Qualcomm and Microsoft team up to expand App Assure Program for Snapdragon PCs

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Microsoft is now working with vendors on bringing more apps to Windows on ARM computers.

Surface Pro X LTE
Surface Pro X LTE (Image credit: Daniel Rubino/Windows Central)

What you need to know

  • Microsoft is expanding its App Assure program to include ARM64.
  • App Assure helps ISVs, consumers, and developers test and validate apps for Windows.
  • The free program should encourage vendors to adopts ARM64 more quickly.

Microsoft is pushing forward with Windows on ARM with a new collaboration with Qualcomm to ensure app compatibility with the Snapdragon compute platform. Both companies today announced the expansion of Microsoft's App Assure program to include ARM64 support.

Announced in late 2018 (and made available in early 2019), Microsoft's App Assure program is designed to address any application compatibility issues when running Windows 10. The free program is for customers, developers, and independent software vendors (ISVs) who qualify under existing Microsoft 365 subscriptions.

Initially, the Microsoft program helped companies transfer apps to Windows 10 and modernized them, but now the plan is expanding to ARM64 PCs powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon processors. From today's press announcement:

Microsoft's App Assure with FastTrack program is a service designed to help customers, developers, and independent software vendors address application compatibility issues, at no additional cost for qualifying customers. With this announced expansion, Microsoft commits to delivering exceptional experiences across Windows 10 devices powered by Snapdragon compute platforms, providing end-users with consistent application experiences. A focus of the program will be to engage vendors to deliver compatibility of Windows 10 apps on Snapdragon compute platforms so that users working anywhere can confidently use Windows 10 apps on Snapdragon-powered devices. This announcement is another milestone in redefining the mobile computing experience delivered by Snapdragon-powered PCs.

The goal of the updated program is to "deliver superior user experiences for enterprise customers and consumers across Windows 10 on ARM64 devices, including the global Snapdragon-powered PC ecosystem." Hopefully, that translates into more apps that run natively on ARM64, as many in the industry consider ARM to be a significant player in mobile computing as we advance.

The program is going now live, and more information can be found on Microsoft's App Assure program website.

Qualcomm recently announced its new Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 5G processor, which is set launch in Acer's new Spin 7 laptop and a teased HP convertible. Microsoft is also expected to join with its Surface Pro X with SQ2 processor sometime early next month.

Daniel Rubino
Daniel Rubino
Editor-in-chief

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central. He is also the head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007, when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and watches. He has been reviewing laptops since 2015 and is particularly fond of 2-in-1 convertibles, ARM processors, new form factors, and thin-and-light PCs. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.