Snapchat is available on Apple's App Store for iOS, but not on the Mac App Store. In spite of not being available, there is at least once way that Snapchat can be accessed on a Mac computer. However, the option is neither fast nor easy.
Snapchat launched in 2011 and by 2012 was serving millions of Snaps every day. The growth was phenomenal and the app was initially only available to iPhone owners. An Android version came later in 2012 and growth increased even more. Today, Snapchat reports billions of Snaps are viewed daily. Several other apps have tried to duplicate its success with similar offerings, but Snapchat remains one of the top social media apps.
With the increase in usage, there is evidently going to be an increase in demand for Snapchat on macOS, as well as on other platforms, including Windows. To be perfectly clear, Snapchat does not offer apps for either operating system. Snapchat does offer Snap Camera for Mac, but that's a different app. It also offers the Snapchat Lens effects on a desktop computer and is available for Mac and Windows. Snap Camera, which was announced in 2018, does not allow one to send or receive Snaps, update or view stories. It simply enables the use of the cool face effects with desktop streaming apps like Zoom. However, there are two possible solutions to getting Snapchat on a Mac, one is available right now and the other is still several months away.
How To Install & Use Snapchat On A Mac
The immediate solution for those who desperately want to use Snapchat on macOS today is an emulator. BlueStacks and Nox are two popular examples of Android emulators and these allow the use of other operating systems within a virtual machine. It’s like having an Android OS tablet inside the user's macOS computer, showing in a separate window and sandboxed to isolate it from accessing Mac files. These system-within-a-system apps do work, but may be running an old version of Android. Also emulators require significant effort to set up and install the desired apps. Suffice it to say, unless someone has a strong need to run multiple Android apps on a Mac, it may not be worth the trouble.
The second solution is to wait for Snapchat to become available on Mac. This might only be a few months away, though there is no guarantee it will ever be officially supported. Apple announced earlier this year that it would be transitioning Mac computers to Apple Silicon. This means that the processor used in future Macs will be quite similar to that used in iPhone. Of course, there is a Snapchat app for iPhone and a clever developer has already managed to run an iPhone app on an Apple silicon-based Mac mini Developer kit. This means that Snapchat running on an Apple Silicon Mac is likely to be possible within a few months.