Android Emulators is a virtual device that enables a computer to behave like an Android mobile device. The Emulator can be used on personal computers to run and test the mobile applications a developer has developed. Typically, an Emulator is used to install the mobile apps that have been developed in IDE without installing them on mobile devices. These enable to run the Android OS in the computer systems for learning mobile app development and to test the application.
It is a process or set of instructions that run on your PC. Before using these devices, one shall perform research to identify what are the best android emulators available in the market. Choosing the best android emulator for pc is a vital step as the further process will be based on the selection only. Android being the most popular operating system has created a demand for best android emulator for pc.
Before moving further one should know what the best android emulator can do.
- You can place an.Apk file from the computer system to the AVD(android virtual device) by the drag and drop of file.
- For those working with an app that requires sensors, an android emulator's extended controls and visuals can help in easy configuration.
- Android emulator helps in building and testing a mobile app without using a mobile phone.
- The large display screen of an android emulator makes it easier to have better controls to use apps on the system.
- It gives the feel of exact mobile devices.
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The 17 Best Android Emulators
1. MEmu
MEmu is one of the best android emulator for pc and is available for free as well as it works quite well. What makes it great is its support to Android Nougat AMD and Intel chipsets. It provides great user experience and amazing performance. It allows users to play multiple games using just a single account.
The installation process is also quite easy and simple and supports almost all peripheral devices like mouse, keyboard, game pad for a smooth game play. With MEmu, a customized emulator can also be created for business purposes. The file transfer between Windows and Android is also made easy by it. It’s available in free as well as a paid premium version and does not support Mac OS. Google play store is already available in MEmu so that you can download apps and install them easily.
2. Bluestacks
It is one of the oldest and most popular of the best android emulators for pc(Mac and Windows). It is compatible with the Nougat version of Android. As this emulator is enough capable of playing high graphic games, the apps and games run very efficiently on Bluestacks. It support playing multiple games at the same time. The user base of Bluestacks has over 10 million installs. The process of installing the software is quite user friendly and it does not acquire much of the RAM.
But the worst thing about Bluestacks is that one must install apps daily for free access. And the presence of sponsored ads makes the emulator loose performance.
3. Nox Player
It is a famous android emulator and best for playing games. Nox is the lightest emulator and has a clean user interface. Without effecting the performances, Nox enables to run heavier apps and games so smoothly. One can easily download the play store and other apps on it. It is compatible with Android Jellybean and also supports Intel and AMD processors. It supports most of the peripheral devices like mouse, keyboard, game pad for a smooth game play. The rooting of a Virtual device with Nox Player is very fast and easy. Because of the greater load that Nox exerts, it is difficult to use many of the apps. Keyboard keys can be assigned to swipe right, mapping, and other gestures. It provides several features that are game-oriented.
4. Gameloop
Gameloop is one of the best android emulator available created by Gaming Buddy by Tencent(creator of Pubg), is specially built for mobile gaming on PC. It is able to run even on low-end Windows since the emulator is a mobile gaming emulator. It is the second most downloaded best android emulator that has recorded 400 million installs on Windows PC. It does not support Mac OS and other Android apps other than games. Gameloop is one of the best Android emulator for Android gaming. Gameloop also offers the feature of live streaming. Gameloop offers and an unlimited amount of memory for the amazing performance that is not possible with mobile phones. Game lobby, friend management, and other built-in services help to organize online sessions in a better way. The emulator does not come with pre-installed games but you can download multiple of them from Game Central lab easily.
5. Genymotion Cloud
It is easy to use best Android emulator to test the apps by the developers. To use Genymotion you need to-
- Sign in
- Click Add on the main screen.
- Download an Android emulator
- Select the type of device(tablet or phone)
- Start the machine
It can emulate more than 40 Android devices and all Android versions are accessible. It is available for free and paid premium versions and can allow the installation of multiple applications. With Genymotion one can perform fast testing off mobile apps, monitor the performance, and share live demos with all the devices. The mobile app is shown with great clarity since it has compatibility with high pixels. The webcam of the system is used to record the videos as the screen cast. It supports Windows, Android, Mac OS, and Linux. Devices with slow internal storage can also be emulated.
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6. Ko Player
Ko Player is powerful for the best Android emulator that lets you access mobile games and apps very easily. No configuration is required with this emulator. Just after installing you can start playing games, download the mobile apps, and use the internet. The apps can be installed very easily since the emulator comes with the Google play store. You can also install an app on this emulator just by the drag of the APK file. The peripherals like mouse keyboard and gamepad are configured within a fraction of seconds. due to the video recording feature of the emulator, you can download any video and can watch it later. It gives a better gaming experience as it allowed mobile apps to run on the screen of the PC. It is an open-source and free emulator and supports Windows, Mac OS, and Android.
7. Android Studio
This emulator provides the user experience exactly similar to Android mobile phones. With this one can simulate mobile phone calls, messaging, music, camera, location, and many more. It is a product by the Android and is very complicated to use by the consumer because of the precise programs. It is not meant for mobile gaming. The emulator can be used manually and programmatically by a graphical user interface and command-line simultaneously.
