How To Use Blink App For PC and Mac
Today a reader asked me how to view a live feeds from a Blink camera on a desktop computer. The Blink Home Monitor App works great on a phone but if you are looking for a Blink app for PC or Mac you will be unable to find one.
There is currently no official Blink App for PC or Mac to view their cameras on a computer. However, you can download and install Android emulators like Bluestacks or NOX. These will allow you to use the Blink Home Monitor App on your computer.
Blink cameras are great and the Blink Home Monitor App has lots of great feature but according to the Blink Support Forums, it is not possible to view Blink security cameras on a desktop or laptop computer as there is no official Blink app for PC or Mac. This article shows you how to get around this and view your Blink cameras on a PC or Mac computer.
Blink App For PC and Mac Workaround
If you are looking for a Blink App for PC or Mac so that you can view you Blink cameras live stream there is a workaround.
You can download and use an android emulator on your desktop computer which then allows you to install the Blink Home Monitor App on your PC or Mac.
As long as your computer is relatively new and powerful desktop computer this works very well, but if you have a really old computer this method may not work for you.
What is An Android Emulator?
An Android emulator is a virtual device program that you install on your computer. It emulates the environment from your phone or tablet.
You can use an Android emulator as a platform to run Android applications on your PC. This will allow you to install blink home monitor on a PC or Mac.
How To Use An Android Emulator With Blink Cameras?
You can easily install an android emulator such as the Bluestacks App Player, or NOX. Once you have one installed it will have you login to your Google Account. Which will, in turn, allow you to access the Google Play Store and then you can install the Blink app to view your security cameras.
If you are using a lot of blink cameras to monitor several different locations and you don’t want to have to login to different accounts all the time the NOX player will suit your needs better.
Once you install NOX on your computer it allows multi system support and you can open up to 6 different instances of the software by logging into several different accounts.
Below I go over the installation instructions for both Bluestacks and Nox.
How To Install Blink Home Monitor App Using An Android Emulator
How to Install Bluestacks on Windows PC (Windows 11, Windows 10 or earlier)
1. To kick this off you need to download BlueStacks setup file. Go to the BlueStacks home page here to download it.
2. After you have it downloaded, just double-click on the setup file then click “continue”.
3. Now, click on “Install” button.
4. The installation may take a few minutes depending on how fast your computer is.
5. After installation is complete it will ask you to log into your Google account.
6. After you log into your Google account click on the search bar at the top and type in Blink Home Monitor to find the Android app.
7. Click Install.
8. Once installed it will ask you to log in to Blink. After that the app will connect. On your home screen you can now click on the (+) icons and select your Blink camera.
How to Install Bluestacks on Apple Mac
1. To start the installation process you need to download the BlueStacks setup file as mentioned above.
2. After you have it downloaded, just double-click on the setup file then click “continue”.
3. Once the file has opened, click on the icon in the installer pop-up window as shown below
4. Next click on the ‘install button’
5. After installation is complete it will ask you to log into your Google account.
5. After you log into your Google account click on the search bar at the top and type in ‘Blink Home Monitor’ to find the Blink Home Monitor app.
6. Click Install.
7. Once installed it will ask you to log in to the Blink environment.
8.Once installed it will ask you to log in to Blink. After that the app connects. On your home screen you can now click on the (+) icons and select your Blink camera.
How Do I Install NOX Android Emulator?
Like BlueStacks, NoxPlayer is an Android OS emulator that allows you to run Android applications on your computer. The program has a simple UI, which makes it easy to use. App and game controls are mapped to the keyboard intuitively.
Below are the detailed steps required to download and install Noxplayer on Windows. Once installed you can then use the Blink Home monitor app on your PC.
NoxPlayer is an Android OS emulator that allows you to run Android applications on your computer. The program has a simple UI, which makes it easy to use. App and game controls are mapped to the keyboard intuitively. Now let’s learn the steps required to download and install Noxplayer on Windows:
How to Download and Install NoxPlayer on Windows
1. To install NOX, go to your downloads folder and double-click on the NOX setup file.
2. Select the “I have read and accept the Nox agreement” checkbox. Expand the custom option to see extra parameters. The Nox player installation procedure will start when you click Install.
3. To get Nox Player up and running, simply press the start button.
Once NOX in installed the process for using the Blink Home monitor app is the same as for Bluestacks:
1. Within NOX open up the Google play store and login to your Google account.
2. Next, click on the search bar at the top and type in ‘Blink Home Monitor’ to find the Blink Home Monitor app.
3. Click Install.
4. Once installed it will ask you to log in to the Blink environment.
5. Once installed it will ask you to log in to the Blink server environment. After that the app connects. On your home screen you can now click on the (+) icons and select your Blink Wireless or mini camera.
Heads up, you will need to have a pretty powerful computer to run multiple instances of the NOX player. The video below will give you a full tutorial and step by step instructions on how to set up the NOX App player in detail.
How to Download and Install NoxPlayer on Mac
Before you start, note that NoxPlayer currently does not officially support the Apple M1 Chip.
To download and install follow the below steps:
1. Visit the NoxPlayer official website by clicking here. Once you’re on the site, locate and click the ‘Mac Version’ download link as shown below
2. Open the downloaded .dmg file and click on the pop up window to install the application
3. If the below warning is shown, click ‘Open’ to continue.
4. On the next screen, click install.
5. Next click Start
6. Follow the instructions to update your security settings to authorise the install as shown below.
7. The NoxPlayer should then install and you can then install the blink app in the same way as you would for a PC (see above instructions) and monitor your Blink camera directly from your Mac!
FAQs
Is there Blink app for PC?
As detailed above, Blink home monitor is not available to install directly on a PC or Mac. You can workaround this by installing an Android emulator and then installing blink home monitor within the emulator.
How do I install Blink app on my computer?
You will need to install either Bluestacks or NoxPlayer onto your computer. This will then allow you to install blink home monitor.
Does the Blink mini work with a PC?
The Blink mini and all other Blink cameras work with PC and Mac if you install an Android emulator as explained in the main body of this article.
Is the Blink app in Microsoft store?
The Blink mobile app for windows phone is available in the Microsoft store. This cannot however be installed on a computer.
Conclusion
The Blink Home Monitor app is great. It lets you check in on your home from anywhere at any time, so you always know what’s going on.
You can stay connected to your home with HD video quality, and use the multi-system support to keep an eye on your main home a vacation home or your business office. The ability to control and view more than one property at a time is one of the reasons Blink home monitor is so popular.
With one single app, you can control all of your Blink camera systems, it has night vision and you can view live video feeds and get motion alerts to check up on any suspicious movement.
The only negative is that there is no official Blink app for pc or Mac.
Whilst I am sure Blink is working on many aspects of their system to develop a better product for its users. All it took was a few minutes of research to come up with this answer.
So I thought I would take the time to share it with you. Please share the article with others who might be struggling with the same problem.
While you are here check out my review on how these cameras handle cold weather! Also, consider checking out some of our other smart home related articles like how to make your dumb air conditioner smart or how to make your dumb ceiling fan smart.
