How to open downloaded apk files in bluestacks

Ask Question. Asked 8 years, 7 months ago. Active 3 years, 8 months ago. Viewed k times. Improve this question. Mital Mital 1 1 gold badge 4 4 silver badges 8 8 bronze badges. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. Improve this answer. Luc 1 1 gold badge 2 2 silver badges 10 10 bronze badges. I logged in just to upvote you. Good and simple solution. The correct name is HD-ApkHandler. Worked immediately. Abhishek Rajkarne Abhishek Rajkarne 1. The Overflow Blog.

Who owns this outage? Building intelligent escalation chains for modern SRE. Podcast Who is building clouds for the independent developer? Exactly as already mentioned above, the Google operating system allows the opening and execution of APK files, as long as a specific system function is unlocked.

Therefore, if on your device there is an Android edition equal to or higher than 8. If, on the other hand, your device is running Android 7. Do not forget, once the procedure is complete, to revoke the permissions for the installation of files from unknown sources , repeating the same procedure that I showed you a little while ago and deactivating all the switches you have previously enabled.

If you were wondering about the possibility of being able to open APK files on iOS , I am sorry to inform you that the answer is negative: in fact, you cannot run apps of this type on smartphones and tablets produced by Apple, unless you get involved in extremely complex procedures.

Contrary to what you might think, it is possible to open APK files on a PC not only to view their contents, but also to run the applications contained within them, thanks to some programs designed for the purpose. For example, if you are interested in viewing the elements contained in an APK package because you are approaching the world of Android programming and would like to understand something more about the internal organization of the files containing the apps, you can achieve this by using any program free for the management of compressed archives with support for APK archives, which could be 7-Zip for Windows or Keka for macOS.

If instead you want to run an APK file on your computer exactly as if you were in the presence of a smartphone or a tablet animated by the Google operating system, you must install an emulator for Android with support for manually loading APK files. Once installation is complete, you should find yourself in front of the emulator main screen: if the program does not start automatically, you can use the icon that, in the meantime, has been added to both the Start menu and the Windows desktop.

During the first start, an analysis of the computer will be carried out and the subsequent decompression of the files necessary to run the Android apps; later, you will see a window, the central part of which, which clearly resembles the Android drawer, contains the links to the apps installed in BlueStacks.

Following this operation, the installation of the app will be completed completely automatically; at the end of the procedure, the icon of the installed application will appear on the BlueStacks Home screen, accessible by clicking on the house symbol located at the top.

To start the installed APK, click on its icon and, if prompted, Apply the graphics settings and restart the program, using the button that appears on the screen. However, the program installation methods change: to obtain it, connect to this website and click on the Download BlueStacks button , to download the program setup file, in. When the download is complete, launch the file obtained, double-click the BlueStacks Installer icon , located in the window that opens and, when necessary, press the Open button to overcome the restrictions imposed by the Mac against non-certified developers.

Now, click on the Install now button , type the Mac password in the appropriate field, click on the Install assistant button and wait for the copying of the files necessary for the operation of the emulator to be completed.

To complete the setup, grant the program the permissions necessary for its correct operation: then click on the Open System Preferences and Allow buttons and, once in the macOS System Preferences screen, click on the locked padlock symbol visible at the bottom left , in order to authorize the modification of the settings. At this point, type in the Mac administration password and click on the Unlock button , in order to complete the setup and display the main software screen.

If the program does not start automatically, open it yourself, using the icon that has been added, in the meantime, to the Launchpad.