Guides / Install
How to install Bridgeplay on a Mac
Download Bridgeplay.dmg, drag Bridgeplay into Applications and open it. The Setup Assistant then installs Rosetta, fetches Apple’s graphics and the engine, waits for you to sign in to Steam and asks for one macOS permission. When it finishes, press Play on any Windows game in your Mac’s Steam library.
You need an Apple Silicon Mac (M1 or later) on macOS 26 or later. Intel Macs and older macOS versions are not supported.
Install steps
- Check your Mac. Bridgeplay needs Apple Silicon (M1 or later), macOS 26 (Tahoe) or later, an admin account, a Steam account and an internet connection. The Setup Assistant asks for 3 GB of free space. The requirements check on the home page tells you in one click whether your Mac qualifies, and macOS version requirements explains why macOS 26 is the minimum.
- Download Bridgeplay.dmg from bridgeplay.dev/download. It is about 530 MB and notarized by Apple.
- Drag Bridgeplay into Applications and open it. Open the disk image, drag Bridgeplay onto the Applications folder, then open Bridgeplay from Applications. macOS asks once whether to open an app downloaded from the internet. Click Open.
- Follow the Setup Assistant. The assistant works through five stages: Your Mac, Graphics, Steam, Set Up and Done (details below). You sign in to Steam yourself and confirm a few standard macOS prompts. The rest downloads and installs on its own.
- Press Play on a Windows game in Steam. Install the game from your Steam library as usual and press Play. The first launch takes longer while Bridgeplay sets the game up and the game prepares its graphics, which can show a black screen for a few minutes. Later launches are quick. The first time a game uses a controller, macOS asks to let Steam use Input Monitoring. Click Allow.
What the Setup Assistant does
| Stage | What happens | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| Your Mac | Checks for Apple Silicon, macOS 26 or later and 3 GB of free space. Installs Rosetta 2, Apple’s translator for Windows games. | Type your Mac password when the Rosetta window asks for it. |
| Graphics | Download fetches Apple’s Game Porting Toolkit (about 500 MB) and installs Steam from Valve if your Mac doesn’t have it yet. Every download is checked against Bridgeplay’s signature, and Apple’s signature is checked on the toolkit’s files. | Click Download. You can also drag in a Game Porting Toolkit .dmg you downloaded from Apple. If you skip this stage, games use DXMT and you can add the toolkit later from Status. |
| Steam | Waits for you to sign in. Bridgeplay doesn’t read or store your Steam password. | Sign in to Steam. |
| Set Up | Adds Bridgeplay to Steam, sets up the WineCX engine and makes WineCX Steam’s default for Windows games. This step modifies your Steam app (details). | Turn on Bridgeplay in System Settings › Privacy & Security › App Management. Setup carries on by itself once it’s on. Optionally, Trust Bridgeplay on this Mac adds a certificate to your login keychain so your controller keeps working after updates; if macOS asks for your password, choose Always Allow. |
| Done | Shows two settings for every game: the Metal HUD (frame rate and GPU details in a corner) and High Resolution (sharper on Retina displays, but games run slower). | Turn them on or leave them off. You can change them later. |
If you own CrossOver, the Setup Assistant finds it and Bridgeplay can run games on your copy. You can set that up later on the Status page.
If a stage fails, the Setup Assistant shows what went wrong and a button to try again. The troubleshooting guide covers the errors people have reported.
Where per-game settings live
Each game’s Bridgeplay settings are inside Steam. Right-click the game in your library, choose Properties…, then open the Bridgeplay tab. It has the graphics backend (D3DMetal, DXMT or DXVK), the Metal HUD, DLSS, frame generation and controller options. Use Bridgeplay defaults on that tab clears a game’s own settings.
Settings for every game are on the Game Defaults page in the Bridgeplay app. Bridgeplay also ships fixes for specific games, which apply on their own.
Updating Bridgeplay
Updates install themselves. Bridgeplay uses Sparkle to update the app, and it also keeps its patch in Steam and the engine current. To check right away, choose Check for Updates… in the app, or press Refresh on the Status page, which also brings Steam and the engines up to date. Each release is listed in the changelog.
When a Steam client update removes Bridgeplay from Steam, Bridgeplay notices and puts itself back. If Steam or a game is running at the time, it asks first and shows Re-apply Bridgeplay.
After a Bridgeplay update, the App Management switch in System Settings can look on but no longer work. Turn it off and on again.
What Bridgeplay changes in Steam
Bridgeplay copies a library into /Applications/Steam.app, makes Steam load it at startup and re-signs Steam on your Mac, replacing Valve’s signature. It also sets Steam’s default compatibility tool and resets Steam’s Accessibility and input permissions, so macOS asks again. Valve doesn’t support or endorse Bridgeplay, and modifying Steam may go against the Steam Subscriber Agreement. The full list is in the README.
Uninstalling Bridgeplay
Both options are on the Status page in the Bridgeplay app:
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Repair Steam | Restores Steam to its original state. Bridgeplay’s support files stay, so you can install into Steam again later. |
| Remove Everything | Removes Bridgeplay and restores Steam to its original state, including the compatibility tool inside the Steam folder. Your Windows games and their Steam Play prefixes are kept. |
Both restore Steam’s Info.plist. If Valve’s signature isn’t back afterwards, reinstall Steam from steampowered.com. Remove Everything leaves the Bridgeplay app in Applications; move it to the Trash if you want it gone.