Andy, or 'Andy the Android Emulator' allows you to utilize your Android applications, like WhatsApp or Snapchat, through your Windows PC or Mac desktop. It runs Android OS 4.2.2 in a virtual machine, enabling you to launch full-screen apps for an immersive experience or keep them open in a resizable window next to your Windows programmes.
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.
- Andrew 'Andy Mac' McKinnon had a heart attack at Gold Coast home on July 15 His wife Megan made a desperate and teary call to Triple Zero that saved his life McKinnon wanted to recognise the work.
- 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.
- For example, Andy provides a seamless sync between your desktop PC and mobile devices, allows Windows and MAC users to connect with Android for launching, push notifications and storage, and ensure that you have the most current Android OS to ensure maximum compatibility.
- Overview Andy (was Andy OS) is the first full featured mobile operating system that runs on any Mac, and in the Cloud - it breaks the barrier between desktop and mobile computing, while keeping you up-to-date with the latest Android OS feature upgrades.
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.
Topics Covered
- 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
Andi Mack Cast
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 one of the most popular applications these days because of a variety of purposes which they serve.
It helps android app developers to test the applications which they have developed according to real life usage before they release it.
However, the reason why Android Emulators are so popular because these android emulators allow you to install your favorite android applications on your PC/Laptop which allows you to play your favorite games on a bigger screen with the comfort of using a keyboard and a mouse.
There are a lot of Android emulators which are available for download, but finding the one which is the best and which will suit you the most is not at all easy and it can be very confusing for any user.
In this article we will discuss the top 10 android emulators which you can download to install your favorite android applications on your PC/Laptop.
Contents
- 1 Top 10 Android Emulators For PC & MAC
Top 10 Android Emulators For PC & MAC
GameLoop
GameLoop is one of the most popular android emulators available for PC because of the latest changes which this emulator has introduced.
It was previously known as the Tencent Gaming Buddy but since it became the exclusive emulator app for Call of Duty Mobile game, it changed its name to GameLoop android emulator.
It is dedicated completely for playing Android games which means you can install other Android applications on this emulator, but their performance would not be that great.
Game Loop has got plenty of built-in game settings and support for Android games especially FPS(First Person Shooting)games like PUBG Mobile and COD Mobile.
It has really low response time and even heavy games like PUBG Mobile and COD Mobile do not lag during the gameplay. This is why, GameLoop is our number one choice when it comes to Android Emulators.
BlueStacks
One of the oldest and probably the most known and famous Android Emulators of them all is BlueStacks Android Emulator.
It is really easy to install which adds to its popularity and it is one of the most preferred Android Emulators when it comes to gaming purposes. Earlier, BlueStacks was used only by gamers, but now even app developers use it because of the updates this app has received which suits most of the app developers well.
The most recent version of the app BlueStacks 3 is much faster and efficient than ever before and it now runs even the most demanding games at high settings and graphics without lags.
Another reason why BlueStacks is so popular because users can download apps from the official app store of BlueStacks which has apps optimized for being installed on BlueStacks android emulator.
MEmu
MEmu is one of the more recent android emulators launched in 2015 and it mainly targets thegaming audience i.e this emulator is made specifically for gaming purposes.
It is capable ofrunning graphic intense games like PubG Mobile and COD Mobile at high settings and smoothgraphics and the performance of this Emulator is somewhat similar to the performance ofBlueStacks emulator.
The reason why it is so popular because it has also got support for older and slightly outdatedAndroid versions like KitKat and Jelly Bean.It has got dedicated mapping which will help you when you play FPS games like PUBG Mobile.
It can also automatically identify APK files on your computer and can install them just by adouble click on the file.
Nox App Player
If you have used MEmu Android Emulator, you will find Nox App Player quite similar to MEmu because Nox App Player is quite similar to MEmu emulator in terms of usability, interface and performance.
It is one of the best emulators for personal use and has got a really simple interface which makes it very easy to use.
It has got a massive in-built game library and has got the smoothest gameplay on all of them.Nox App allows you to map your keyboard and has also got gesture support which makes it really popular in the gaming community.
Andy For Mac
KO Player
KO Player is one of those emulators which love gamers because it focuses mainly on gamers. It aims at delivering a lag-free experience to its users which makes it really popular amongst gamers.
KO Player is a free application and this is why you can see a few advertisements here and there for monetization purposes.
KO Player has in-built support for keyboard mapping and it is very easy to set up and navigate through the apps.
Andy Mcdonald
Remix OS Player
After the huge success of Remix OS, Jide Technologies launched its own Android Emulator, the Remix OS Player.
Unlike the Remix OS which was a real operating system and it required disk partition for being installed on the hard drive of a user’s laptop or PC.
However, the Remix OS Player is an android emulator and it is one of the unique android emulators available because of the unique features which this emulator has to offer.
It has been highly optimized for gaming and this is why it is really popular amongst the gamers.
Andy Installer
Andy
Andy is a completely free Android emulator and you won’t also be seeing any annoying advertisements.
It has got a unique feature which allows you to use your smartphone as a controller while you are playing your favorite games.
It also allows you to install Android apps directly on your desktop.
It runs very smoothly and could be great emulators for games that you want to play as well.
I personally have played many games and the playing experience was just smooth.
Droid4x
Droid4x is one of the competitor applications to Andy and it comes with many features which the Andy Emulator offers.
It is one of the few selected emulators which is suited more to the developers working on Android App Development instead of gamers.
It can be installed both online and offline using installer packages.
Personally using it on my low configuration PC, it gave me pretty satisfactory results.
Hence, if you have a low configuration PC, you may choose this one.
GenyMotion
GenyMotion is one of the few applications which has been developed specifically for developers although it supports games equally well.
It lets you test your developed applications on various platforms.
Various android versions which can help a developer fascinating their applications on a wide variety of different android versions.
When you will be installing this on your PC, you will notice that this is a very light emulator.
The RAM usage is very little as compared to others.
Andy For Mac
Android Studio
Android Studio is the official emulator of Google and is a developmental IDE(Integrated Development Environment).
It has been developed mainly for developers and has a lot of in-built tools which are of a great use to these developers.
These are some of the best android emulators and all of them except the BlueStacks emulator do not require powerful processors of additional RAM and most of them would work on Intel or AMD processors with 2 GB or less of RAM.
But it suggested that for a smoother gaming experience, your PC/Laptop should have at least 4 GB of RAM or more.