To run the emulator in Android Studio, make sure you're using Android Studio 4.1 or higher with version 30.0.10 or higher of the Android Emulator, then follow these steps: Click File Settings Tools Emulator (or Android Studio Preferences Tools Emulator on macOS ), then select Launch in a tool window and click OK. Android Emulators are used a lot by gamers and android app developers for windows and mac. Here is the list of 10 best android emulators for PC in 2020 which are very popular.
Android Emulators are one of the most amazing things for Windows PC and Mac users. Your computer becomes a dynamic device which can run other apps and software which are only compatible with another operating system like Android.
People, who never use an android emulator in a windows 10, 8 or 7 PC will always have this question in their mind that why would you need to download emulator if you have an Android smartphone which can simply run android apps and games without any other external tool? Well, it could be any reason for someone to run Android apps on a Windows/Mac PC. A developer who wants to test his apps before releasing the app to the public would use an Android emulator of their choice to test the app. Another reason could be that the person wants bigger real screen estate when playing android games with the use of physical keywords and mouse.
Using an Android Emulator will give a whole new experience with the little bit of a usual Android smartphone experience since the UI of the emulators (except some emulators) will be similar to an ordinary Android smartphone.
So today we are going to look at the 17 best android emulators for Windows PC and Mac. Particularly the Android emulators given in this guide are compatible with Windows 7/ 8/ 10 & Mac. This is a complete guide on, How to download and setup best Android emulator on PC? This article will give you a brief description of the android phone emulator and how and where you can download them.
These Emulators are available for free and are available for both Windows PC and Mac. So you don’t need to spend a penny to install and experience any of the Android emulator’s mentions in this guide.
Note that installing any of the Android studio emulators would require some kind of basic knowledge about Android, Windows PC, and Mac which almost everyone will have so I don’t think there should be any problem with this guide. This guide is very precise and if you read this article carefully and you won’t face any issue or whatsoever.
So here are 10 best Android emulators for Windows PC and Mac.
Contents
- 1 Android Emulator for Windows and MAC
Andy Emulator
Andy Emulator is completely free of cost, and you can download it from lots of third-party websites. You must be thinking that why I didn’t put Bluestack as the number one Android emulator for Windows PC and Windows. This emulator had few issues when it was first released, but with the few updates released by the developers, it has become a serious competition with the Bluestack. In my opinion, it is even better than the Bluestack Emulator. If you are using Windows 10 or Mac, then you should definitely try this emulator. The emulator is also available for Windows 10, 7 & 8.
Andy can run all the free android apps including games, launchers, productive apps, entertaining and education. You can even get root access with this emulator which makes this emulator very productive especially for the developers. However, it is not a perfect emulator, in fact, there is no perfect android emulator. All the emulators have at least one flaw which can be a deal breaker for someone. Andy Emulator will run Android 5.0 lollipop which is not up to date since the Android smartphones have to reach android 8.0 Oreo. Maybe in future updates, these emulators will get new OS version.
Bluestacks
BlueStacks Emulator is another great emulator, and it has been in the android emulator department for a while now. This is a very trusted android emulator for both Windows PC and Mac. The developers especially prefer this emulator over any other Emulator because of its dynamic ability. Although the emulator is still running on KitKat and you can download and install all the free android games as well.
Nintendo Emulators are one of the biggest reason why people use the android emulator on their computer because you can play all those legendary Nintendo Gameboy games on your computer with the help of Android Emulators like BlueStack.
BlueStacks is the oldest as well as the first private android emulator. So people who are using BlueStacks since the beginning does not even bother looking at other options.
Nox App Player
If you are a minimalist then you will fall for this emulator. Nox App player is an amazing android emulator, and it is the cleanest when it comes to the user interface of the app Nox App Player is preferable for the mobile gamers since this emulator consists of efficient game rendering engine which can run heavy games smoothly.
Nox App player is clean and gives you a stock android like experience. You can directly install games and apps from the google play store which is given in the app drawer. If you have apk installed on your Windows PC and Mac, then you can also install that apk. Make sure that you enable “unknown Source” which you can do from the settings app.
This emulator comes handy for developers as well. They can test their apps and work on them.
Dolphin Emulator
Dolphin Emulator is another great emulator for this list. Dolphin Emulator is one of the newer emulators in the market. It can run Nintendo GameCube and Wii emulator, so this is good news for Nintendo and Wii lovers. With these titles, you can download and play games like Mario, Sonic and street fighters on your PC.
However, Dolphin for Android has some games compatibility which is more limited than the one available on Windows and Mac. Dolphin is also available for Linux. Dolphone has touchscreen controls as well as physical controls like your joystick, keyboard, and mouse.
