OneDrive is getting Windows on ARM and Apple M1 support in beta later this year

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by Radu Tyrsina 

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Microsoft’s OneDrive sync client for Windows and macOS is soon getting native support for ARM-based devices. At its Ignite conference this morning, the company announced that Office Insiders with ARM-based Windows devices will be able to opt in for the ARM preview of OneDrive “by end of this year.”

For Mac users, the OneDrive sync client is also getting native M1 support later this year. A first preview will be available for Office Insiders in December, and the new M1 version is expected to be generally available early next year. These new native versions of OneDrive for Windows on ARM PCs and M1 Macs should perform better than the existing clients for Intel-based devices.

With Apple expecting to transition its whole Mac line to Apple Silicon by 2022, app developers have a good incentive to recompile their apps for M1-powered Macs. The Office for Mac apps have been natively compiled for M1 Macs since last year, and a native version of the OneDrive sync client had been announced back in June.

It seems like things are moving a bit slower on the Windows on ARM side, though. Microsoft released a 64-bit preview version of Office for Windows 11 on ARM testers back in July, which offers significant performance improvements compared to the emulated version that’s still available for Windows 10 on ARM users. That’s thanks to Windows 11’s ARM64EC technology, which makes it possible for developers to build apps for Windows 11 on ARM that still rely on x64 code.

Radu Tyrsina

Radu Tyrsina Shield

Radu Tyrsina has been a Windows fan ever since he got his first PC, a Pentium III (a monster at that time). For most of the kids of his age, the Internet was an amazing way to play and communicate with others, but he was deeply impressed by the flow of information and how easily you can find anything on the web. Prior to founding Windows Report, this particular curiosity about digital content enabled him to grow a number of sites that helped hundreds of millions reach faster the answer they're looking for.