How to Play Genshin Impact on Mac (M1/M2/Intel)

In this post we will:

• Go over and compare the different workaround methods to play Genshin Impact on Mac.
• Provide you with detailed guides for each method.
• Share our thoughts on the game.
• BONUS: Prove that you can totally game on a Mac.

Is there a Genshin Mac version?

Unfortunately, there isn’t a Genshin Mac version, but as you’ll see next, the game can be played through GeForce Now, Boosteroid, PlayCover, and other workaround methods that can be used on a Mac computer. So even though the game is not supported for macOS systems, there are more than enough ways in which one can enjoy Genshin Impact on an Apple machine.

Why is Genshin Impact not in Mac?

Genshin Impact is not available on Mac, and even installing Windows in a virtual machine won’t work due to the game’s anti-cheat technology. Virtual machines don’t support it, so you can’t play the game on a Mac.

Can you play Genshin Impact on M1 Mac?

As of now, there’s no way to play Genshin Impact on an M1 Mac. Sideloading iOS apps is disabled on the latest macOS, and Windows virtual machines won’t work due to the game’s anti-cheat system being incompatible with ARM Windows.

Can you play Genshin Impact on Mac through Epic Games?

To play Genshin Impact on Mac, you’ll need to download Windows and install in it the official client from MiHoYo. Though the game isn’t available on Steam, it can be accessed on the Epic Games Store and on its official website.

How to download Genshin Impact on BlueStacks Mac?

1. Download and install BlueStacks on your computer. 
2. Look for Genshin Impact using the BlueStacks search bar, and click the game. 
3. If you skipped Google sign-in, complete it before installing the game. 
4. Finally, click the Genshin Impact icon on the home screen to start playing.

Genshin Impact on Mac

Apple users who want to play Genshin Impact on Mac can do so with GeForce Now, Boosteroid, BlueStacks, and other apps and services that we’ve covered here. Each option has its pros and cons and the one you pick will depend on your current setup as well as your personal preferences. Still, we can say that all of them are viable methods of playing Genshin on Mac computers.

Genshin Impact MacBook Performance

If you play Genshin Impact on a MacBook, the performance will depend on the Mac’s model and the method you’ve chosen to use. With GeForce Now or Boosteroid, for example, you can expect good performance and high image quality on any Mac (Intel, M1/M2) provided your connection to the Internet is fast and stable.

For the other methods – the ones that let you run the game locally – it’s recommended to have a newer Mac since its hardware specs will determine the game’s performance. Genshin Impact isn’t too demanding, but if your Mac is older than six or seven years, it’s best to stick to cloud gaming as you’ll probably not get satisfying performance. Also, bear in mind that, with the non-cloud gaming methods, the type of CPU of your Mac also matters. Some of those methods won’t work on M1 Macs while others cannot be used on Intel-based models.

Genshin Impact Mac M1 play methods

The methods to play Genshin Impact on Mac M1 are fewer compared to Intel models – in addition to GeForce Now and Boosteroid, the only other viable method to play this game on an Apple Silicon machine is using an emulation app called PlayCover, which lets you play the iOS version of Genshin Impact on a Mac. The method works pretty well, but it has a rather lengthy setup process, which is why we think that cloud gaming is the superior option.

How to download Genshin Impact on Mac

Thanks to GeForce Now and Boosteroid, you can play Genshin Impact without needing to download it on your Mac. However, if you are determined to play the game locally and not by streaming it with cloud gaming, you can install Windows on your Mac with Boot Camp Assistant and then download the Windows version of Genshin Impact, but this only works on Intel-based Mac computers. If you want to download the game on an M1 machine, we’ll show you how to do that using PlayCover, but remember that this will let you play the mobile version of the game rather than the desktop one.

Will there be Genshin Impact for Mac?

Genshin Impact isn’t available for Mac and probably won’t receive a macOS version in the foreseeable future, yet the GeForce Now and the Boosteroid services shown below, as well as the other methods to play the game on a Mac computer can provide you with a gaming experience that comes very close to playing Genshin Impact natively, on a Windows PC.

How to play Genshin Impact on Mac

To play Genshin Impact on Mac, we recommend following our GeForce Now and Boosteroid instructions, as these are the quickest and most straightforward methods to enjoy the game on an Apple computer. And if you have some time and patience, you can also check out the three other methods we’ve provided below – BlueStacks, PlayCover, and Boot Camp.

