Some of your more tech-savvy friends have told you about Android emulators and, in particular, about BlueStacksa program that allows you to run, on both Windows and macOS, applications and games available only for Android smartphones and tablets.
This topic intrigues you a lot, but thanks to a little inexperience, are you a bit doubtful about how it is actually possible to use Android on a PC, without getting lost in complicated dual boot procedures? If this is what worries you, you can rest easy. Bluestacks is an emulator for Android that is very easy to install and configure. How do you say? Do not you believe it? Continue reading this tutorial and follow the instructions I am about to give you step by step; I will explain to you in a simple and detailed way how to download BlueStacks and also how to configure it, so as to allow you to access the Play Store and thus download apps and games for Android.
Come on, what are you waiting for? Sit down comfortably and take a few minutes of free time, I’m sure if you follow my instructions to the letter, you will be able to do it in no time. In fact, it is only a matter of performing a couple of simple steps, as using an Android emulator absolutely does not affect the default operating system of your PC or Mac. Now that I have reassured you, you feel ready to to start? Yup? Very well! Have a good reading.
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Main features of BlueStacks
The strength of Android emulators for Windows and macOS is their extreme ease of installation and use. Emulate the Android OS on PC via software such as BlueStacks in fact, it means being able to use the operating system without having to resort to complicated dualboot procedures. The Android operating system, in fact, is virtualized within a software, a virtual machine that limits the operation of the OS within it.
With this in mind, therefore, you can imagine that using BlueStacks is very useful, especially if you are looking for an easy-to-use Android emulator. This software is available for Windows and MacOS, and free of charge but you can eventually upgrade to the paid version, at a price of $ 4 per month or $ 40 per year.
The advantages given by the subscription are mainly the absence of banners and advertising interruptions, which translate into suggestions regarding the installation of promotional applications or games that are displayed within the software. The prices indicated refer to the current version of the software, but may be subject to changes in the event of promotions or new updates.
Download BlueStacks on Windows and macOS
Do you want to download BlueStacks to your computer? Very well, then connect immediately to the official website. On the main screen, click on the button Download Bluestacks and then on Download.
Now wait for the download of the emulator installation file and then start it by double clicking on it. On Windowsif required, then click on Yup in the User Account Control window, to start running the installation client. Once it starts, press the button Install Now.
There are no other operations to perform to install BlueStacks on Windows; the latter, in fact, once the download of its necessary files is finished and, after you have pressed the button Business suit, it will start automatically.
Would you like to download BlueStacks on Mac? No problem. After downloading the installation file with extension.dmg double-click on its icon and confirm the opening of the installer by pressing You open.
Now, in the new screen that appears, click the buttons To continue and then on To installtype the password you use to log in to your Mac and click on the button Install Assistant. Once this is done, wait for the automatic installation to finish and, if prompted, press the button Open system preferences.
At this point you have to act through the section Settings on the Mac: first press on Allow and then on the symbol of padlock (find it at the bottom left) To finish the installation of BlueStacks on macOS, type the password on your Mac and then click Unlock.
Configure BlueStacks
Have you performed all the procedures I indicated and BlueStacks started up? Very well! Did you see that you did it? Now you just have to configure it with a Google account in your possession, so that you can access the Play Store and download apps and games via the same.
To do this, click on Startenter your login data (e-mail And password), then click on Forward come on OK to accept the Google terms of service and finally click the button Get started with BlueStacks. Congratulations, now you have also officially finished the BlueStacks configuration procedure. Did you see it wasn’t that hard?
In the next chapter I’ll talk in more detail about how to use BlueStacks to download and install Android applications and games via the Play Store.
Use BlueStacks
Downloading Android applications on BlueStacks is very simple, since the procedure is identical to the one that can be performed on any mobile device with the latest version of the Google operating system installed.
You must therefore first start the Play Store via its icon located on the home screen and, after you have searched for the application to download via the internal search engine of the Google virtual store, first click on the green button Install and then on I accept. Now wait for the app or game to download and install automatically and press the button You opento start the downloaded application, exactly as you would on an Android smartphone or tablet.
All applications downloaded on BlueStacks are added to the section Home. So, once you have downloaded an app you can launch it by clicking on its icon, in the same way that you can do on Android smartphones and tablets.
What do you say now to take a look at the advanced settings of BlueStacks? Click the a icon gear which is located in the top bar. Pressing on the item Settings you can see some screens that are used to perform some advanced configurations, such as for example to modify the language of the emulator (tab Preferences) and adjust the amount of CPU And RAM allocated (tab Engine).
When you are done using BlueStacks, you can close it and go back to the Windows desktop or MacOS desktop. To do this, click on X that you find at the top right and then click on Yup, to completely exit the program.
Using BlueStacks online
Perhaps it will surprise you to learn what I am about to tell you, but it is also possible use BlueStacks online, without having to download anything. I point out, however, that it is possible to do this specifically to play some titles for Android devices by acting directly from the browser, using BlueStacks Xa cloud gaming service that, at the time of this writing, is still in beta version, but that from the tests I was able to run it works very well. Let me tell you how to use it.
To use BlueStacks X, go to its home page, click on the symbol of speech bubble placed on the left (if necessary), so as to see only the titles available in the cloud, and identify the one you are interested in by scrolling the list visible on the screen or search for it “manually” using the search field located at the top left.
Once you have found the game you want to try online, hover the mouse pointer over it, click on the button Play On Cloud appeared next to it and, to start playing, log in with your Google account (Log in with Google), with your Facebook account (Sign in with Facebook) or with your Discord account (Log in with Discord). Then follow the on-screen instructions to play directly online.
Alternatives to BlueStacks
Now that you’ve discovered the world of Android emulators, would you like to learn more and possibly try others? No problem. If you want to learn more about the topic, I suggest you read my guide entitled Android and Android emulators for PC. There you will find more information on other emulators, such as ARC Welder, Memu And Android x86.
Salvatore Aranzulla is the most widely read blogger and IT popularizer in Italy. He is known for discovering vulnerabilities on Google and Microsoft sites. He collaborates with computer magazines and edited the technological column of the newspaper Il Messaggero. He is the founder of Aranzulla.it, one of the thirty most visited sites in Italy, in which he responds with simplicity to thousands of computer-related doubts. He has published for Mondadori and Mondadori Informatica.