Although there is a compatibility issue with Dolphin, it allows you to configure the emulator in almost every aspect. You can also enable “dual Core” enhance the performance of the emulator.
Archon Emulator
Archon Emulator is the unique emulator in the emulator department. Archon Emulator is the first ever emulator which runs on Google Chrome OS. If you have one of those Google Chrome OS running devices and you want to run an Android Emulator, then you should definitely try this emulator I mean what another choice you even have.
The anchor can also run in Google Chrome Browser in the form of an extension. Archon cannot be download separately; you will need Chrome Browser and then install Anchor inside chrome to run this app. Google Chrome is available for all the major platforms so Mac users can also run on Archon Emulator.
Archon Emulator uses the default Android runtime package to run Android apps. Google is expected to release a new update which will support Android apps for Chrome browser in the future. Till then we can use Archon emulator to run Android apps and games in Chrome browser.
Archon has a modified apk android app package which the developers implemented so that people can use it for testing purpose only. So as long as you are not doing any fishy thing with this emulator, you are good to go.
KoPlayer Emulator
KoPlayer is not as good as the emulators mentioned above when it comes to the user interface, but it has lots of good features which makes it worthy of trying. This is a Win-only Android emulator. You get Google Play store inbuilt in the emulator, and it is compatible with Windows 7/ 8/ 8.1/ 10. Watching movies and videos from Youtube and Netflix makes this emulator a great entertainment companion since it has an adaptable resolution and you can watch contents in full screen.
Ko Player Emulator for windows PC has other good features like drag and drop for installing apps directly through apk files without downloading them from external sources. You can also navigate through the interface with keyboards and play games with it.
Make sure that you enable discrete graphics solution and virtualization technology in the BIOS settings before running any app.
Ko Player is yet to launch for Mac users so meanwhile, you can check on other android emulators which are compatible with Mac.
Genymotion Emulator
GenyMotion is another great emulator for developers. If you are developers who test a lot of apps on a regular basis, then you should give Genymotion a try. Genymotion is a self-claimed emulator for the developer because of its features. It is compatible with Android SDK tools, Eclipse and Android Studio.
You can sideload plugins for Genymotion to increase the control over the apps that you are testing.Genymotion has Java API which allows the user to automate apps for testing. BY testing with Java API, you can manipulate the sensor value of the app that you are testing. You can change the location and scenarios as well. You can also emulate fake SMS/Calls to check any relatable app you are working on. So basically this emulator is perfect for developers in my opinion, and it has all the geeky stuff which a normal consumer won’t get.
Remix OS
Remix OS is another emulator which is on the newer side. This emulator is easy to use without any errors or whatsoever. While most of the Android Emulators are running on Android KitKat or Lollipop, Remix OS Android Emulator for PC runs on Android Marshmallow. This is a huge advantage over another emulator because you can simply download and run more new apps and games on your MAC or Windows.
Remix OS has a feature called dual booting capability which means that you can easily install this emulator separately in x86 compatible systems.
Side-loading apk files are possible, but Google Play store is installed by default so you can get pretty much all the android apps from google play store. The user interface is simply because of the stock android like interface.
You can configure keyboards for your likings but I believe it can be more refined and also the demanding games needs optimization. However, you can run decent size games and apps simultaneously thanks to the effective resource utilization.
Remix OS is not available for Mac OS, and I don’t think it is coming for Mac OS any time soon.
Android Studio
Android Studio was released back in 2013, and since then it gains a lot of popularity. This emulator is a successor to the Eclipse IDE which is still in use by some old school developers. Android Studio has an emulator built-in so that developers can test their apps. So basically it means that an Emulator is running inside an emulator which is sort of a gimmick but it works.
Android Studio works fine, and it gets the job done. It has all the basic developer tools, but there are other Android emulators out there who are significantly better than this one. You can download Android Studio Emulator for playing games or trying out WhatsApp on your PC.
Xamarin
Xamarin Visual Studio is a successor to Xamarin Android Player. Unfortunately, Xamarin Android studio discontinued, but you can use it as Xamarin Visual studio.
Xamarin Visual Studio is compatible with both Windows PC and Mac OS. It runs perfectly on Windows 7/ 8/ 8.1/ 10.
If you are looking for developing android apps tools, then you might not want to use this app. This emulator is not developer friendly simply because it does not have the required tools.
Xamarin Visual Studio can run all the popular Android titles without any error. Laos if you have a touchscreen feature on your desktop and laptop then this emulator can also work with it.
The user interface is also not as pleasing as another emulator, and then navigating through the interface can be hard. All and all I would say that this emulator is not for the general consumer. You also need to install Visual Studio separately in order to run Xamarin Visual Studio
Virtual Box
Virtual Box is a software for Windows and Mac OS which can run other operating systems as a guest OS. You have to download and install VirtualBox & Android iOS for the initial setup. Speaking of setup, setting up this software and making it able to run other OS can be tedious for some user.
