Summary
Discord quietly released a native Windows on Arm (ARM64) build; download via Windows > ARM64.
This native app avoids emulation, unlocking better performance and battery life on Arm devices.
The release is unannounced—consider it a sneak peek until Discord officially confirms it.
For a while, Windows on Arm devices were in a weird spot. They offered better performance and battery life than typical laptops, but they could only achieve that if the apps supported the Snapdragon architecture. Otherwise, you had to rely on emulation, which didn’t really tap into all those juicy benefits of using an Arm chip.
Fortunately, support began to trickle in. We saw companies pledge to design versions of their apps that take advantage of the Snapdragon chip, giving Windows on Arm users the boost they rightfully deserved. Now, Discord has joined the ranks of apps that offer an Arm-based version, although the company itself hasn’t even announced it yet.
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Discord just got a native Windows on Arm app
You can try it before Discord announces that it’s out
As spotted by Neowin, you can now grab a Windows on Arm-native version of the Discord app. This is usually the part where we take a look at the press release to see what the company has to say about it, but the truth is…there is no press release. At least, not yet.
It seems that someone at Discord HQ has pressed the shiny ‘release app’ button, and you can now grab the Windows on Arm version on the download page. Just click the button for Windows, then pick “ARM64” in the options that appear. However, Discord has yet to declare that the app has been released, so consider it a sneak peek into how it fares before everyone else even learns about it.
Overall, the app shouldn’t look any different from the regular version. However, if you’re running a Snapdragon device, you should notice it performs better and uses less battery than before. Give it a spin and see if it fares any better on your hardware than the old version.
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