8. PrimeOS
Rather than being an emulator, it is a kind of operating system that is booted after the partition of the computer storage. This can help the user to change the system in mobile gaming platform it is one of the highest performance emulators. It is a stand-alone operating system and works better from any other emulator. It supports almost all kinds of platforms including Android, browser, Windows, and Mac OS. It gives the best gaming experience. It is the best alternative for Bluestacks and any other best android emulator for pc. It gives multi-window support and an amazing user interface.
9. ARChon
ARChon can be considered as one of best android emulator to run mobile apps on your PC. It is available as a Chrome Extension to be used on your system. If your computer has a Google Chrome browser in it then you can use the ARChon emulator.
It can be accessed by downloading a zip file compatible with your platform (Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android). After downloading, unzip the zip file followed by directory renaming and as you enable the list for developer mode then you will find the emulator in the list of Google Chrome extensions. Along with the playing games emulator also works with Chrome books. It is highly secured and rely on Google. Multiple applications can run on a single browser. Users have to follow a particular set of guidelines to install ARChon in their system.
10. Bliss Emulator
The best thing about listening later is that it does not provide any kind of unwanted ads to impact the user experience. The free version of the bliss of great help but the pro version has some additional benefits. It's not easy to use but if you are a developer and looking for an amazing solution for an emulator then Bliss is an amazing choice. It makes the use of the latest Android version that is Oreo. It can run on your system with the use of a bootable USB drive. Bliss offers great speed and awesome battery life with more security options. Bliss OS should be installed as a separate operating system and for that, it uses external storage like a USB drive.
11. Xamarin
Xamarin is an SDK emulator it helps the developers learn new things. Xamarin is specifically created for professional application developers but can also be used by other developers. The screen of the emulator completely looks similar to that of a mobile screen and helps the developers to run apps test them and debug if any bug is found. Xamarin is also used for testing iOS mobile apps on the system. It is very easy to use and is available for both gamers and developers. It is available free for personal use but the developers and the companies have to pay a certain amount to make use of it. Xamarin can mirror the screen of the Android device on your PC and is also a one best android emulator.
12. LeapDroid
Because of the presence of inbuilt functions in the LeapDroid, it enhances the user experience with playing games and using mobile apps. It enables you to use high-end mobile games on your PC and provide amazing speed and performance. To use it all you have to do is just install the program and then sync it with Google account. You can map the gestures and touch controls to the keys of the keyboard. Unlike other emulators, LeapDroid can run several games and apps together.
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13. Remix OS
You can map the gaming controls to the keys of the keyboard and have an amazing gaming experience. It does not have an AMD chipset but has a good user interface. It is a very robust platform with the inbuilt play store. It allows you to play multiple games at the same time. It is very easy to install and runs on the Android marshmallow version. It is free and one of the best Android emulators available.
14. AMIDuOS
Generally known as Du OS, it runs on the lollipop version of Android. It does not have any support play store but it supports the Amazon play store to download any app. It is amazing gaming experience but cannot map the touch controls of game to the keyboard but can use an external gamepad. It is a paid platform that comes with the trial of 30 days. Which features are generally based on productivity and is compatible with new versions of Windows. Files can be easily shared between the PC and the emulator. This emulator was discontinued in 2018 without specifying any reason of it.
15. Phoenix OS
Phoenix can be installed easily on memory without making any impact on the documents. It can support high-end games and with high speed. It has many features for gamers and is compatible with Android version 7. It supports Android, Browser, and Microsoft Windows and has a very good interface. It is an open-source platform and gives a great gaming experience. Google play service is not updated regularly and it has lots of ads. It supports many peripheral devices like mouse, keyboard, gamepad, etc.
16. Droid4X
It cannot be considered as the perfect Android emulator but it has worked well in many situations. It is a great choice for gamers since the primary focus of the program is gaming. It can be used also for productivity purpose but the experience can vary and it can run the whole library of Android games very easily. The emulator is very simple to install and comes for free. It also supports the Mac Operating system. It is not a perfect emulator but can help you do the job. It can easily be run on a system that has basic requirements and also supports touchscreen PCs. It is a lightweight program and its iOS version is under development.
17. Andy
It is a powerful emulator for your computers. The mobile apps can be transferred to Andy emulator very easily. You can play the most popular mobile games on the desktop with the emulator. It helps in syncing the data among the desktop and mobile devices. You can download any app from the app browsers direct to this emulator. The games can we enjoyed with the mobile joystick. For the notifications, it uses the storage of Mac and Windows OS. The Facebook support group is also available on Andy emulator. It provides the easy download of mobile games and apps to your systems and the storage is not a problem with Andy. With this, you can also run all your communication apps like Facebook, WhatsApp, Snapchat, etc.
TechoWiki Final Words
These are the best android emulators can help you have the experience of running mobile applications and games on your PC and Mac with the same user experience as you get on mobile devices. It’s not possible for a developer to test all applications on a mobile phone, so these emulators can help to test and run those apps very easily. An emulator should probably provide a great user experience with games and apps. And before going for any emulator always check out for the latest version of it. It shall have support for the peripherals like keyboard, gamepad, mouse, and others to give a good gaming experience. Also, check the reviews an emulator has received, that will help you in going for the most demanded and popular emulator. These were some of the best android emulators for pc that you can check out before selecting any of them.