We’re all well aware about the capabilities of the Android platform. There are smartphones today that can compete with a wide range of technologies. However, what makes those devices really tick is the core Android platform. But what if you own an iPhone and still want to try out Android phone ? Well, you no longer have to purchase an expensive (or inexpensive) phone to find out. There are best Android emulator for Mac today that can help you run and bring full compatibility with all the features of Android (without owning one), while some even update their emulators with the latest version of Android.
With these Android Emulator For Mac, you can run apps for android, play games, and do pretty much anything like the Android device can (barring phone calls, obviously). Those are just the three main uses of a built in emulator. So we’re going to talk a bit about some of the most popular emulators out there. While some user friendly emulators are present here, we’re also going to talk about developer emulators that can help test out or run android apps and android games.
Instead of giving your only 5 best emulators, we are citing 7 on this post for cross platform. So let’s get to the best Android apps and games emulator for Mac.
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. Apr 14, 2021 My first impression of setting up Android App Development on an M1 MacBook Pro is not as positive as I hope to get it, as my blog below. It is working, but it is not ideal in various way. The Visual Studio Emulator for Android also uses its own set of MAC addresses. If you can't access network or Internet resources from the emulator, check with your IT administrator to make sure that the emulator's MAC addresses have been authorized on your network. To view the emulator's MAC addresses. Launch the emulator.
Best Android Emulator For Mac
1. ARChon
ARChon is a little different than most of our best Android emulators for PC or Mac in that this one is actually a Google Chrome extension. That’s right — no installing a program on your machine and wasting precious storage space! It is comparable to a virtual machine, virtual device or virtual devices.
Of course, it’s certainly not nearly as seamless as a native program, as it can take a bit of fiddling to get apps and mobile games to work. To use ARChon, once you have it setup in the browser, you’ll have to push or drag APKs to load the apps within the browser. It’s a nice, free program for those that want to be able to use an Android emulator wherever there is Google Chrome.
Not sure where to find APKs for ARChon? You can find many of them for free over at almost any Android APK repository. Some of our most trusted and favorites are APK Mirror or APK Pure.
Download it now:here
2. VirtualBox
Believe it or not, you can actually use VirtualBox to create your own Android emulator for Mac. Download VirtualBox on your Mac machine, and then set it up with the necessary ISO image from Android-x86.org. You’ll be able to create an efficient emulator that allows you to play almost any game or app within Mac.
As an added bonus, VirtualBox gives you a lot of control over how much resources and hardware you devote to it. That allows you to keep your overall machine running smoothly while still running your Android operating system emulator in the background. VirtualBox is free to use; however, it is recommended that you have at least 8GB of RAM on your machine if you want to run this one.
Download it now:here
3. KO Player
KO Player is a relatively new entrant in the emulators game and is one of the newer Android emulators on the list. It markets itself as a mid-market emulator that can run apps and multiple games comfortably. While the focus is mainly on games, this is a full blown Android emulator, so it can run pretty much any app on the Play Store as long as it is compatible with the Android version. The company’s website doesn’t mention which version of Android it’s running, but talks about a few popular apps and games that are compatible with KO Player (WhatsApp, Clash of Clans etc).
It also comes with features like gameplay recording, keyboard gameplay support, and comes with the Google Play Store pre-installed. It is said that about 99% of the Play Store apps are compatible with KO Player. The best part here is that KO Player is a free download, and can be snatched up directly from their official website. As with any free offering, expect some minor issues during usage. However, the app developers are pretty keen on offering a fresh and refined experience through bug fixes.
Download it now:here
4. Nox Player
This is yet another decent alternative for gamers. It comes with the ability to run android games, support joysticks and controllers (assuming your Mac supports actual hardware controller support). There is zero lag during gameplay or general usage, so you can be assured of a smooth performance. Among the list of features here is the ability to keep multiple accounts on Nox, which is handy if you want to use it on the family computer. You will find that the emulator is compatible with pretty much every popular game and app right now.