How to play Genshin Impact on Mac with Boosteroid

1. Click the next button and when you get to the Boosteroid site, create a new account there or, if you prefer, sign up with your Google profile.

2. After you log in, click on your account from the top-right and the select the Subscribe option. Then choose which subscription plan you want to use and provide the required payment details to begin the subscription.

3. Open the search bar at the top, type in Genshin Impact, and click the Play button and then press OK, let’s go to start loading the game. Once the Genshin Impact launcher loads in your browser, you can launch the game, log in to your profile, and start playing.

In order to get the most out of your Boosteroid streaming experience, we recommend using Google Chrome as your main web browser. Boosteroid also offers a native macOS client, which you can also use to play games through the service (the experience nearly identical to playing through Chrome).

Play Genshin Impact on Mac with GeForce Now

For a detailed guide on how to play Genshin Impact on Mac with GeForce Now and some tips on how to achieve better performance with this service, you can click on the next link. For a quick version of the guide, you can follow the steps below.

1. To play Genshin Impact with GeForce Now, go to the GeForce Now website, sign in with your existing GeForce Now account, or sign up for a new one.
2. After that, you must download and install the GeForce Now Mac client. You can get the app from the GeForce Now downloads page in your web browser.
3. After you install the client, launch it, log in and search for Genshin Impact in the search bar.
   
4. Click the “Play” button, follow the prompts on your screen and GeForce Now will launch Genshin Impact on your Mac.

How to play Genshin Impact on Mac with BlueStacks

BlueStacks is an emulator that makes it possible to run the Android version of Genshin Impact on certain Mac models and macOS version. Check out our detailed guide for the app by clicking the next button.

How to play Genshin Impact on Mac with PlayCover

PlayCover works similarly to BlueStacks, but rather than the Android version, it lets you run the iOS version of Genshin Impact on your Mac. This method works on all Apple Silicon Macs, but cannot be used on Intel-based models. Also, it has a rather lengthy setup process, but once you’ve done everything, the end result and performance are very good. You can read our detailed guide by following the link below.

How to play Genshin Impact on Mac with Boot Camp

Finally, Apple’s proprietary Boot Camp Assistant app lets you install Windows 10 on Intel-based Macs, which then allows you to download and run the Windows version of Genshin Impact in the Windows partition. You can learn all the steps on how to do this from the next guide.

How to play Genshin Impact on Mac Video Tutorial

How to play Genshin Impact in Co-op?

Even though you’d be playing the game on a Mac, it’s still possible to have fun in the multiplayer Co-op mode with other players. If you want to learn how to do this, you can follow the link below.

Performance on Mac (Boot Camp)

It’s no secret that Mac computers are not intended to be used as gaming machines and even higher-end Macs wouldn’t always give you the best performance, especially on newer games like Genshin Impact, if the game is played locally (and not through cloud gaming).

In the case of Genshin Impact, in particular, you will likely need to lower the graphical settings of the game in order for it to run smoothly. On lower graphical settings, the game runs rather smoothly and you will likely not notice any performance issues. On a newer or higher-end Mac, you may even get away with the medium graphics settings but most Macs will likely experience performance problems if you set the game to run on the high or highest graphics settings.

Tips for better performance when playing Genshin Impact through Boot Camp

One very important tip to keep in mind is that, if you want the game to run as smoothly as possible, it’s best to update the Intel Graphics drivers. Here is a link to Intel’s official site from where you can update your driver.

Another useful tip for improving the performance is to go to the Settings of your Windows Bootcamp on Mac and find the Display Settings. From there, find the setting that controls the screen resolution of the Bootcamp and set it to something lower such as, for example, 1200 x 800. Usually, this should allow the game to run better and smoother.

Thirdly, you may want to stretch the game’s window to make it fit the screen of your Macbook (if you are using a Macbook) so that the title bar doesn’t show at the top. To do this, you can use a small app called Borderless Gaming that you can download from here. Once you download and run the app, add Genshin Impact to the list of favorites on the right, and every time you run the game its window should automatically stretch to fit your Macbook’s screen.

The last tip we have for you here is that the game plays better if you are using a regular mouse instead of a trackpad or touchpad so getting a mouse would definitely be worth it if you want to get the best experience playing Genshin Impact.

