- These are Best Android Emulators for PC. Install any of these Android Emulators and try Android apps on your PC. Bluestacks 2 is the best Android Emulator.
- Here is a list of 10 Best Android Emulators that could be used on windows PC and Mac in 2020. We have picked the right android emulators.
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.
If you want to run Android apps on your PC and Mac, you will need an emulator. So here are the Top 15 Best Android Emulators on the market Free and Paid.
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
Android Studio Emulator Mac M11
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
Visual Studio Mac M1 Android Emulator
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.
Android Studio Emulator Not Working Mac M1
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.
Android Emulators are the perfect solution to access and run various Android apps directly on your Windows or Mac enabled computers. It has become popular among both developers as well as users in recent years.
Are you looking for Android emulators for your PC, but don’t know which one to use? Well, you have arrived at the right place. With this article, we will guide you to select the best Android Emulator for your PCs and Laptops. But before we proceed to the list, we want to provide you with the basic knowledge of an Android emulator.
As the name suggests, Android Emulator is a software that can emulate or run the Android operating system on your desktop or laptop. There are many reasons associated with running an Android Emulator on your Windows or Mac system. For example, developers may run this to check their application before shipping it out whereas gamers may want to use a mouse and keyboard while playing their favorite games.
In any case, Android emulation on PC is possible and we are going to list some of the best free and paid Android Emulators software that you can run on Windows and Mac. For some of them, you might need to have technical knowledge but these are more or less made for tech-savvy people. All you need is to find a suitable one as per your requirement(s).
Best Android Emulators for Windows and Mac in 2020
#1Android Studio
Android Studio is Google’s official developer toolkit which is specially made for creating Android apps. You can run this Android Emulators to simulate various Android phones, tablets, Wear OS, and Android TV devices on your computer. It comes with predefined configurations for popular device types and can transfer data faster than a device connected over USB.
This Android Emulators offers you almost all the capabilities of a real Android device such as incoming phone calls and text messages, specify the location of the device, simulate different network speeds, simulate rotation and other hardware sensors, access the Google Play Store, and much more. However, this Android Emulators doesn’t have any gaming-specific features. Also, this is targeted towards Android developers so, it requires some technical knowledge for using it.
In our opinion, you shouldn’t bother about it unless you are an android developer.
#2 Andy
Andy is an absolutely free Android Emulators that has emerged as one of the replacements for Bluestacks. It provides android experience for productivity apps, launchers, games, and you can even install root access if needed.
This Android Emulator breaks down the barrier between desktop and mobile computing while keeping a user up to date with the latest Android OS feature upgrades. It also provides users with unlimited storage capacity, and the freedom to play the most popular mobile games on a desktop. You can use your Android phone as a controller, but Andy also supports Xbox and PlayStation controllers.
In any case, it is free and it does work very well for both Windows and Mac OS. But, be cautious as some people have experienced some installation issues and other technical problems. However, you can get decent support via Facebook if you do get stuck. The current version is based on Android Nougat.
#3 Archon
Archon isn’t a traditional android emulators. You can install it on Google Chrome to give your Chrome browser the ability to run Android apps. As soon as you have installed it in Chrome, you have to obtain APKs and load them in. As an added rub, you may need to use a tool to change the APK in order to make it compatible. We have the basic instructions linked up at the button above. This one is compatible with Mac, PC, and Linux. It’s also one of the most difficult to set up, but it’s also among some of the unique Android emulators.
#4 Genymotion
Genymotion is a great alternative to Android Studio’s default emulator. It is primarily used by developers, but of course, you can use it for personal use, too. You can configure the emulator for a variety of devices with various versions of Android to help suit your needs. For instance, you can run a Nexus One with Android 4.2 or a Nexus 6 with Android 6.0. You can easily switch between “devices” at will. It’s not great for consumer usage, but Genymotion does offer its services for free for personal use.
Genymotion also provides a cloud-based online emulator which you can try right within your browser, though you’d have to contact them and request private access.
Overall, Genymotion is the perfect Android tool for developers. You can still use it for casual gaming, although you’d be better off with other options on this list for that purpose.
Before downloading it, make sure that you’ve enabled the “virtualization technology” in your BIOS and you have the latest version of VirtualBox installed. Also, you’ll need to sign up & create an account before you can start using it.
#5 MEmu
MEmu is one of the best high-performance multitasking Android emulators for Windows. The software serves as a special Android emulator that particularly specializes in video games that are typically played using an Android device. It runs on most android apps and games and interestingly supports both AMD and Intel chipsets. That’s rarer than you’d think. Additionally, it supports Android Jelly Bean, Kit Kat, and Lollipop. That makes it one of the few emulators that go as high as Lollipop.
In terms of support for Windows versions, MEmu supports all the major versions of Windows such as Windows 7/8/8.1/10. Apart from that, MEmu Android Emulator supports almost all the Windows devices such as PC, Notebook, 2-in-1 Devices, Tablets etc.
Like many android emulators, you can use this for pretty much whatever you want and it’s completely free to download. However, we recommend it mostly for productivity based tasks.
#6 BlueStacks
Our list wouldn’t be complete unless we include BlueStacks. This was one of the first entrants but lately, things were not the same and the competition quickly caught up with it. However, it is still used by many users (who don’t have technical knowledge) to run Android apps on their Personal Computer and Laptops.
It comes with Google Play Store pre-installed, so it’s much simpler to download something and start playing compared to ‘proper’ emulators which emulate the whole of the Android interface and system. A user can access over 2 million Android apps and games and even install the APKs file manually. Other than this, it supports multitasking, much like an actual Android phone. You can use the free version if you don’t care about getting ads and sponsored app installation pop-ups. Otherwise, you should upgrade to the pro version which starts at $3.33/month.
We believe the above list was helpful to shortlist the best Android Emulator for you. You can further check our article about the latest Android phone trends of 2018. If you like our article then please do share it over social media channels.