Pleco for Mac (2026): Is There a Mac App, and What to Use Until Then

No, there is no Pleco app you can download for Mac as of 15 October 2026. Pleco's App Store listing covers iPhone and iPad only, and the developer says a Mac version will come "soon after 4.0 is out". Until then you have three workable options: mirror your iPhone, run the Android app in an emulator, or pair Pleco on your phone with a Mac-native lookup tool.

The short answer

Pleco is not offered in the Mac App Store. Apple silicon Macs can run many iPhone and iPad apps, but each developer decides whether to allow it, and Pleco has not. Its App Store listing names iPhone and iPad only, and the current version is 3.2.83.

The developer says a Mac version exists internally and will follow soon after 4.0 is out. There is no date. It will probably be a separate app, possibly sold from Pleco's own website.

Here are the three real options today:

• Run your phone's Pleco on the Mac screen with iPhone Mirroring.
• Run the Android version in an emulator.
• Keep Pleco on your phone and add a Mac-native lookup tool.

What the Pleco developer has actually said

The Pleco developer, posting as mikelove on the plecoforums, has answered this question many times. Here is the timeline in his own threads, paraphrased. This is a small team, and the reasons it gives are reasonable.

The pattern is steady. The Mac version keeps getting tied to the iOS redesign, and the redesign has taken longer than planned.

Option 1: Use your iPhone's Pleco through iPhone Mirroring

iPhone Mirroring shows your phone's screen in a window on your Mac. It is an Apple feature, so you can use the Pleco you already own without paying again.

Requirements

Apple lists these on its Support page:

• A Mac with Apple silicon or the T2 Security Chip, running macOS Sequoia 15 or later.
• An iPhone on iOS 18 or later, with a passcode.
• The same Apple Account on both devices, with two-factor authentication.
• Bluetooth and Wi-Fi turned on.
• The iPhone locked and nearby.
• You are outside the EU, where the feature is not available.
• The Mac can't be using Sidecar, AirPlay or Internet Sharing at the time.

Setup steps

1. Open the iPhone Mirroring app on your Mac.
2. Follow the setup prompts.
3. Enter your iPhone passcode once to approve the connection.
4. Open Pleco in the mirrored window.

You can type with the Mac keyboard. Universal Clipboard also lets you copy Chinese on the Mac and paste it into Pleco's search box.

What it is good for, and where it falls short

It is good for using your own Pleco purchases, flashcards and add-on dictionaries on a big screen at no extra cost.

The downsides are real. You get one phone-sized window. The iPhone has to stay locked, so you can't use it at the same time. Every lookup is still copy, switch, paste.

Option 2: Run Pleco for Android in an emulator

Users on the plecoforums report that Pleco's Android app works in Android Studio's free emulator on Apple silicon. You create a virtual device with an ARM64 system image that includes the Play Store. One 2023 report says BlueStacks refused to install on Apple silicon.

There are caveats:

• Pleco staff call this "not something we officially support".
• It is heavy. It takes several GB of storage and uses RAM and battery.
• You sign in to Google Play inside the emulator.
• Add-ons you bought on iPhone are a separate platform purchase, so don't assume they transfer. Check before buying again.

This is fine for an occasional power user and overkill for most people.

What Pleco still does best (keep it on your phone)

Even if you add a Mac tool, don't delete Pleco. A few things it does better than anything on a desktop.

Handwriting for characters you can't pronounce

Say a caption has 嗑 in it and you have no idea how to read it. On a Mac keyboard you are stuck, because pinyin input needs the sound first. In Pleco you draw the character with 手写 (shǒuxiě): to write by hand, and you get kè, "to crack (seeds) between one's teeth", as in cracking 瓜子 (guāzǐ): melon seeds. That one trick is reason enough to keep the phone nearby.

Deep dictionary work

Pleco's paid dictionaries and its own PLC dictionary, with 例句 (lìjù): example sentences, go far beyond the free CC-CEDICT data most Mac tools use. Add the document reader, camera OCR for printed text and its flashcard system, and Pleco remains the best 词典 (cídiǎn): dictionary to carry around.

On price, Pleco is free with in-app purchases. In the US App Store the Basic Bundle is $29.99 and the Professional Bundle is $59.99.

What a Mac needs that Pleco on a phone can't do

On a desktop, most reading happens inside other apps: your browser, a PDF in Preview, ebooks, chat apps, video subtitles and games. The phone workflow forces you to copy, switch, paste, search and switch back for every word. With a 生词 (shēngcí): unfamiliar word every few lines, that gets tiring fast.

Three things help on a Mac:

• Lookup in place: select or hover over a word and see it.
• OCR for text that is an image, such as subtitles burned into video, manhua and screenshots.
• Saving the sentence for review.

For burned-in subtitles, see our guide on hardcoded Chinese subtitles and Anki. For turning what you read into cards, see the sentence mining workflow on macOS.

Zhenzhu is the app we build, and we see it as a complement to Pleco, not a replacement. Pleco wins on handwriting and paid dictionaries. Zhenzhu covers lookup inside Mac apps, OCR of on-screen text and sentence cards. The free plan has unlimited lookups, translation and speech, plus 15 new cards and 20 OCR reads a month, with no time limit.

Which setup should you use?

• You mostly study on your phone and just want Pleco bigger: use iPhone Mirroring.
• You're outside iPhone Mirroring's requirements (EU, Intel Mac without T2, Android phone): try the emulator or a Mac-native tool.
• You read lots of Chinese on the Mac itself: use a Mac-native lookup tool, such as Zhenzhu, and keep Pleco on your phone for handwriting and deep dictionary work.
• You want Pleco itself on Mac: watch the plecoforums thread "Pleco for Mac Update?".

How this guide was made

Research and drafting were AI-assisted.

On 15 October 2026 we checked developer statements against the plecoforums threads, iPhone Mirroring requirements against Apple Support, prices against the App Store listing and zhenzhu.app, and the Chinese against CC-CEDICT.