Telegram is the latest of my daily Windows apps to enjoy native ARM support on Snapdragon X and even my ancient Surface
Telegram’s desktop messenger app now has native ARM64 support for Windows 11 devices with version 5.7.2.
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What you need to know
Most of my day-to-day apps have native ARM64 builds forWindows on ARMdevices, like the latestSurface Pro 11powered byQualcomm’s Snapdragon X Eliteprocessors. Evenmy five-year-old Surface Pro X, with its ancientMicrosoft SQ1chip, runsWindows 11 24H2, and now it finally runs Telegram without emulation or needing aPWA alternative. It’s one of the only apps that carries over from my professional suite to my downtime, and I’m glad to see its developers put the effort into an ARM64 build (via Neowin.)
Telegramcame to the Microsoft Store years ago, but it runs underMicrosoft’s Prism emulation layerif you launch it on an ARM device, translating x86-64 instructions rather than running natively on ARM64. It’s not a terrible prospect, asPrism’s performance improved dramatically with Windows 11 24H2and should continue the same trend as long as Microsoft maintains its efforts. Even running Telegram with thePWA methodI mentioned has been a decent substitute, but nothing is faster than native code.
How to download Telegram for Windows on ARM
You can download Telegram v5.7.2directly from the ‘telegramdesktop’ GitHub page. Download theWindows on ARM: Installerfile to install the app with an executable (.exe), or use theWindows on ARM: Portableto unpack an archive (.zip) and use Telegram without installing, even directly from a USB storage drive.
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Which apps are still holding out on ARM?
The gang is practically all here, as my daily drivers for work all run natively on ARM. Though I didn’t struggle with Telegramrunning as a PWAbefore today, it’s a welcome sight, and I’ll always applaud any development team that has spent the time to adopt ARM64. Practically all of my most important tasks are done on the web these days, andMicrosoft Edge has offered an ARM64-native appsince the early days ofWindows 10 on ARM.
The most significant adoption was probably whenAdobe Photoshop came to ARMsince I can’t think of a day when I don’t boot it up for at least a minor photo edit or a quick crop job. However, I’m still waiting on anARM-native Adobe Premiere and After Effectsand settling forPrism emulationuntil then. Nevertheless, the list of ARM64 apps on Windows 11 keeps growing and generally makes my life easier when I don’t have to fire up my desktop PC just to run some unsupported x86-64 software for a few minutes.
Developers, I’m asking you to please keep these native apps coming. As good as Prism emulation might be, there’ll never be anything that beats native ARM64 code, and I’ll champion your efforts all day long.
Ben is a Senior Editor at Windows Central, covering everything related to technology hardware and software. He regularly goes hands-on with the latest Windows laptops, components inside custom gaming desktops, and any accessory compatible with PC and Xbox. His lifelong obsession with dismantling gadgets to see how they work led him to pursue a career in tech-centric journalism after a decade of experience in electronics retail and tech support.
