BlueStacks

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Bluestack Systems, Inc.
TypePrivate company
IndustryVirtualization, mobile software
GenreAndroid emulator
FoundedApril 25, 2009; 13 years ago (2009-04-25)[1][2]
FoundersRosen Sharma, Jay Vaishnav, Suman Saraf[3]
Headquarters
Campbell, California
Key people
  • Rosen Sharma
    (Chief executive officer, President)
  • Suman Saraf
    (Chief Technical Officer)
  • Hue Harguindeguy
    (Chief financial officer)
  • Jay Vaishnav
    (Founder & SVP of Products)
  • Ben Armstrong
    (VP of Business Development and Operations)
ProductsApp Player, GamePop
Websitewww.bluestacks.com Edit this at Wikidata
BlueStacks Android Gaming platform
Stable release
5.1.0.1129 N32 [4]
Operating systemWindows 7 or later;[5] macOS Sierra or later[6]
PlatformIA-32, x86-64
Size527 MB
Available in48 languages
TypeAndroid Cloud gaming
LicenseFreeware
Websitewww.bluestacks.com Edit this on Wikidata


BlueStacks is an American technology company known for the BlueStacks App Player and other cloud-based cross-platform products. The BlueStacks App Player allows Android applications to run on PCs running Microsoft Windows and macOS. The company was founded in 2009 by Jay Vaishnav, Suman Saraf, and Rosen Sharma, former CTO at McAfee and a board member of Cloud.com.

History[edit]

The company was announced in May 2011 at the Citrix Synergy conference in San Francisco. Citrix CEO Mark Templeton demonstrated an early version of BlueStacks onstage and announced that the companies had formed a partnership.[citation needed] The public alpha version of App Player was launched in October 2011.[7] App Player exited beta on June 7, 2014. In July 2014, Samsung announced it had invested in BlueStacks.[8] This brought total outside investment in BlueStacks to $26 million.[9]

BlueStacks App Player[edit]

The App Player, software that virtualizes an Android OS, can be downloaded in versions for Windows 10 and macOS. The software's basic features are free to download and use. Advanced optional features require a paid monthly subscription.[10] The company claims the App Player can run 1.5 million Android apps as of November 2019.[11] As of February 2021, BlueStacks claimed its apps were downloaded over 1 billion times.[12] App Player features mouse, keyboard, and external touchpad controls.

In June 2012, the company released an alpha version of its App Player software for macOS,[13] while the beta version was released in December of that year.

BlueStacks 2[edit]

In April 2015, BlueStacks, Inc. announced that a new version of App Player for macOS, 2.0, was in development, which was released in July.[14] In December 2015, BlueStacks, Inc. released the new version BlueStacks 2.0[15] which lets users run multiple Android applications simultaneously.[16] BlueStacks 2.0 was also available for Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks or later, till 2018.

In April 2016, the company released BlueStacks TV which integrated Twitch.tv directly into the BlueStacks App Player.[17] This addition allows users to stream their apps to Twitch without the need for extra hardware or software.

BlueStacks released Facebook Live integration in September 2016, allowing users to stream their gameplay to their Facebook profiles, Pages they control, or Facebook Groups they belong to.[18]

BlueStacks 3[edit]

In July 2017, BlueStacks released BlueStacks 3 based on a brand new engine and front-end design.[19] BlueStacks 3 added App Center which personalizes game suggestions, an account system, chat, new keymapping interface, and multi-instance. Multi-instance allows users to launch multiple BlueStacks windows using either the same or different Google Play account.

BlueStacks 3N[edit]

In January 2018, BlueStacks announced the release of the BlueStacks + N Beta which runs on Android 7 (Android Nougat) and claimed to be the first and only Android gaming platform to have Android 7 at the time, since the majority of Android emulators ran Android 4.4 (KitKat), including prior BlueStacks versions.[20] This beta version was powered by an upgraded "HyperG" graphics engine allowing BlueStacks to utilize the full array of Android 7 APIs.

BlueStacks 4[edit]

In September 2018, BlueStacks announced the release of its latest flagship version, BlueStacks 4. BlueStacks 4 benchmarks 6-8x faster than every major mobile phone according to the Antutu benchmark.[21] BlueStacks 4 also includes dynamic resource management which only initializes the required Android libraries thus freeing resources. A new dock and search offer a clean user interface. New AI powered key-mapping tool auto maps keys in supported games with key customization also available for further tweaking. In addition, BlueStacks 4 supports both 32-bit and 64-bit version of Android 7.1.2 Nougat.

Development for macOS has been restarted, and version 4 is currently available from the website as of November 2019, first released for Mac in January 2019.[22]

In January 2019, BlueStacks released a 64-bit version of BlueStacks 4 via its early access program.[23] This version runs on a 64-bit version of Android 7.1.2 which allows for improved performance, and more efficient memory usage. The prerequisites for running this build include running a 64-bit version of Windows 8 or later, with virtualization enabled, and Hyper-V disabled. This 64-bit release allows the installation and usage of ARM64-v8a android applications.

