BlueStacks

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BlueStacks App Player
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Developer(s) Bluestack Systems, Inc.
Latest version 5.21.205 [+]
Active Yes
Platform(s) Windows
macOS
Emulates Android
Website BlueStacks.com
License Proprietary

BlueStacks is a closed-source Android emulator for Windows and macOS developed by Bluestack Systems.

Downloads[edit]

Windows macOS Latest releases
Windows BlueStacks 4 for Hyper-V

Overview[edit]

BlueStacks is a gaming-oriented emulator targeting Android 7 Nougat, Android 9 Pie and Android 11. As such, it has a number of convenient features for emulating Android games.

BlueStacks has ARM emulation, but it can slow down under heavy loads on modern PCs. You may be able to increase performance by lowering the internal resolution with the built-in UI.

By default, BlueStacks presents itself as a OnePlus 3T, though it can be reconfigured to appear as other devices.

BS Tweaker[edit]

BlueStacks has an unofficial modding tool called BlueStacks Tweaker that can, among other things, root the Android installation and transfer files beyond what the BlueStacks app normally permits. Since BS Tweaker uses SuperSU as the root, it may trip up a game's anti-cheat. If you choose to use the app, ignore its warnings about not supporting the latest version; it has been tested to work with 4.215.0.1019.

Disk optimization[edit]

BlueStacks is based on VirtualBox and stores the installation in its native disk format, VDI. By default, the files are located at C:\ProgramData\BlueStacks\Engine\Android\ on Windows. To reduce the disk size, you can use the compact approach used in VirtualBox.

Alternatively, you can use NTFS compression. This will greatly cut down the total amount of space used on the disk, though depending on what kind of storage you have, it may either take a few minutes or a few seconds.

External links[edit]