When it comes to Android, the first thing that comes to mind of most people is its operating ecosystem. Users have access to millions of apps on the Google Play Store which can be used on their Android devices or smartphones.
However, there are times when you might not have an active Internet connection to download an app from the Google Play Store. Installing apps on your Android emulator is very easy, but in case of apk files, it’s quite challenging. It’s more so because of the various operating systems and versions for Android apps that are available out there. The majority of Android emulators support APK files, but most of them have restrictions on where you can install them or how you can install them.
Thankfully, BlueStacks comes with its own way of installing APK files directly in it. In this article, we will show you how to install APK files in BlueStacks and get those apps up and running as fast as possible.
Jump to BlueStacks App Player directly
If you already have the BlueStacks app player installed on your computer, then you can skip this step. Simply click on the link below to head over to the official BlueStacks app player website and download the app installer directly. Alternatively, if you want to go through the entire process of installing BlueStacks, you can jump to the next section to learn how to install BlueStacks on your computer. If you want to directly open the BlueStacks App Player, you can click on any of the following links. And for Mac users, click here. To open BlueStacks App Player directly on Windows or Mac, click on one of the above links and click on “Open”.
How to Install APK Files in BlueStacks
Once you have the BlueStacks app player installed on your computer, you can go ahead and install APK files on it.
The first thing you need to do is make sure you have a game or an app downloaded on your device where you can find the APK file.
Next, open BlueStacks and head over to the “My Apps” section. Here, you will see a list of apps installed on the BlueStacks app player.
Scroll down to the very bottom of the “My Apps” section and you will see a button that says “External Apps”. Click on it. This will open a new window where you can select the APK file of the app or game that you want to install on the BlueStacks app player. You can also drag and drop the APK file into the window directly. Once you have selected the APK file, click on “Install”.
Limitations of installing APK files in BlueStacks
The biggest limitation when it comes to installing APK files on BlueStacks is that you can’t access Google Play Store on it. However, this is understandable as BlueStacks is a third-party app player and not an Android device. You can, however, use third-party app stores like SLAP or APKPure to download apps on BlueStacks. Also, since BlueStacks is a third-party app player, it can come with its own set of bugs.
FAQs
How to move the app from BlueStacks to Phone
Once you have installed the APK file on the BlueStacks app player, the app will show up in “My Apps” section of the app player. Here, you can go ahead and open the app or game directly on the BlueStacks app player. You can also drag and drop the app to create a new shortcut on the desktop. So if you’ve downloaded an app on BlueStacks and want to move it to your phone, you can simply click on “Share” on the app and select “Move to Device”. This will let you move the app from BlueStacks to your phone. Simply select your device from the list and click “Next”. You can also transfer the app from phone to BlueStacks by clicking on “Move to BlueStacks”.
Where is the APK file in BlueStacks
When you download an app from Google Play Store, it will show up on the app player as an “App”. However, when you download an app from an external app store, it will show up as an “Unknown” file. You can click on “Unknown File” to view the contents of the file and then go ahead and click on “Open” to open that file. This will open a new window where you can select the APK file of the app or game that you want to install on the BlueStacks app player.
Conclusion
The BlueStacks app player has been around for quite some time now and it continues to be one of the most popular Android emulators. Apart from being a great way to access your Android apps on a computer, BlueStacks also lets you install APK files directly on it. If you were looking for an alternative way to install APK files on your computer, you can go ahead and give this a try. However, remember that BlueStacks is not an Android device and hence you might face some limitations when installing APK files on it.