Further, the emulator is compatible with x86 as well as AMD processors, thus bringing a variety of devices under its compatibility list and access to most Android games. Like with KO Player, Nox allows users to record their screen and share it on social media as they please. It’s one gaming oriented emulator can be very handy for graphics heavy games available as well as strategy games like Clash of Clans and Fortnite (which will reach Android emulation shortly).
More importantly, it’s light on your computer, much like helping it run smoothly and devoid of lag. This is also a free offering with no hidden caveats. Nox also offers the keyboard mapping feature, so the user can play more efficiently with mouse and keyboard. If you are one of those mobile gamers, this one is for you as it is considered as the Android emulator for gamers.
Download it now:here
5. Bluestacks
Bluestacks is probably the most popular Android emulator currently available in the market, and with good reason. This app has served Windows and Mac OS users for a few years now, giving them a viable way using Android on their desktop. This isn’t an ideal setup for developers, though, as Bluestacks is marketed for the masses. This means there will be some lag when you operate, although it’s rapidly diminishing with each update. The recent version of Bluestacks was updated to Android Nougat, making it the freshest Android emulator out there. It’s too soon to tell if and when Bluestacks will update its offering to Android 8.0 or even 9.0 as the latest Android version, so it will have active updates nearly every month.
As it stands, if gaming and social media is your priority, Bluestacks is an excellent emulator to have as it aims itself at gamers. GameLoop is an Android emulator that is used as a gaming platform. It can run all the heavy games and even offer key mapping support, which has become a prerequisite with modern day Android emulators and can bring the better or for worse Android app and game on your Mac. With the added smart keymapping along with a customizable game support, this android emulator is mostly going to boasts a gamer experience.
Bluestacks official emulator is entirely free to download, but will require a subscription per month for continued usage.
Download it now: here
6. Genymotion
One of the newer emulators if you want to run Android on your Mac is Genymotion. We are now coming to the dev-friendly emulators out there. You won’t find all the bells and whistles that you probably see with Bluestacks, Genymotion lets you test out how an Android device and version would work with a particular app or supports Android operating systems. For example, you can have a Nexus 4 running Android 5.0 or an even older device running that version like Android 4.2 Jelly Bean Kit Kat(assuming it’s compatible).
Genymotion can let you run an emulator directly on your PC or on the cloud, which very few emulators out there can do. This means you can share the functionings of your app with the rest of the world without them having to download a dedicated emulator.
This is a game changer for developers who like to get opinions on their projects from the masses or close associates. Naturally, the android emulator for PC option is also present, so you’re free to use it the old fashioned way. This isn’t a free version offering for personal use, though, so be prepared to subscribe to one of Genymotion’s plans to reap the benefits of all the features mentioned above.
Download it now: here
7. Android Studio
Google’s very own Android Studio emulator also comes with an emulator you can download, although it’s significantly less flashy than a few commercial use emulators and actually run android natively. However, it is updated frequently with new features. This is designed specifically for budding and experienced Android developers to test out their apps before it is pushed to the Play Store. It works with both PCs and Macs, so neither platform is left out. It has all the tools to build and design your apps, while the emulator feature allows you to glance through your creation.
Given the feature set, it is definitely not recommended for amateurs, as setting it up could take some time. Android Studio is a free download on both major platforms, and is a 880MB download for Macs. Though updating those services may take time, watch out for more active development in years with this productivity emulator.
Download it now: here
While these emulators offer a great experience for your Mac as it runs android apps/games like Call of Duty Mobile and PUBG mobile, this may also create a negative effect on your device as the level use might increase, especially with the battery life. Running multiple emulators may affect your device operation as it depends on the operating systems and hardware.
Always test your apps or test apps on the emulator you install once you’ve downloaded them and see the emulators ability to run smoothly and see if it is usable as a productivity tool for PC and Mac. There are still best android emulators that you can discover around the web that can run an Android app or game. The installation process may take longer than expected, depending on various factors such as internet speed and the likes.