Once you complete the setup, you can have an experience with running Android OS or any other OS as it is running on a physical device that runs such OS. Other emulators are also based on VirtualBOX& VMware software.
Memu
Memu is a light android emulator. It does not take much of your computer space. This emulator is not available for Mac OS. Memu runs few kernels that support jellybean, KitKat and Lollipop. The developers of this emulator claim that this emulator will get marshmallow and Nougat update very soon.
Memu is a free android emulator, and although it not much in size, it has all the necessary features which other emulators also have. It can run on Windows7, 8, 8.1 and 10 with both Intel and AMD system (It can also run with or without any integrated graphic).
Droid4X
Droid4X is an old emulator which is still giving competition to other Android emulators out there. This classic emulator is somehow simple and effective. Runs smoothly on Windows PC and Mac. Droid 4X is concentrated towards gamers, particularly casual gamers who just want to kill time. When it comes to productivity, Droid4X is no slouch, and it can deliver some impressive performance to people who do productive tasks.
Droid 4x has recently faced some issue, and now I’m not sure whether the emulator is available or not. But you can check their website.
Youwave
Youwave is another old emulator but it still working and available for Windows PC and Mac. However, the emulator has not received any updated for years now. Youwave Android emulator is available in two versions, Freemium, and premium. You will get Ads and Ice Cream Sandwich in the freemium version. You must download premium version as it’s much better since it has no ads and runs on a lollipop.
Leapdroid
Leapdroid supports almost all the free android apps and games. You can download and run the apps pretty smoothly. Leapdroid has features like enhance gameplay, seamless apps and games compatibility.
The acquisition of Google has made the emulator vulnerable, and there is no update for this emulator anymore. You can still install this emulator, but you won’t get any security patches.
AMIDuOS
AmiDuos is not an emulator but software which can run Android apps. You won’t get any android like the interface, but that’s not the point here. People install Android emulators to run Android apps, and AMiDUos also delivers that. It runs only on Windows with 32 and a 64-bit system.
Bliss
Bliss is a decent android emulator which runs on x86. It is available for Windows PC. I don’t recommend this emulator to anyone simply because it has lots of compatible issues. Go for any other emulator mentioned above, but I think you should avoid this emulator.
So these are the best Android emulators that you can download and install on your Windows 10 PC and Mac OS. There are some Emulators which are not compatible with Mac OS, but every emulator in the list is compatible with windows.
The Android Operating System is today one of the most important and advanced in the world. It has a lot of functions and features that have led it to become one of the most popular.
In this way many users choose to install softwares that are capable of running the Android operating system from the Mac computer . This in order to work with the operating system of Google for mobile.
In order to run this system on a computer it will be necessary to make use of an emulator . It is important to mention that today there are many softwares of this type that will help you carry this out. However, not all of them are really effective. That is why here we present a list of the best emulation programs.
List of the 10 best fast emulators for Android l livOS for Android ready to download
In general, the Android operating system is one of the most sought after in the world, it is characterized by being highly customizable and having a wide range of technology. This is how many users especially iOS or Mac, want to start testing this Android system on their computers.
For this there are emulators that can help you run Android on your Mac computer in a very simple way. They are characterized by presenting all the functions of Android, even many emulators already work with the latest version of the Android operating system .
However, there are many softwares available of this type, but not all of them are able to meet the needs of their users or simply do not have all the necessary features to be placed among the best programs of this guy.
In this way, here is a list of the 10 best emulators to install on your Mac PC:
Bluestacks Android Emulator
Download BlueStacks 4
It is important to mention that these emulators are capable of running both applications and games of all kinds and with them you can do whatever you want. Most of these softwares are characterized mainly by being very simple to install and manage as is the case of Android Bluestacks Emulator . It currently has more than 130 million users currently and is integrated with Layercake technology to make its operation more optimal.
In addition, Bluestacks Android Emulator is backed by the investment of Samsung, Qualcomm and Intel , which ensures you a very well designed and very professional software with which You can get really good results. All this has made many users of Mac or iOS interested in trying or managing a bit what is the Google operating system, which they can use directly from your Mac computers.
Andyroid emulator
Download Andy
Andyroid emulator is a software that has open GL hardware support. It is characterized by its easy operation and is very easy to install. Ideal for those Mac users who want to start using Android from their computer.
In this way, you can start turning your PC into a phone to start enjoying all those Google Play apps , be it games or some special tools . It should be mentioned that Andyroid Emulator has a customer service with which you can interact to clarify any doubt you have about the program and its operation.
Therefore, if you are looking for software that is able to help you get results from another level and far superior to those of other emulators, then your best option is Emulator Andyroid.
