What you need to know
- NordVPN will make an Arm-native version of its application in the near future.
- The company confirmed that the Arm-native version of NordVPN is in its final stages.
- Being optimized for Arm should make NordVPN perform better and have better efficiency when running on devices powered by the Snapdragon X Elite or other Arm processors.
Windows 11 on Arm PCs are about to get a big boost when it comes to security and privacy. NordVPN, a popular tool for securing devices by hiding your IP address, will have an Arm-native version soon. That's good news for people who already have a NordVPN subscription or that are interested in grabbing one for use on an Arm-powered PC like the Surface Pro 11 or Surface Laptop 7.
"We are building an Arm-native NordVPN application and the launching process is on the final stages," said NordVPN to TechRadar. "We are now in close cooperation with Microsoft to receive driver signing certificate. We expect to release the application in the near future."
NordVPN is one of the most popular VPNs around. It also tops the lists of the best VPNs and best VPNs PC maintained by our colleagues at TechRadar. NordVPN is easy to set up and use, allowing you to improve your security or unblock international streaming libraries by pretending to be somewhere you are not. What NordVPN is not, at least at the moment, is an option for those using Windows on Arm PCs. In fact, very few VPNs work on PCs with Qualcomm Snapdragon processors due to VPNs relying so heavily on specific drivers.
VPNs on Copilot+ PCs / Windows 11 on Arm
At the moment, you cannot use NordVPN on a Windows on Arm PC, even through emulation. While the best experience will come by using native Arm applications, Windows on Arm PCs can run other apps through emulation. Running non-native apps got a boost in the form of Microsoft's Prism technology, but there are still some apps that will not work on Arm-powered PCs.
The first wave of Copilot+ PCs, all of which run on the Snapdragon X Elite or Snapdragon X Plus, have received positive reviews (in the future there will be Copilot+ PCs with non-Arm chips). Generally speaking, the best native Arm apps perform great on these PCs and non-native apps run fine.
"An important aspect of the Snapdragon X platform is how the emulated apps feel when used. On older generations of Windows on Arm chips, running even basic apps under emulation felt slower than running an Intel or AMD machine," said our Editor-in-Chief Daniel Rubino in our Surface Laptop 7 review.
"That's no longer the case here on Snapdragon X. Many of the apps I've tried that run under emulation feel fine, with no scrolling lag or frame dropping when navigating through an app."
While performance of those non-native apps is generally fine, efficiency drops when using apps that are not native to Arm. There are also some apps that perform noticeably slower in emulation. NordVPN and some other apps are not able to run on Windows 11 on Arm at all due to drivers or other limitations.
Certain apps not working with — or working well on — Windows on Arm PCs is a deal breaker for some. It doesn't matter how sleek the designs of the Galaxy Book4 Edge or other laptops if those PCs can't run the apps you need. The addition of an Arm-native version of NordVPN should close a noticeable gap in the Windows on Arm ecosystem.
