For Mac devices, you need a third-party Android emulator to install and run Android apps. An emulator — as the name suggests — virtually emulates the hardware and software components of an Android device on your Mac.
Google has an official Android emulator called Android Studio. Technically it’s built for app development and debugging. But you can use it to run and install Android apps too. BlueStacks, on the other hand, is a more user-friendly emulator. It’s been around since 2011 and supports an extensive catalog of games and apps. And it has native Google Play Store support (you’ll need a Google account to access it). LDPlayer and NoxPlayer are also popular emulators designed and optimized for macOS.
We’ll use BlueStacks for this demonstration, but the process is roughly similar for all Android emulators.
1. Head over to the BlueStacks website and download the BlueStacks installer.
2. Double-click the downloaded file to launch the installer.
3. Double-click the BlueStacks icon in the installer window.
4. Click Open if a warning dialog appears.
5. Click Install Now.
6. Enter your administrator credentials to complete the installation.
If blocked, open Security & Privacy to Allow BlueStacks to load its extensions.
