Windows users on the ARM platform are finally getting some love from Discord. The company is finally making a dedicated version for Windows on ARM, which should’ve been the case right from the start.
Discord is now available natively on ARM-based laptops, and the company’s own download page now lists separate Windows x64 and ARM64 downloads for the desktop app. So laptops running Qualcomm Snapdragon chips, including the recent wave of Copilot+ PCs, where users previously had to rely on the regular Windows app running through emulation.
Why this is really good news for Discord users?
A native Discord app may not sound as flashy as a brand-new feature. However, its appeal is making things just work better. Discord is the app many people leave open all day for gaming, calls, group chats, communities, and much more. If it runs badly, the whole experience can be sour. And up until recently, the emulated Discord app running on ARM platforms ran generally worse. It could be sluggish or just freeze up. This is what prompted Discord to finally start work on an ARM64 version for its popular cross-platform VoIP app.
Native ARM support is important
Windows on Arm can run many regular x86 and x64 Windows apps through emulation, and Microsoft’s Prism emulator has improved a lot. But Microsoft’s own developers have made it clear that emulation can’t reflect the performance and battery life efficiency of apps built natively on ARM.
So we can expect improvements in not just responsiveness, but even background efficiency and battery drain, which is particularly important on an app that is often running in the background. It also gives Snapdragon Windows laptops another credibility win at a time when Microsoft and Qualcomm are trying to convince buyers that ARM PCs are no longer a compromise.