ExpressVPN and NordVPN Launch Native ARM64 Clients, With Google Drive Coming Soon

During its IFA 2024 keynote earlier today, Qualcomm highlighted how it’s been working with Microsoft to help developers release native versions of their apps for Qualcomm-powered Windows PCs. This is still a work in progress, but ExpressVPN and NordVPN are both releasing native ARM64 clients today, and Google Drive will also get the same treatment in Q4 2024.

App compatibility has been quite a big problem on Windows on ARM devices over the years. For a while, the user base has been too small for developers to care about porting their apps to the ARM64 architecture. However, thanks to Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus chips, Windows on ARM PCs finally deliver the same level of performance as Intel and AMD-powered systems, with better battery life.

On new Copilot+ PCs, Microsot’s Prism emulator also makes x86 apps run much better than before, but there are still some apps and games that don’t work well and others that don’t work at all. That’s the case for Google Drive, and this can be a dealbreaker for people who rely on the cloud storage service.

In a separate blog post, the ExpressVPN team explained how it initially planned to build an “ARM-native application” for Copilot+ PCs, but that’s not what happened. The development team found a way to speed up development time by leveraging Microsoft’s new Prism emulator.

“Our engineers completely rebuilt the driver for our patented Lightway protocol to work with ARM machines, using Prism to emulate the remaining services, like our UI and backend,” the company explained today. “This hybrid semi-native approach means ExpressVPN users get the best of both worlds—the full security of our premium VPN service and a far more condensed development time.”

ExpressVPN for Copilot+ PCs is available to download from this page, and you can also download NordVPN from this page. While Google Drive won’t have a native ARM64 client until later this year, OneDrive, Box, and Dropbox already do.