Presented by Shift
Work or play, modern lives are entirely, irrevocably online, and getting more complicated by the day. The number of online tools developed to contain and tame them, at the office and throughout all the facets of our personal lives, have spiraled into dizzying numbers — and web browsers are the portals we use most frequently to access those responsibilities. Today, getting stuff done looks very much like rabbiting between tabs, from social media and personal communication apps to a variety of email inboxes. We have different apps, accounts and logins for work and family and play, plus a line-up of tabs, like an internet junk drawer. We’re too afraid to close it, fearing it could be vital to our work and life online.
But it’s pretty safe to say your emotional support tabs rarely, if ever, do anything but add stress and a vague, undefined and wholly unnecessary urgency. That’s the problem we are solving with Shift, says Michael Foucher, VP of Product. Shift is a power browser that integrates all your web apps and email accounts into one seamless, serene online experience. This browser brings together everything you do on the internet into one naturally organized window — so you don’t have to keep jumping between windows or put up with stressful tab clutter forever.
“What makes us a power browser is the seamless app integration and workspace organization,” Foucher explains. “And it’s our design philosophy. Workflows and the way we set up our online life and productivity, both inside and outside of the office, is extremely personal. We want to take that chaos away, offer a basic mental scaffolding that lets users easily map every sphere of their online life.”
Shift organizes your digital life in just one browser window
By merging all your apps and windows into one, Shift gives you a bird’s-eye view of everything you do on the internet. Within Shift, you can then create separate browser workspaces for each part of your life. Whether it’s for personal, work or play, a workspace creates a dedicated place for context-specific browsing, so that you can narrow your focus to the facet of your life that’s demanding attention. Rather than switching through windows or multiple accounts and losing tabs somewhere among the clutter, all these connected pieces come together seamlessly in a workspace.
Create multiple workspaces to organize your online life. Each workspace can be tied to an email account and you can switch between your inboxes and workspaces easily by clicking the profile icons at the top of the left sidebar. At the bottom left, choose from over 1,500 integrated apps and find each app pinned to a dedicated workspace, all of which open within Shift. Front and center is your search bar and a unique set of bookmarks for each of your workspaces. Notifications are fine-tunable: you can mute alerts from other workspaces if you choose, or toggle them individually for each app and account.
“What we’ve heard loud and clear from our users is that by just providing this basic map for each part of their lives, whether it be work or home or a hobby or a nonprofit group, it just makes everything so much easier to organize, and removes a lot of the overwhelm,” Foucher says. “Every workspace changes to reflect the mindset they’re in and goals they have, and everything else goes away.”
Shift accesses these accounts through a secure, local API client that never sends any data back to Shift’s databases. Apps are installed once and shared across workspaces, each logged in to the correct account. Plus, smart app linking means if you get email notifications from one of your apps, clicking on a link will take you right to the app within Shift instead of opening a brand new tab. Every workspace is fully adaptable to any kind of workflow–home organization deadlines, work productivity, keeping track of a side hustle and more. No matter where you log in, Shift always remembers every workspace, app and bookmark, and signing in is seamless and secure.
“We really shine when you set up Shift to isolate those spaces and create workflows for each area of your life within those spaces,” Foucher says. “When people do that, that gives them the best chance of really unlocking the power of this browser and feeling its value. But everyone does it just slightly differently — they often surprise us with ways they use it.”
Unlocking the potential of the Shift browser
The company’s first goal is to make it easy for anyone to use. Shift leverages the basic foundational elements of the Chrome browser for its powerful features, like bookmarks, but includes web apps and workspaces as each unique, isolated sections of the browser. The familiar interface makes the barrier to entry relatively low, as does the handy app directory, available right from your workspaces.
A new user can import their browsing history from Chrome or their default browser. As they get set up in Shift, they can add any accounts they’re logged into on their browser, whether that’s an email account or web apps that exist in Shift’s directory of apps.
“We’re applying familiar concepts in a unique way, offering all the web tools that users know and love and use every day,” Foucher says. “We don’t make people work hard to get to a place where they can become useful. Our goal is that our users never have to turn to the Help page to figure it out.”
As a portfolio company of the Redbrick family, Shift combines powerful functionality with unique flexibility to create a browser that adapts to how you use the internet. Whether you jump between apps and inboxes all day or simply want to separate your tabs, Shift is the answer to a better online experience. This browser is a game-changer for freelancers, creatives, agencies, and business owners everywhere.
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