your Spaces, tabs, history, and Crest Passwords. Chromium starts with separate website sign-ins; older WebKit extensions need to be reinstalled from the Chrome Web Store. Read the engine and upgrade guide for feature differences and current limits.

Crest for Mac includes two web engines. Pages open in Chromium, with Google’s data collection removed. Any website or page can open in WebKit instead, which adds Reader, built-in content blocking, and FairPlay video. Crest on iPhone and iPad uses WebKit.

Choose the default engine and website rules in Settings → Engines. Change Opens in in Site Controls to send a website to the other engine, or use Page → Open Page in WebKit for one page. When a page asks for protected video, Crest automatically switches to WebKit unless you have chosen an engine for that website. It checks for unsaved work first; staying on the page cancels the switch and leaves the website rule unchanged.

Website data stays per engine: your Spaces, tabs, history, and Crest Passwords are shared, but each engine keeps its own cookies for a Space. Signing in to a site in Chromium does not sign you in to it in WebKit.

Read the engine guide.

Extensions

Install Chrome Web Store extensions on Mac. Extensions run on Chromium pages. Pages you open in WebKit, and Crest on iPhone and iPad, run no extensions. Compatibility varies when an extension relies on part of Chrome’s window that Crest draws differently, or on a companion Mac app.

Extensions belong to a Space and a device. Each installation keeps independent permissions, storage, enablement, pinning, and site access, so configuring a tool in Work does not silently change Personal or another device. The Spaces of a Sub-Space group share one installation.

Ways to install on Mac

Chrome Web Store: open the extension’s store page and select Add to Crest. Chromium checks the publisher’s signature and the extension’s ID, then Crest shows its permissions and website access for review before installing it in the current Space.
Unpacked extensions: for development, load them from Chromium’s extension manager in developer mode.

Firefox add-ons, Safari Web Extensions, Safari content blockers, and Safari App Extensions are not supported. Many of them publish a Chrome version.

Installed extensions can expose pinned actions, popups, side panels, settings pages, and keyboard commands. These controls stay with the Space and device that owns the installation.

Password managers and companion apps

Extensions that talk to a Mac app, such as 1Password or iCloud Passwords, depend on that app trusting Crest’s signature. Use the signed, notarized release installed in Applications. See 1Password, iCloud Passwords, and native companions.

See the extension overview on the product page. For setup and troubleshooting, open Crest Help & Guides, including Chrome Web Store setup, extension compatibility, and troubleshooting.

Passwords and privacy

Crest Passwords are saved in the system Keychain and suggested only for matching websites. Viewing, copying, or exporting sensitive information can require device authentication.

Website permissions are handled per site and remain tied to their Space. Private Spaces use temporary website storage and do not join your ordinary browsing record.

Deletion is explicit: clearing a site's data, removing saved credentials, and deleting an entire Space are separate actions, each showing the scope before it proceeds.

History, data, and sync

History that respects context

History belongs to the current Space. Opening History or Archive shows the browsing record for that context instead of mixing every part of your life together. The Spaces of a Sub-Space group share one history.

Move between devices

When synchronization is enabled, durable Space details and browsing organization can follow you between your Apple devices. Passwords remain protected by the system Keychain.

Bring data in—or take it with you

Run the visual browser migration from setup or Settings on Mac. Crest can also export a portable archive, letting you keep a validated copy of your browsing organization.

Tools and settings

Move quickly

Use the command palette to search the web, find an open tab, and move through Crest from the keyboard. Keyboard shortcuts can be customized in Settings.

Work with the page

Reader mode, find, content blocking, downloads, page sharing, export, popup handling, and failure recovery stay close to the address bar and page controls. On Mac, Reader and built-in content blocking work on WebKit pages.

Permissions and site controls

Site permissions can be reviewed or cleared from Settings. Reader mode, content blocking, downloads, and page tools stay attached to the Space where you use them.

Shortcuts and gestures

Press Command-L for the command palette, Control-Tab for the most recent tab, Option-Command-Left/Right for Spaces, and Command-1…9 or Control-1…9 for numbered tabs and Spaces. The full Mac command map is searchable and rebindable in Settings → Shortcuts.

On iPhone, swipe vertically on the address capsule between page and tab viewer, swipe from the leading edge for the sidebar, and swipe horizontally on the compact toolbar to page a Split View. On Mac, right-click for contextual actions and middle-click a current tab to close it or a saved item to unload it.

See the complete keyboard shortcut reference and gesture and pointer guide.

Mac, iPad, and iPhone

The same Spaces and browsing model carry across all three platforms, while the controls adapt to the screen around them.

Platform	How Crest fits
Mac	Chromium and WebKit in one app, a spacious sidebar, two-to-four-card Split View, keyboard-first commands, Quick Window, Peek, extensions, and multi-window browsing. Signed, notarized releases come directly from GitHub.
iPad	The full Space structure, resizable Split View columns, touch navigation, hardware-keyboard commands, and Peek.
iPhone	The web page stays primary while the full sidebar becomes a dedicated view and Split View becomes a focused card pager.