Discord is working on a Windows on Arm app

Discord is working on a native Windows on Arm version of its communications app. An early development preview build is available for testers, ahead of a full Arm64 release for compatible Arm-powered devices.

Discord spokesperson Claudia Fellerman confirmed to The Verge that the company is working on a build for Windows on Arm, but it’s in the early stages of development so it’s not clear exactly when it will release publicly.

While you can install Discord on Qualcomm-powered Copilot Plus devices right now, the emulated experience often freezes and is slow to load chat history or channels. You can also use unofficial Discord clients that are native to Windows on Arm. In recent weeks I’ve been testing an early version of Discord that’s compiled for Windows on Arm and it’s just like using the app on an Intel-powered device. There is no lag navigating around and the performance is a lot better.

Once Discord is available officially for Windows on Arm, this will join the hundreds of apps that are native for the latest Qualcomm-powered Copilot Plus PCs. Emulation is generally a good experience for lightweight apps on Windows, but for apps like Discord and Premiere Pro you very much need a native version for the best performance.

The Windows on Arm app tracking site currently has 731 apps listed, with nearly 42 percent native Arm64. Less than 10 percent of apps tracked are not supported on Windows on Arm, and around 31 percent are supported by Microsoft’s Prism emulator. Microsoft has managed to convince a large portion of app developers to build native Arm64 apps, including Chrome, Dropbox, Zoom, Photoshop, Spotify, and more.