Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is now a native M1 Mac app

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Macbook Air M1
Macbook Air M1 (Image credit: Daniel Bader / iMore)

What you need to know

  • Microsoft has confirmed that its Degender for Endpoint software is now M1-compatible.
  • The new unified app is built for Apple silicon and Intel.

Microsoft has confirmed that Defender for Endpoint has now been updated to include native support for M1 Macs and Apple silicon.

Announced via a Tech Community post, the move means that Defender for Endpoint is now a unified app — supporting both Apple silicon and Intel machines in a single app.

The update will deliver our latest unified package that is designed to seamlessly work on M1-based and Intel-based Mac devices.With the native M1 support, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint on Mac no longer requires the Rosetta 2 emulator to function on M1-based Big Sur devices. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint does not explicitly take any action on the Rosetta 2. If the Rosetta 2 is no longer needed on a device, it is the responsibility of a user or an organization to remove it.

Microsoft says that those on the beta channel will see the update arrive soon, while everyone else will get the update "over the course of the next several weeks."

As Apple continues to move its Macs away from Intel chips and towards its own custom silicon — one of the best Mac developments in recent years — more and more enterprise apps are also making the switch away from Rosetta 2 emulation. While Rosetta 2 is excellent at handling the emulation needed to make Intel-based apps work on M1 Macs, a native solution is always the best route for improved performance.

Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.