What you need to know
- An update to the Microsoft Store stops incompatible apps and games from appearing in the store on ARM devices.
- Many apps need to be recompiled or updated to work on Windows 10 on ARM.
- Some incompatible games still manage to appear.
Just because an app or game is in the Microsoft Store doesn't mean that it can run on Windows 10 on ARM. Many developers need to recompile or update their apps to work on ARM devices like the Surface Pro X. An update to the Microsoft Store rolled out this week that greatly reduces the number of incompatible apps that appear in the Microsoft Store on devices running Windows 10 on ARM. The update brings the Microsoft Store to version 11911.1001.8.0.
Before the update, apps such as Affinity Photo and games like Broforce would appear in searches and within the Microsoft Store even though they can't be installed on Windows 10 on ARM devices. Several apps and games have not been recompiled for ARM64 and are uninstallable on Windows 10 on ARM devices. Now, the store won't show incompatible apps and games. The update hides incompatible apps and games from both searches and from when people browse the Microsoft Store.
Some titles managed to slip through the update process and continue to show up on devices running Windows 10 on ARM. For example, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas still shows up as being able to be purchased. There don't seem to be any incompatible apps that still appear.
There's a chance that the reason some incompatible games still show up is that they are Game Pass featured, such as Guacamelle! 2, which will show in a search (but not while browsing). But that's likely because you can remote install games to other systems in the Microsoft Store.
Black Friday buyer's guide: Windows 10 tablets