If you find another Android emulator or free android emulator that is actually a fairly decent, actually works pretty well and that suits your taste, feel free to use it as long as it runs well or work well, gets the work done or the emulators run properly. You can use emulators as a productivity tool for video loading or loading video. Just find one that supports this kind of function. You might be able to get the price free for personal use just like PrimeOS Remix OS player and other Android Studio S emulator or ldplayer android studio.
-->This article describes the most common warning messages and issuesthat occur while configuring and running the Android Emulator. Inaddition, it describes solutions for resolving these errors as well asvarious troubleshooting tips to help you diagnose emulator problems.
Deployment issues on Windows
Some error messages may be displayed by the emulator when you deployyour app. The most common errors and solutions are explained here.
Deployment errors
If you see an error about a failure to install the APK on the emulatoror a failure to run the Android Debug Bridge (adb), verify that theAndroid SDK can connect to your emulator. To verify emulatorconnectivity, use the following steps:
Launch the emulator from the Android Device Manager (selectyour virtual device and click Start).
Open a command prompt and go to the folder where adb isinstalled. If the Android SDK is installed at its default location,adb is located atC:Program Files (x86)Androidandroid-sdkplatform-toolsadb.exe;if not, modify this path for the location of the Android SDK on yourcomputer.
Type the following command:
If the emulator is accessible from the Android SDK, the emulatorshould appear in the list of attached devices. For example:
If the emulator does not appear in this list, start the AndroidSDK Manager, apply all updates, then try launching theemulator again.
MMIO access error
If the message An MMIO access error has occurred is displayed,restart the emulator.
Missing Google Play Services
If the virtual device you are running in the emulator does not haveGoogle Play Services or Google Play Store installed, this condition isoften caused by creating a virtual device without including thesepackages. When you create a virtual device (seeManaging Virtual Devices with the Android Device Manager),be sure to select one or both of the following options:
- Google APIs – includes Google Play Services in the virtual device.
- Google Play Store – includes Google Play Store in the virtual device.
For example, this virtual device will include Google Play Services and Google Play Store:
Note
Google Play Store images are available only for some base device types suchas Pixel, Pixel 2, Nexus 5, and Nexus 5X.
Performance issues
Performance issues are typically caused by one of the following problems:
The emulator is running without hardware acceleration.
The virtual device running in the emulator is not using an x86-based system image.
The following sections cover these scenarios in more detail.
Hardware acceleration is not enabled
If hardware acceleration is not enabled, starting a virtual device fromthe Device Manager will produce a dialog with an error messageindicating that the Windows Hypervisor Platform (WHPX) is notconfigured properly:
If this error message is displayed, seeHardware acceleration issues below for steps youcan take to verify and enable hardware acceleration.
Acceleration is enabled but the emulator runs too slowly
A common cause for this problem is not using an x86-based image in yourvirtual device (AVD). When you create a virtual device (seeManaging Virtual Devices with the Android Device Manager),be sure to select an x86-based system image:
Hardware acceleration issues
Whether you are using Hyper-V or HAXM for hardware acceleration, youmay run into configuration problems or conflicts with other software onyour computer. You can verify that hardware acceleration is enabled(and which acceleration method the emulator is using) by opening acommand prompt and entering the following command:
This command assumes that the Android SDK is installed at the defaultlocation of C:Program Files (x86)Androidandroid-sdk; if not,modify the above path for the location of the Android SDK on yourcomputer.
Hardware acceleration not available
If Hyper-V is available, a message like the following example will bereturned from the emulator-check.exe accel command:
If HAXM is available, a message like the following example will bereturned:
If hardware acceleration is not available, a message like the followingexample will be displayed (the emulator looks for HAXM if it is unableto find Hyper-V):
If hardware acceleration is not available, seeAccelerating with Hyper-Vto learn how to enable hardware acceleration on your computer.
Incorrect BIOS settings
If the BIOS has not been configured properly to support hardwareacceleration, a message similar to the following example will bedisplayed when you run the emulator-check.exe accel command:
To correct this problem, reboot into your computer's BIOS and enable thefollowing options:
- Virtualization Technology (may have a different label depending on motherboard manufacturer).