Genshin Impact system requirements

Finally, before we move on to the review part, we ought to mention that it is possible (if not likely) that your Mac would heat up rather quickly while you are playing the game on it. This game is quite graphically intensive and will probably push your Mac quite hard so the machine’s fans would likely become quite loud from spinning as quickly as possible. This doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a problem with your machine, but it’s something to keep in mind.

After all, the game is very new and has rather high system requirements that would be a challenge to even some of the most powerful Macs on the market. If you see that your Mac is getting too hot, it might be a good idea to stop playing for a while and give it time to cool down. You can also consider investing in a cooling pad or external fan for your Mac if you want to be able to play the game for longer periods of time.

One other important thing to consider before trying to install and run the game is whether your Mac can actually support it in terms of system specifications. Genshin Impact is indeed a resource-intensive game and not all Macs may be able to run it simply because of its system requirements. For those of you who are wondering if their Mac could run Genshin Impact from the perspective of its system specifications and the requirements of the game, here are the minimum and the recommended system requirements of Genshin Impact:

• Minimum configuration for PC Players
  • OS: Windows 7 SP1 64-bit, Windows 8.1 64-bit, or Windows 10 64-bit
  • CPU: Intel Core i5 or equivalent
  • Virtual Memory: 8 GB RAM
  • GPU: NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 1030 and higher
  • DirectX version: 11
  • Storage: 30 GB of space

Genshin Impact Review on Mac

Genshin Impact is an open-world, action, multiplayer role-playing game created by Chinese developer Mihoyo. What makes this game stand out is that, unlike other open-world RPGs that are available, it provides innovative gameplay mechanics based on elemental magic, and a far-arching narrative that gets regularly updated and extended.

Gameplay

In Genshin Impact, the story begins with a battle with a super-powered demigoddess that results in the expulsion of two identical twins to an unknown planet. You begin the journey by picking a hero, and later, you and your sibling are separated. To find your sibling, you travel through Teyvat, an unfamiliar world where you meet a variety of other heroic characters. It’s an open-world adventure game with tons of hidden treasures, walls to scale, and bizarre enemies to face.

As you move through the story, you actively recruit additional playable characters into your team, and each of them has a separate combat style and skills.

Up to four characters can be included in the active party. You can quickly switch between your party members to unleash a stunning barrage of combos and particle effects.

Special Powers

Air, fire, water, lightning, and ice are just a few of the elements that each character can have an affinity to. Additionally, each character has a unique, element-specific attack that may only be used for a short period of time. Auto-deflecting energy shields, powerful counter-stance, spiraling sword formations, magical blasts, and area of effect attacks are among the special abilities included in this set.

Just like the characters, most enemies have their own affinity attacks and weaknesses that make them difficult to deal with if you rely exclusively on melee strikes, therefore, effective usage of the special elements is highly important.

Every elemental strike causes specific damage and imposes a status on the target. As soon as a status is applied to a target, additional elemental attacks can trigger a chain reaction. This is one of the main reasons why Genshin Impact’s fighting is so exciting.

Secrets and treasures can be found all around the world map. If you find and donate miraculous teardrops to divine statues, you can increase your stamina. These teardrops can be found all over the map, usually at high places where you have to use air currents or figure out a puzzle to get to them. The ghostly sprites hover above landmarks and invite you to chase them over the field they inhabit in order to collect treasure chest rewards. Of course, dungeons may be found all around the map, which is filled with creatures to combat and puzzles to solve. Using the cooking system in Genshin Impact, you can combine food items to create meals that heal or temporarily improve your attack and defensive status.

Co-op multiplayer action is available once you achieve Adventure Rank 16, allowing up to four players to explore and raid dungeons together.

As a starting point in the game, you can only explore the areas surrounding the capital city of Mondstadt. As you complete story quests, find landmarks, and solve riddles, the world around you begins to reveal itself.

Characters

To keep the game fresh, Mihoyo plans to develop and release more characters for Genshin Impact, in addition to the 54 characters that are already available. Each character has a distinct attack specialty and elemental affinity. When you enroll in the game, you are given a couple of free characters which you can use once the story begins. Other characters can be unlocked by completing specific tasks.

Visuals

Genshin Impact’s visual design is characterized by a vibrant color palette and cell-shaded modeling. In terms of character design, the game has a generic anime style. Colorful and cute, monster designs are also a hit. The archery and swordplay are also anime-inspired.

You can play Genshin Impact alone or with companions, and you’ll have plenty of time to explore and discover new adventures in the game’s expansive open world.