BlackBerry OS 10.2.1 was recently released with the ability to install Android apps (APKs) straight from your BlackBerry device. There are also third party clients such as Snap which act as a Google Play Store client. Snap recently updated to v2.0 with the ability to download previously purchased Android apps, the tricky part is how to purchase these paid apps from the Google Play Store without an Android device and download them to your BlackBerry 10 device, this how-to will show you how to do just that.
In order to accomplish this you must have:
- A BlackBerry 10 device running OS 10.2.1.1055 or above
- The latest Snap .BAR file, which can be obtained from the developer’s website here (if you need help sideloading this onto your BlackBerry 10 device follow this incredible guide)
- BlueStacks (App Player that lets you run mobile apps fast and fullscreen on Windows and Mac.) – Windows version could be downloaded here, Mac version here
- Google Account
Once you have Snap sideloaded to your BlackBerry 10 device and BlueStacks installed on your Mac or PC you will then startup the BlueStacks program. Will look something like this:
This is the Google Play Store client on my PC, next step is to search for a paid up. I will be purchasing an app then downloading it to my BlackBerry 10 device using Snap.
I searched for Tapatalk, I will buy purchasing Tapatalk Pro:
To purchase click on the dollar amount as shown on the image above.
After clicking on buy it will ask you to enter your Google Account information, along with payment info. Once purchase has completed open up Snap on your BlackBerry 10 device and search for the app you purchased, in this case I will search for Tapatalk Pro:
There you have it you can now download your already purchased paid app onto your BlackBerry 10 device through Snap, if you try to download a paid app from Snap that you have not yet paid for using the above method through BlueStacks you will get hit with a message like this:
If you have any questions feel free to drop a comment below and we would be glad to walk you through purchasing apps. You can always purchase directly from Google Play Store website and testing your luck then downloading your paid apps using Snap, but without an App Player like BlueStacks you may run into problems.