Social Media Snapchat How to Use Snapchat on PC Take your convos off your smartphone and onto your computer by Elise Moreau Freelance Contributor Elise Moreau is a writer that has covered social media, texting, messaging, and streaming for Lifewire. Her work has appeared on Techvibes, SlashGear, Lifehack and others. our editorial process Facebook Twitter Elise Moreau Updated on September 18, 2020 reviewed by Jon Fisher Lifewire Tech Review Board Member Jonathan Fisher is a CompTIA certified technologist with more than 6 years' experience writing for publications like TechNorms and Help Desk Geek. our review board Article reviewed on Sep 04, 2020 Jon Fisher The Ultimate Guide to Snapchat The Ultimate Guide to Snapchat Introduction Snapchat Basics What Is a Snapchat Story? What Are Snapchat Scores? Find People Take Screenshots Use Snapchat Maps How to Update Snapchat Snappables: How to Play Snapchat Games Snapchat Tips for New Users How to Use Snapchat on PC Sending & Deleting Snaps Send Snapchat GIFs Add Clickable Links Include Music in Your Snaps Delete Stickers on Snapchat Unsave Messages on Snapchat Delete Conversations, Snaps & Stories Engaging With Other Users Use Snapcodes to Add Snapchat Friends Save Snapchat Videos Replay Photos and Videos on Snapchat Upload Saved Photos or Videos Start a Group Chat Open a Snap Without It Saying 'Opened' How to Mute a Story About Snapchat Filters Use Filters to Make Silly Faces Create a Snapchat Filter Apply a Snapchat Filter Make a Snapchat Geotag Create a Geofence in Snapchat Snapchat Account Management Delete a Snapchat Account Reset Your Password Change Your Snapchat Username Delete or Change Best Friends Is Snapchat Down? Contact Snapchat Customer Service Essential Snapchat Privacy Tips How to Know If Someone Blocked You Make a Story Private Block Someone on Snapchat Unblock Someone Essential Snapchat Privacy Tips Snapchat Tips & Tricks How to Get Snapchat Trophies Streaks on Snapchat Explained Use Snapchat's Group Video Chat What to Do About Third-Party Apps Snapchat Emoji Meanings Funny Ideas to Make Your Friends LOL Tweet Share Email Snapchat is meant for mobile devices only, but many people have figured out how to use Snapchat on PC, too. Unfortunately, Snapchat seems to make it harder for users to access their accounts from anything but a compatible iOS or Android device. The instructions in this article apply to using Snapchat on a Windows PC. How Snapchat on a Computer Used to Work The only way users could access Snapchat on a PC was by downloading an Android emulator. An Android emulator is a piece of software that mimics the platform so you can download and use mobile apps from the Google Play Store. With this emulator installed on your computer, you could download the official Snapchat app. One of the most popular and widely used Android emulators is called BlueStacks. On May 30, 2019, the BlueStacks support team posted the following message: You may have experienced Snapchat crashes after you login and you are left on the BlueStacks home screen. This is an app-specific behavior unrelated to BlueStacks. The Snapchat development team seems to have banned the use of Snapchat on emulators. Many Reddit threads also discuss issues with using Snapchat via Android emulators like BlueStacks. This isn't surprising, given that Snapchat has a long history of doing whatever it can to crack down on third-party apps trying to access it. How to Use Snapchat on Your PC Snapchat seems to be in the process of banning (or already has banned) use of the app via emulators, leaving no other alternative for successfully using it on PCs. You can try following these instructions anyway to see if it works for you, but you may still experience problems or may not be able to sign into your Snapchat account when you get to the login page. Navigate to bluestacks.com/download in your preferred web browser on your PC. Select Download BluStacks to download the BlueStacks installer. Some users have reported their Snapchat problems began popping up on more recent versions (BlueStacks 3 and 4). You may want to try downloading and installing an older version, such as BlueStacks 2, instead. Using an older version might not make any difference, however, given that Snapchat is actively banning use of emulators. Double-click the .exe file that downloaded to your PC. An installation window will appear. Select the blue Install now and wait for the download and extraction to be complete. Once complete, BlueStacks will open automatically. Double-click the Google Play Store app to open it. Select Sign In and sign into your Google account by entering your email/phone number and password in the given fields. Once signed into your Google account, you'll go to the Google Play Store, which looks similar to how it would look on an Android device. In the search field at the top, type "snapchat" and either hit your Enter key or select the first snapchat option that appears in the drop-down menu. The official Snapchat app should appear. Select Install to install it. Once the installation is complete, select Open to open Snapchat. Snapchat will open in a new tab within BlueStacks, looking similar to how it would on a mobile device. Select Log In to enter your Snapchat username (or email address) and password. What to Do If You Can't Log In to SnapChat on PC If you enter your login details correctly, you might still receive a message stating, "Oops, something went wrong. Please try again later." The problem isn't your account or your account details. It's likely Snapchat is preventing you from accessing your account because it has identified you're trying to sign in from an emulator. Unfortunately, you can't do anything to solve this problem except contact Snapchat support to express your thoughts about why you think users should be able to use Snapchat via emulators like BlueStacks and others.