Sure, you can virtualize Android with just about any emulator you can get your hands on, but don’t expect performance. Personally, BlueStacks is a great addition to any virtualization software and, by far, the most stable. Additional configuration is not necessary with version 4 – every utility’s preloaded so, at this point, the only thing you’ll need to figure out is how you’re going to use it.

msi package from BlueStacks’ official website and execute it on your machine. In other words, BlueStacks is the proverbial one-stop-shop for developers and users alike who want to enjoy the wholesomeness of Android without necessarily owning an Android device.īlueStacks does not require special permissions in order to be deployed on a machine, provided that you’re running in admin mode. The latest version of BlueStacks (v4) comes with various pre-installed applications such as Google Play Store, Gmail, a file explorer that allows you to load custom (and often unsigned). The emulator has many game-ready features such as mouse + keyboard tailor controls (e.g., MOBA mode, shooting mode, macros, etc.), multi-instance (i.e., allows you to run multiple apps at once), and eco mode, which helps you harmonize system resources while running multiple BlueStacks instances at the same time. BlueStacks can be deployed on any Windows or Mac-compatible machine and has the same looks (and feel) as the real McCoy. Enjoy and stay safe! What is BlueStacks and how do you install it?Īs I was saying in the intro, BlueStacks is a free Android emulator best suited for those who prefer mobile gaming without actually gaming on a mobile device. In this article, I will be challenging the latter statement for the purpose of ‘round-tabling’ the cybersecurity concerns associated with using BlueStacks for anything from QAing to developing full-fledged, mobile-friendly applications. Is BlueStacks Safe? Well, since this is an Android emulator, BlueStacks may have had inherited the same security flaws as its mobile counterpart. For a while now, people have been wondering about the security aspects of this Android virtualization environment. Later on, that status became less cloudy, particularly because Android is (semi) open-source (i.e., some costs may apply to manufacturers who want to install Google Mobile services). BlueStacks came out in the odd 2009 and, at that time, it had, more or less the same ‘legal status’ as Citra, Snes9x, or other Super Nintendo emulators – borderline legitimate. Although BlueStacks was designed for gaming, it’s also being used to test new Android apps before they’re published on Google’s Play Store – easier to test an app inside an IDE than downloading it on your smartphone.

BlueStacks is unquestionable, one of the most appreciated Android emulators out there, a fact is proven by its 400+ million user community.

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