KO Player
Download KO Player
Another one of the most interesting Android emulators on the market, it specializes in the games area. Therefore, if you like gaming applications Android operating system, KO Player becomes a very good alternative to be able to use them from your Mac computer .
However, despite being especially focused on games, this software will also allow you to install any other application that is available on Google Play as long as it is compatible with the version of the emulator.
Android Studio Emulator Mac M1
Usually, the most prominent applications within the emulator are the Clash of Clans, Super Mario games, messaging apps like WhatsApp, Telegram, among many others. It also has features that will allow you to record games in case you want to use them without the need for the emulator.
Among its main features we find that it is almost compatible with all Android applications . In addition, KO Player has a completely free download and that will allow you to live an excellent experience when using the Android app on the Mac .
Genymotion
Download Genymotion
Genymotion is another of the most important emulators on the market, it has a lot of functions and tools that will allow you to have the best experience within of the Android . This is how it gives you the possibility to test how a device and a Android version would work with a specific app, this will let you know how the application works before installing it.
Android Studio Emulator Mac Download
In this way, with Genymotion you can start running the Android emulator directly from the Mac or the cloud computer, being this a characteristic that very few softwares of this type can carry out, which gives it an advantage before the competition. This allows you to share the operation of the application with other users.
However, it is important to mention that Genymotion is not free, therefore, you will have to subscribe to some of their plans to start using it and each of its tools.
Android Studio
Download Android Studio
This emulator is not one of the most popular in the market when compared to other softwares . However, it has very important features that lead it to be located among the most attractive emulators for many users, and it has a system of update frequently that allows is always updated with the latest tools.
Android Studio is designed primarily for those users of Mac or other operating systems start testing the different Android applications from their computers, which can be downloaded from Play Store . It has all the necessary tools to start enjoying all these apps on the PC.
Nox Player
Download Nox Player
Other alternatives that you can find on the internet to start getting Android games from your Mac computer. Therefore, if you are a fan of games of this operating system you can start to make use of the Nox Player emulator, it has a number of very attractive features and functions.
In this way, you can start enjoying all the games available on the Play Store from your Mac. Among its main features we find that it allows you to create different accounts in the event that your PC is familiar. < / p>
This will allow you to have your own user with your favorite games privately. In addition, it also allows to record favorite games and in turn share them through social networks. A software that is specialized for games which can be very useful for those who they have heavy graphics and makes their speed a little slower than the rest.
VirtualBox
Download VirtualBox
Many of Mac users are unaware that VirtualBox can be used as an Android emulator. It will allow you to use almost all available applications in this operating system and which you can download from Play Store . It is considered as one of the most efficient emulators that allow you to play any type of game regardless of whether it is very heavy or not.
VirtualBox is responsible for controlling the amount of resources and hardware necessary to maintain excellent performance on the computer, this will prevent the computer from being damaged or inconvenience while running the emulator Android in background . It is recommended that at the time of installing this emulator you have at least 8 GB of RAM on your computer , it can be installed completely for free.
YouWave
Download Youwave
An emulator that has been designed so that it can be used by all people without the need to be a professional in this area. It has a very sophisticated interface and has unique and very professional tools.
This is how with YouWave you can start having your own Android on your Mac computer , where you can start running any application and in turn have background the desktop of the operating system simultaneously.
This software is ideal for running those Android games applications downloaded from Play Store, and in turn you will create a folder where all downloaded apps will be stored. It has dynamic controls and volume buttons that will help you have a better experience.
However, this emulator is not free , therefore, to be able to use it you will have to purchase one of its subscriptions and that way start enjoying its services.
ARChonte
Download ARChon
It is worth mentioning that ARChonte is an emulator very different from the rest, and not only because of its interface, but basically it is not a software that you have to download and install on your computer , it is an extension of the Google Chrome browser with which you can start working with Android from your Mac computer.
This becomes a great advantage for those users who have little space on their hard disk or do not like to be downloading programs to their computer. However, since it is not a program, it does not have the same number of functions and tools that can be found in such software.
But, in the same way it allows you to develop Android applications on your Mac in a very simple way, where you can start enjoying Android games, as well as of other apps of your choice. ARChonte you can install it in your Chrome browser completely free and which stands out for its easy operation.
Windroy
Download Windroy
Finally, we present this emulator called Windroy , it specializes in representing Android applications and functionalities on a Mac computer. This software is mainly used by young people, since it has a fairly youthful interface and where you can use almost all the Android games apps on your computer.
Windroy works with the Android 4.0.3 operating system and stands out for its great speed when running any program, which makes it one of < strong> the best Android emulators on the market for Mac . Currently competing with softwares such as YouWavw and BlueStacks, so its use is highly recommended.