Adobe Photoshop for Windows ARM64 enters beta testing

Kareem Anderson

Photoshop Surface Pro X Cropped

When Apple unveiled its M1 silicon chip for its ARM-powered Mac lineup last week, two stalwarts of the PC industry were dubiously missing from any direct mentions in the company’s announcement and it could be because they were working on their own ARM collaborative project.

Earlier today, news broke about a Photoshop ARM beta app for Windows and macOS. According to Adobe, there is a native Windows ARM-compatible beta app that will run natively on the Windows ARM platform ready for testing as well as a macOS version.

Photoshop (Beta) runs natively on Windows devices with ARM processors and can be installed via the Beta apps tab in the Creative Cloud desktop app.

In the release notes, Adobe reiterates that x64 emulation is not supported or recommended for Photoshop 22.x for Windows devices running ARM processors. As for macOS users, there are far more known issues listed that include importing from Lightroom Photos via the home screen, limited 3D functionality, filter galleries, and a whole host of missing features in this first beta release.

As with most beta’s Adobe plans to slowly incorporate feedback as well as add those missing features back to the macOS version.

Anyone with a Surface Pro X, X2, new ARM-powered Macbook or any of the previous WoA enabled PCs from the past few years can begin testing Adobe’s new Photoshop ARM64 app today by visiting the beta apps tab in the Creative Cloud desktop app. Interestingly enough, Photoshop appears to be the only app CC service being converted at the moment, with no timeline or mentions of others getting the ARM64 treatment.