If you’re looking to upgrade to a next-generation Windows laptop, we’ve got good news: You don’t have to compromise on your privacy.
One of the top VPN services has unveiled an ARM-native Windows VPN app. This is crucial for using your VPN software on devices powered by the blazing-fast Snapdragon X Elite chip.
Private Internet Access (PIA) is now one of the few providers to offer an ARM-native app for Windows, with more services expected to be added to the list in the coming weeks.
PIA’s ARM support “up to parity”
“We have worked hard to bring all the functionality of PIA to this new hardware and are proud that our users can once again take full advantage of the PIA platform,” said Himmat Bains, Head of Product at PIA.
Windows users have been waiting a long time for this moment – Apple unveiled its ARM-based M1 processor back in 2020 – as Snapdragon PCs had severe limitations in VPN compatibility. As a result, most VPN apps are still not ready months after launch.
This is mainly because this type of OS does not allow for emulation. Simply put, VPN providers have to rebuild their software natively from scratch for ARM.
In addition to lamenting delays in driver certificate signing from Microsoft, Bains told me that code framework dependencies were the biggest technical hurdle to overcome. “Before we got to this point, we had to pay attention to a number of interdependent factors,” he added.
It’s worth noting that PIA already offers ARM-native VPN applications for Linux and macOS devices. “This Windows ARM launch brings our Windows platform up to par,” Bains told me.
Miguel Galindo, Senior Software Engineer at PIA, also explained that more work will be needed to streamline PIA’s functionality as new ARM applications are released. Nevertheless, “these new ARM laptops present an exciting opportunity to bring competition back into personal computing,” he said.
PIA is now the latest big name in the industry to offer Windows ARM users a way to protect themselves while browsing the Internet.
Windscribe and Surfshark also have ARM-native Windows VPN apps at the time of writing, while NordVPN, ExpressVPN, and ProtonVPN are currently working on their versions.
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