What is BlueStacks?

BlueStacks is an Android emulator. In a nutshell, it’s the best way to run Android apps on Windows; other solutions for running Android apps on Windows are nowhere near as good.
You’ll note that we’re using the Android apps here, not the iPhone apps. That’s because Android’s openness makes it possible to emulate Android apps on Windows, whereas there’s no competing solution that would allow you to run iPhone or iPad apps on Windows.
First, download BlueStacks and install it on your Windows PC. BlueStacks is available for Mac, but we didn’t test it there.
Click (or tap, if your Windows PC has a touch screen) the Search icon at the top-left corner of the BlueStacks app player screen. Search for the mobile messaging app you want to use.
Tap the app’s icon and BlueStacks will prompt you to set up a Google account before you can start installing apps. You’ll have to sign in with an existing Google account or create a new one, so BlueStacks can access Google Play and get apps from there. You’ll then have to link BlueStacks with your Google account so it can download apps to your device. If you’d rather not use your main Google account, you can create a new one from within BlueStacks.