BlueStacks 5[edit]

In May 2021, BlueStacks released BlueStacks 5.[24]

BlueStacks X[edit]

In September 2021, BlueStacks launched BlueStacks X, a cloud-based Android gaming platform. Driven by Hybrid Cloud technology, BlueStacks X is powered by now.gg,[25] a sister company to BlueStacks.[26]

Minimum requirements[edit]

Current minimum requirements for App Player for Windows include: Windows 7 or higher, 2 GB or higher system memory, 5 GB of hard drive space, administrator rights, and an Intel or AMD processor.[5] BlueStacks clashes with the BitDefender antivirus software.[27] An update to the latest graphic card driver version is also recommended.

Minimum requirements for macOS are: macOS Sierra or higher, 4 GB RAM, 4 GB disk space, and a model newer than 2014. BlueStacks has stated that they do not support Apple silicon yet.[28]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "BlueStacks hits a billion apps used per month and launches new mobile platform". VentureBeat. December 3, 2015. Archived from the original on June 9, 2020. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
  2. ^ "BlueStacks Partners With AMD, Bringing 500,000 Android Apps To Windows PCs". TechCrunch. Retrieved February 25, 2022.
  3. ^ Daws, Ryan (September 19, 2018). "BlueStacks emulates Android '6x faster' than leading smartphone and is a verified app (safe to download)". Developer Tech News. Archived from the original on June 9, 2020. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
  4. ^ "Download BlueStacks Offline Installer". Bluestacks - The Best Android Emulator on PC as Rated by You. January 21, 2017. Archived from the original on October 8, 2018. Retrieved November 2, 2019.
  5. ^ a b "System requirements for BlueStacks 4". BlueStacks Support. Archived from the original on November 2, 2019. Retrieved November 2, 2019.
  6. ^ "How can I Install and launch BlueStacks on Mac OS?". BlueStacks Support. Archived from the original on November 2, 2019. Retrieved November 2, 2019.
  7. ^ Empson, Rip. "BlueStacks Releases App Player And Cloud Connect Service To Let You Run Android Apps On Your PC". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on December 8, 2011. Retrieved December 4, 2011.
  8. ^ Etherington, Darrell. "After 10M Downloads, Samsung Backs GamePop As BlueStacks Adds $13M In New Funding". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on July 24, 2014. Retrieved July 23, 2014.
  9. ^ "Samsung invests $13M in Android microgaming console GamePop". CNET. Archived from the original on March 7, 2018. Retrieved June 13, 2017.
  10. ^ Whitney, Lance. "Android apps can now run on your PC via BlueStacks". CNET. Archived from the original on December 8, 2011. Retrieved December 4, 2011.
  11. ^ "BlueStacks Features and Comparison". Bluestacks - The Best Android Emulator on PC as Rated by You. Archived from the original on November 2, 2019. Retrieved November 2, 2019.
  12. ^ "What is Bluestacks?". Bluestacks - The Best Android Emulator on PC as Rated by You. Archived from the original on November 1, 2019. Retrieved November 2, 2019.
  13. ^ Rosenblatt, Seth. "BlueStacks ports Android apps to Mac". CNET. Archived from the original on June 28, 2012. Retrieved July 28, 2012.
  14. ^ "BlueStacks - Did you pre-order the new Macbook?". www.facebook.com. Retrieved November 2, 2019.
  15. ^ "Bluestacks Review and Fix Engine issues". TechnoIliyas. Archived from the original on May 13, 2020. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
  16. ^ "BlueStacks 2.0 Launched, Lets You Run Multiple Apps Simultaneously". NDTV Gadgets 360. Archived from the original on November 2, 2019. Retrieved November 2, 2019.
  17. ^ "Twitch users can now live stream Android games from their PC". techcrunch.com. Archived from the original on April 8, 2016. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  18. ^ "Stream Android apps on Facebook Live with Bluestacks". engadget.com. Archived from the original on September 22, 2016. Retrieved September 22, 2016.
  19. ^ "BlueStacks 2 vs. BlueStacks 3 Features". bluestacks.com. July 30, 2017. Archived from the original on July 30, 2017. Retrieved November 2, 2019.
  20. ^ "Android N Comes to PC; BlueStacks Releases the First Android Gaming Platform Ever to Run Android N". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on January 19, 2018. Retrieved January 19, 2018.
  21. ^ "BlueStacks, an Android emulator for PC, gets an update with major performance upgrade". XDA. Archived from the original on September 19, 2018. Retrieved January 19, 2018.
  22. ^ "Release Notes". BlueStacks Support. Archived from the original on November 4, 2019. Retrieved November 4, 2019.
  23. ^ "Join our Discord Server for Early Access Releases and a Great Community". reddit.com. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
  24. ^ BlueStacks 5 Global Release, retrieved June 5, 2021
  25. ^ "Now.gg launches mobile cloud to expand gaming's reach". VentureBeat. June 3, 2021. Retrieved October 5, 2021.
  26. ^ Collins, Barry. "BlueStacks X To Fill Windows 11's Android App 'Vacuum'". Forbes. Retrieved October 4, 2021.
  27. ^ "r/BlueStacks - BlueStack and Bitdefender blocking some XML files". reddit. Retrieved November 2, 2019.
  28. ^ "System specifications for installing BlueStacks on macOS". BlueStacks Support. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
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