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How do you install .apk file on Bluestacks for Mac? More specifically, where is the directory for Bluestacks kept and do I have the 'APK Handler'?

Andrew T.
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Jozef Xie
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  • For Windows, but might give you an idea: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/42983/how-can-i-install-apk-file-on-bluestacks-app-player – geffchang Jan 08 '14 at 07:01
  • @geffchang nope not really, i clicked through to this question from that because none of the directories it mentioned seemed to exist on my Mac – Michael Jan 29 '14 at 17:46
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    @user50338 Have you tried drag-and-drop the apk file onto the bluestacks app player after opening it? – Lucky Aug 21 '15 at 20:46

2 Answers2

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From this SO post,

Open terminal and run the following command:

 /Applications/BlueStacks.app/Contents/MacOS/adb install ABSOLUTE_PATH_AND_APK_FILENAME

Other Method: This one is not a solution, but a quick workaround is to have the apk in any cloud storage like Dropbox, Drive, OneDrive etc and download it in your bluestack's Dropbox app and install it. As quoted from this apple discussion thread,

The quick and easy method is to :

  1. install dropbox in your bluestacks.
  2. drop your apk file into your dropbox from mac/pc/phone.
  3. access your apk file from your dropbox in bluesstacks and install.
Liron Yahdav
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Lucky
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2

For me, this worked well:

  1. Place the .apk in the /Runtime folder:

    Macintosh HD/Applications/BlueStacks.app/Contents/Runtime/filename.apk

    (Don't ask why, it was just the only spot that seemed to actually work.

  2. Open up the terminal. Type:

    /Applications/Bluestacks.app/Contents/Runtime/uHD-Adb devices

    If there is one device listed, perfect.

    • If not, type this into the terminal:

      /Applications/Bluestacks.app/Contents/Runtime/uHD-Adb disconnect

  3. Now once you have a single device listed, type into terminal:

    /Applications/Bluestacks.app/Contents/Runtime/uHD-Adb install /Applications/BlueStacks.app/Contents/Runtime/filename.apk

Source

Community
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Laszlo
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    This worked for me except in step 1 the path was /Applications/BlueStacks.app/Contents/MacOS/filename.apk and in 2 the command was /Applications/Bluestacks.app/Contents/MacOS/adb devices and in 3 the command was /Applications/BlueStacks.app/Contents/MacOS/adb install /Applications/BlueStacks.app/Contents/MacOS/filename.apk. Possibly due to newer version of BlueStacks. – Liron Yahdav Oct 23 '16 at 02:22
  • @LironYahdav This was a huge help. Worked great to install local file. Confirmed working on High Sierra. – james-see Aug 21 '18 at 03:36
  • Indeed, these paths are compatible with the latest Bluestacks version, though I get an error when running the last command (install): Performing Streamed Install adb: connect error for write: closed. – MarAja Oct 19 '20 at 20:10