Four years and 90-million Windows users since it has debuted, this Android emulator is finally making its way into Apple territory.
Who would have thought that Apple and Android would someday have a common future? Apple is known to loathe emulators, and the fact that iOS 8.1 blocks them is clear proof of that. However, the Cupertino company may be a bit more permissive when it comes to its desktop OS. The BlueStacks Android emulator has been around for more than 4 years, but thus far it was only offered to Windows users. The company must have thought that it’s about time to expand its horizons to encompass OSX users, as well.
However, the idea of making an OS X version of their software didn’t come out of the blue. A limited alpha was developed back in 2012, and more recently there has been a beta version of the emulator. What we’re witnessing now is just the official launch of the App Player for Mac.
Overall, BlueStacks is a fully-functional emulator, with built-in support for a mouse and keyboard. On top of that, trackpads can be used for pinching and zooming, not to mention that the apps will be scaled properly to the Mac’s Retina display. What that means is that Android games will get to look extremely well on a Mac. Isn’t it ironic?
In the odd (but not entirely impossible) scenario that you’re using an Android smartphone and a Mac as your computer, you can sync files and data between mobile devices, and even get new apps from Google Play straight on your Mac.
As far as Android emulators for Windows go, I’ve grown fond of DuOS, which doesn’t have a subscription plan, like BlueStacks does, but offers unlimited functionality for a one-off payment of just $10. Some of you are probably asking themselves: “Wait, so BlueStacks is not free?” In its free form, it downloads sponsored Android apps (that eventual get to clog your computer) on a regular basis. To get rid of that, you’d have to pay $2 per PC per month. I’m pretty sure that a similar subscription plan will be offered to OSX users, too.
If you want to try the app player on either Windows or OSX, head over to the BlueStacks website and download the software.
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