It's been over five years since the first Windows on Arm PCs started showing up, but despite that long period, Arm-based Windows devices haven't caught on all that much, although Microsoft finally started taking it more seriously in 2022. It announced a native developer toolchain for Arm and even launched a new, more powerful Windows Dev Kit with an Arm processor. There are also Windows Arm PCs like the Surface Pro 9 with 5G and the Lenovo ThinkPad X13s, and soon, we'll have the brand-new Snapdragon X series of processors to deliver true high-end performance for Windows on Arm.
Even before that, Microsoft introduced support for x64 app emulation with Windows 11, so the company has been slowly building up towards an Arm future. But the fact is, there still aren't a whole lot of apps running natively on Arm devices, so if you're someone who bought into the ecosystem, you might be looking for the best apps to take advantage of that. We've rounded up some great choices if you're looking for apps that run natively on Windows Arm devices.
Built-in Windows 11 apps
Windows 11 itself comes with a bunch of pre-installed apps, and while you might think every part of the operating system runs natively on Arm, that hasn't exactly been the case.
However, Microsoft has added native Arm64 support to a range of apps in recent years, including Notepad, Windows Media Player (the modern version), the Microsoft Store, the Camera app, OneDrive, Phone Link, and Xbox. The Xbox app is particularly noteworthy since it's the only way you can use Xbox Cloud Gaming at native performance if you don't want to use Microsoft Edge.
On that note, yes, Edge is another that runs natively on Arm64, and it's still one of the few web browsers to do so. This is a major one because web browsers generate new content in real-time, so you're constantly experiencing the bottlenecks of running an emulated version. The case is similar with OneDrive and Phone Link since running them in emulation can greatly impact sync performance.
Firefox
If you don't like Edge for any reason, then Firefox is another browser that can now natively run on Arm-based Windows devices — at least the ones that run on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chipsets. Firefox is often seen as a much more privacy-conscious browser compared to the likes of Google Chrome and Edge, so this is a great choice if you don't like sharing data with Google or Microsoft.
Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom
Adobe has been working on bringing the entire Adobe CC suite to Arm-based Windows PCs for a while. While Photoshop and Lightroom have been available in beta, the company officially pulled Photoshop for Windows on Arm out of beta a while back, so it's officially supported, even if the experience isn't quite perfect yet. Do note that in order to run Photoshop on an Arm-based Windows PC, you need to install the 64-bit Creative Cloud app, which doesn't run natively. Other Adobe apps also don't run natively on Arm processors, though you should be able to use them through emulation on Windows 11, since it can emulate 64-bit apps, too.
Luminar Neo
Another photo editing app that recently added native Arm support is Luminar Neo, a photo editor with a heavy focus on AI, which is something Arm processors have typically excelled at. Luminar Neo offers a wide range of editing tools that can rival Photoshop in some regards, and it's a far cheaper app making it much more easily accessible to most people. It also has a beautiful UI that's very unlike Photoshop's tried-and-tested look.
Spotify
If you enjoy listening to music or podcasts, you're probably no stranger to Spotify. The company initially launched a beta version of Spotify for Arm devices back in May 2022, but as of September 2023, the app is now officially available through the Microsoft Store. This should deliver much better performance compared to the emulated version.
7-Zip
The popular file archiving tool 7-Zip has been testing a native Arm version for a while, and it's already available as a stable release. This is a free tool that lets you compress and extra all kinds of archives, including ZIP, RAR, and 7z formats. Of course, many of these formats are natively supported in WIndows 11 now, but many still like having this dedicated software that has some extra capabilities.
Bandizip
Bandizip is another free file archiver for the Windows operating system that supports all major archive file formats and various customization options. It has officially supported Windows on Arm since version 6.18, and it works natively on Arm64 CPU.
VLC
VLC has a native app for Windows PCs running on Arm. It's essentially the same video player we're used to that can play all sorts of video formats. You can download the Arm version of VLC from the official website, though you have to use the dropdown menu next to the download button to specifically get the Arm64 version of the app.
Netflix
The popular video and movie streaming service is available as a UWP (Universal Windows Platform) app via the Microsoft Store. While you can technically access most streaming services via the web, it's always nice to have an app handy, and Netflix is one of the most popular services of this kind, so this is great to see.
Amazon Prime Video
Most streaming services have web-based apps on Windows, and since they're usually powered by Microsoft Edge, they technically run natively on Arm devices. Amazon prime Video is another great example, so if you're more interested in the shows available here, you can check out this app as well.