- Hardware Enforced Data Execution Prevention.
If hardware acceleration is enabled and the BIOS is configuredproperly, the emulator should run successfully with hardware acceleration.However, problems may still result due to issues that are specific toHyper-V and HAXM, as explained next.
Hyper-V issues
In some cases, enabling both Hyper-V and Windows HypervisorPlatform in the Turn Windows features on or off dialog may notproperly enable Hyper-V. To verify that Hyper-V is enabled, use thefollowing steps:
Enter powershell in the Windows search box.
Right-click Windows PowerShell in the search results and selectRun as administrator.
In the PowerShell console, enter the following command:
If Hyper-V is not enabled, a message similar to the following example will bedisplayed to indicate that the state of Hyper-V is Disabled:
In the PowerShell console, enter the following command:
If the Hypervisor is not enabled, a message similar to the following example will bedisplayed to indicate that the state of HypervisorPlatform is Disabled:
If Hyper-V and/or HypervisorPlatform are not enabled, use the followingPowerShell commands to enable them:
After these commands complete, reboot.
For more information about enabling Hyper-V (including techniques forenabling Hyper-V using the Deployment Image Servicing and Managementtool), seeInstall Hyper-V.
HAXM issues
HAXM issues are often the result of conflicts with other virtualizationtechnologies, incorrect settings, or an out-of-date HAXM driver.
HAXM process is not running
If HAXM is installed, you can verify that the HAXM process is runningby opening a command prompt and entering the following command:
If the HAXM process is running, you should see output similarto the following result:
If STATE is not set to RUNNING, seeHow to Use the Intel Hardware Accelerated Execution Manager to resolve the problem.
HAXM virtualization conflicts
HAXM can conflict with other technologies that use virtualization,such as Hyper-V, Windows Device Guard, and some antivirus software:
Hyper-V – If you are using a version of Windows before theWindows 10 April 2018 update (build 1803) and Hyper-V is enabled,follow the steps in Disabling Hyper-V so thatHAXM can be enabled.
Device Guard – Device Guard and Credential Guard canprevent Hyper-V from being disabled on Windows machines. To disableDevice Guard and Credential Guard, seeDisabling Device Guard.
Antivirus Software – If you are running antivirus softwarethat uses hardware-assisted virtualization (such as Avast), disableor uninstall this software, reboot, and retry the Androidemulator.
Incorrect BIOS settings
If you are using HAXM on a Windows PC, HAXM will not work unlessvirtualization technology (Intel VT-x) is enabled in the BIOS. If VT-xis disabled, you will get an error similar to the following when youattempt to start the Android Emulator:
This computer meets the requirements for HAXM, but IntelVirtualization Technology (VT-x) is not turned on.
To correct this error, boot the computer into the BIOS, enable bothVT-x and SLAT (Second-Level Address Translation), then restart thecomputer back into Windows.
Disabling Hyper-V
If you are using a version of Windows before the Windows 10April 2018 Update (build 1803) and Hyper-V is enabled, you must disableHyper-V and reboot your computer to install and use HAXM. If youare using Windows 10 April 2018 Update (build 1803) or later, AndroidEmulator version 27.2.7 or later can use Hyper-V (instead of HAXM) forhardware acceleration, so it is not necessary to disable Hyper-V.
You can disable Hyper-V from the Control Panel by following thesesteps:
Enter windows features in the Windowssearch box and select Turn Windows features on or off inthe search results.
Uncheck Hyper-V:
Restart the computer.
Alternately, you can use the following PowerShell command to disablethe Hyper-V Hypervisor:
Disable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Hyper-V-Hypervisor
Intel HAXM and Microsoft Hyper-V cannot both be active at the sametime. Unfortunately, there is no way to switch between Hyper-Vand HAXM without restarting your computer.
In some cases, using the above steps will not succeed in disablingHyper-V if Device Guard and Credential Guard are enabled. If you areunable to disable Hyper-V (or it seems to be disabled but HAXMinstallation still fails), use the steps in the next section to disableDevice Guard and Credential Guard.
