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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'?

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  • For Windows, but might give you an idea: android.stackexchange.com/questions/42983/…
    – geffchang
    Jan 8, 2014 at 7:01
  • @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, 2014 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, 2015 at 20:46

2 Answers 2

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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

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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, 2016 at 2:22
  • @LironYahdav This was a huge help. Worked great to install local file. Confirmed working on High Sierra.
    – jamescampbell
    Aug 21, 2018 at 3:36
  • 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, 2020 at 20:10
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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.
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