Disabling Device Guard
Device Guard and Credential Guard can prevent Hyper-V from beingdisabled on Windows machines. This situation is often a problem fordomain-joined machines that are configured and controlled by an owningorganization. On Windows 10, use the following steps to see if DeviceGuard is running:
Enter System info in the Windows search box and selectSystem Information in the search results.
In the System Summary, look to see if Device GuardVirtualization based security is present and is in the Runningstate:
If Device Guard is enabled, use the following steps to disable it:
Ensure that Hyper-V is disabled (under Turn Windows Featureson or off) as described in the previous section.
In the Windows Search Box, enter gpedit.msc and select the Editgroup policy search result. These steps launch the Local GroupPolicy Editor.
In the Local Group Policy Editor, navigate to ComputerConfiguration > Administrative Templates > System > Device Guard:
Change Turn On Virtualization Based Security to Disabled (asshown above) and exit the Local Group Policy Editor.
In the Windows Search Box, enter cmd. When Command Prompt appearsin the search results, right-click Command Prompt and selectRun as Administrator.
Copy and paste the following commands into the command prompt window(if drive Z: is in use, pick an unused drive letter to useinstead):
Restart your computer. On the boot screen, you should see a prompt similar tothe following message:
Do you want to disable Credential Guard?
Press the indicated key to disable Credential Guard as prompted.
After the computer reboots, check again to ensure that Hyper-V isdisabled (as described in the previous steps).
If Hyper-V is still not disabled, the policies of your domain-joinedcomputer may prevent you from disabling Device Guard or CredentialGuard. In this case, you can request an exemption from your domainadministrator to allow you to opt out of Credential Guard. Alternately,you can use a computer that is not domain-joined if you must use HAXM.
Additional troubleshooting tips
The following suggestions are often helpful in diagnosing Androidemulator issues.
Starting the emulator from the command line
If the emulator is not already running, you can start it from thecommand line (rather than from within Visual Studio) to view itsoutput. Typically, Android emulator AVD images are stored at thefollowing location (replace username with your Windows user name):
C:Usersusername.androidavd
You can launch the emulator with an AVD image from this location bypassing in the folder name of the AVD. For example, this command launchesan AVD named Pixel_API_27:
This example assumes that the Android SDK is installed at the defaultlocation of C:Program Files (x86)Androidandroid-sdk; if not,modify the above path for the location of the Android SDK on yourcomputer.
When you run this command, it will produce many lines of output whilethe emulator starts up. In particular, lines such as the followingexample will be printed if hardware acceleration is enabled and workingproperly (in this example, HAXM is used for hardware acceleration):
Viewing Device Manager logs
Often you can diagnose emulator problems by viewing the Device Managerlogs. These logs are written to the following location:
C:UsersusernameAppDataLocalXamarinLogs16.0
You can view each DeviceManager.log file by using a texteditor such as Notepad. The following example log entry indicates thatHAXM was not found on the computer:
Deployment issues on macOS
Some error messages may be displayed by the emulator when you deployyour app. The most common errors and solutions are explained below.
Deployment errors
If you see an error about a failure to install the APK on the emulatoror a failure to run the Android Debug Bridge (adb), verify that theAndroid SDK can connect to your emulator. To verify connectivity, usethe following steps:
Launch the emulator from the Android Device Manager (selectyour virtual device and click Start).
Open a command prompt and go to the folder where adb isinstalled. If the Android SDK is installed at its default location,adb is located at~/Library/Developer/Xamarin/android-sdk-macosx/platform-tools/adb;if not, modify this path for the location of the Android SDK on yourcomputer.
Type the following command:
If the emulator is accessible from the Android SDK, the emulatorshould appear in the list of attached devices. For example:
If the emulator does not appear in this list, start the AndroidSDK Manager, apply all updates, then try launching theemulator again.
MMIO access error
If An MMIO access error has occurred is displayed,restart the emulator.
Missing Google Play Services
If the virtual device you are running in the emulator does not haveGoogle Play Services or Google Play Store installed, this condition isusually caused by creating a virtual device without including thesepackages. When you create a virtual device (seeManaging Virtual Devices with the Android Device Manager),be sure to select one or both of the following:
- Google APIs – includes Google Play Services in the virtual device.
- Google Play Store – includes Google Play Store in the virtual device.
For example, this virtual device will include Google Play Services and Google Play Store:
Note
Google Play Store images are available only for some base device types suchas Pixel, Pixel 2, Nexus 5, and Nexus 5X.
Performance issues
Performance issues are typically caused by one of the following problems:
The emulator is running without hardware acceleration.
The virtual device running in the emulator is not using an x86-based system image.
The following sections cover these scenarios in more detail.
Hardware acceleration is not enabled
If hardware acceleration is not enabled, a dialog may pop up with amessage such as device will run unaccelerated when you deploy yourapp to the Android emulator. If you are not certain whether hardwareacceleration is enabled on your computer (or you would like to knowwhich technology is providing the acceleration), seeHardware acceleration issues below for steps you cantake to verify and enable hardware acceleration.
Acceleration is enabled but the emulator runs too slowly
A common cause for this problem is not using an x86-based image in yourvirtual device. When you create virtual device (seeManaging Virtual Devices with the Android Device Manager),be sure to select an x86-based system image:
Hardware acceleration issues
Whether you are using the Hypervisor Framework or HAXM for hardwareacceleration of the emulator, you may run into problems caused byinstallation issues or an out-of-date version of macOS. The followingsections can help you resolve this issue.
Hypervisor Framework issues
Emulator Not Working In Android Studio Mac Torrent
If you are using macOS 10.10 or later on a newer Mac, the Androidemulator will automatically use the Hypervisor Framework for hardwareacceleration. However, some older Macs or Macs running a version ofmacOS earlier than 10.10 may not provide Hypervisor Framework support.
To determine whether or not your Mac supports the Hypervisor Framework,open a Terminal and enter the following command:
Emulator Not Working In Android Studio Mac Os
If your Mac supports the Hypervisor Framework, the above command willreturn the following result:
Android Studio Emulators Not S
If the Hypervisor Framework is not available on your Mac, you canfollow the steps in Accelerating with HAXMto use HAXM for acceleration instead.
Emulator Not Working In Android Studio Mac Free
HAXM issues
Android Studio Emulator Not Running
If the Android Emulator does not start properly, this problem is oftencaused by problems with HAXM. HAXM issues are often the result ofconflicts with other virtualization technologies, incorrect settings,or an out-of-date HAXM driver. Try reinstalling the HAXM driver, usingthe steps detailed inInstalling HAXM.
Additional troubleshooting tips
The following suggestions are often helpful in diagnosing Androidemulator issues.
Starting the emulator from the command line
If the emulator is not already running, you can start it from thecommand line (rather than from within Visual Studio for Mac) to viewits output. Typically, Android emulator AVD images are stored at thefollowing location:
~/.android/avd
You can launch the emulator with an AVD image from this location bypassing in the folder name of the AVD. For example, this commandlaunches an AVD named Pixel_2_API_28:
If the Android SDK is installed at its default location, the emulatoris located in the~/Library/Developer/Xamarin/android-sdk-macosx/emulator directory;if not, modify this path for the location of the Android SDK on yourMac.
When you run this command, it will produce many lines of output whilethe emulator starts up. In particular, lines such as the followingexample will be printed if hardware acceleration is enabled and workingproperly (in this example, Hypervisor Framework is used for hardwareacceleration):
Viewing Device Manager logs
Often you can diagnose emulator problems by viewing the Device Managerlogs. These logs are written to the following location:
Emulator Not Working In Android Studio Mac Free
~/Library/Logs/XamarinDeviceManager
Android Emulator Error
You can view each Android Devices.log file by double-clicking it toopen it in the Console app. The following example log entry indicatesthat HAXM was not found: