That’s why I need an Android emulator for android studio. I test a bunch of android emulators in windows 10 such as Droid4x, Bluestacks, GameLoop, LDPlayer, etc. And finally I found a free emulator which is the best for android studio. And the emulator is Nox player. Nox player is also available for Mac OS so this is a plus point for us. Enjoy the whole new Android Marshmallow, Nougat and Android Oreo using the Free and Best Android Emulators for PC running Windows 10/8.1/7/Xp/Vista, Mac OS X, Linux computers. Choose the Best.
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Check out our list of the best Android emulators available for Windows PC and Mac in 2020. Android emulators are seemingly becoming more popular as Android’s popularity keeps growing. From developers testing apps to gamers playing on a large screen, users yearn for experiencing Android OS on a Windows PC, complimented with a mouse and keyboard. Some iOS emulators for PC and Mac are also available but Android ones offer a better performance.Maybe you are switching from iPhone to Android, or you merely want to test out a custom ROM, the possibilities with an Android emulator are endless. While BlueStacks has always topped the list of phone emulators for PC and Mac, few others are catching up insanely fast.
There are three main uses for emulators. The main and the most common use for Android Emulator is gaming. Gamers can use emulators on their computers to make some games easier to play. They don’t have to rely on the battery life of their devices and the existence of macros and other tricks help the process. In most cases, these little tricks aren’t illegal (in most games) so nobody really has a problem with it. So lets take a look at the best Android Emulators of 2020 for PC and Mac.
With most of such devices being powered by Operating Systems such as Windows and macOS, Android emulators come to the rescue when it is necessary on such non-Android platforms. If you are confused about which is the best Mac and PC Android emulator, the following article would serve as a guide.
List of Best Android Emulators in 2020:
Here is the list of our picks for the best Android emulators available for Windows PC, Mac and Linux platforms. PC support for emulators is more common than Mac and Linux. However, we have covered the best ones you can download right away. We have also included a few standalone Android builds that you can install on your computer.
- Nox Player
- BlueStacks
- LDPlayer
- MEmu
- Ko Player
- Genymotion
- Droid4X
- Android Studio Emulator
- Remix OS
- ARChon
- Bliss OS
- Phoenix OS
To know more about these best Android emulators, continue reading ahead:
1. Nox Player
Nox Player especially targets Android gamers. Although the emulator works perfectly fine for other Android apps and enjoying the whole Android experience, it is best suited for playing massive games like PUBG or Justice League. The best part of Nox Emulator is that it’s absolutely free with no sponsored ads at all.
The Nox Player allows you to map keys of keyboard, mouse, and gamepad. You can even assign keyboard keys for gestures, for instance, mapping shortcut for swiping right.Also, you can specify the CPU and RAM usage in the settings option to get the best gaming results. If rooting Android is your focus, Nox Player makes it easy to root the virtual device under one minute.
The only problem with Nox is that it puts a lot of load on the system. Thus, you can’t use tons of other apps. Another thing is it is based on Android 5 Lollipop which might be a concern for you. For a complete setup and install guide, read: How to Install Nox Player 6
Compatibility: Windows and Mac
2. BlueStacks
BlueStacks is probably the most known Android emulator among Android users. The emulator is preferred for gaming and is ridiculously easy to set up. Other than Play Store, you have the option of downloading BlueStacks optimized apps from its own app store. Although, BlueStacks supports keyboard mapping but does not go well with gestures.
A major drawback of BlueStacks emulator is that it gets sluggish in productivity apps. Other than that, the sponsored ads make the emulator lose behind other best free Android emulators for Windows. Talking specifically about BlueStacks 4, it brings an excellent gaming performance, thanks to low CPU and memory usage. It also claims to be 6x faster than Samsung Galaxy S9+. For a complete setup and install guide, read: How to Install Bluestacks 4
Compatibility: Windows and Mac
3. LDPlayer
LDPlayer is a free Android emulator for Windows PC users to play Android games easily on computer. This emulator is built with gaming in behind with all the features targeted for optimization of Android games. LDPlayer is based on Android 5.1.1 and Android 7.1.2 Nougat and provides the best compatibility with games like PUBG Mobile, Call of Duty: Mobile and Free Fire.
The team claims this emulator performs much better than playing Android games on a real phone. You can install games directly from APK + OBB data and you can also download Android games from the Google Play Store.
Compatibility: Windows PC only
4. MEmu
MEmu is relatively a new app player in comparison to the others. Launched in 2015, the MeMu Play, again, is focused on gaming. Regarding the speed, this Android emulator gives similar results as Nox and BlueStacks.One of the most important features of MeMu Android emulator is its support for both AMD and Nvidia chips. It also supports different Android versions like Android Jelly Bean, Kit Kat, and Lollipop. While MeMu advocates for high-performance gaming, the graphics performance is relatively poor. I saw textures and smoothness missing in comparison to other app players.
MEmu is currently based on Android Lollipop and works top of the class with productivity apps. And if you are looking forward to playing games like Ingress or Pokémon Go, this should be your choice.
Compatibility: Windows PC only
5. Ko Player
Just like other Android gaming emulators out there, Ko Player focuses on delivering lag-free gaming experience with a lightweight software.As Ko Player is free of cost yet you might see few ads here and there. The app player is easy to install and navigate through the apps. It also supports keyboard mapping and gamepad emulation.The downside of this Android emulator is that it sometimes freezes out of the blue. Also, the player is a little buggy and makes it difficult for the user to uninstall the Android emulator.
Compatibility: Windows and Mac
6. Genymotion
Genymotion is not your casual Android emulator; it is only targeted at developers. The Android simulator lets you test apps on a variety of virtual devices with different versions of Android. The emulator is compatible with Android SDK and Android Studio. It even works macOS and Linux.Since Genymotion is inclined towards developers, it is equipped with lots of developer-friendly features. And it might not be the right choice for people looking for Android gaming experience.
Compatibility: Windows, Mac and Linux
7. Droid4X
Droid4x is an Android virtual machine/simulator that runs as a guest operating system on your PC or your Mac. It is a full, working Android operating system with networking (wi-fi), Google Play Store, and functional apps. You can play games, install apps, configure settings, test your apps, navigate the system, and anything else you can do with an Android device. Droid4x works on Windows and on Mac OS X. Android version 4.2.2 is the current version running on Droid4x.
Compatibility: Windows and Mac
8. Android Studio Emulator
Android Studio is a development IDE (Integrated development environment) from Google itself and especially caters to developers. It basically comes with a bunch of tools and plugins to help developers build and test their apps.Android Studio has a built-in emulator but packs fewer features in comparison to Genymotion. The emulator is unquestionably not for general usage and playing heavy games. Android Studio is tough to set up but simultaneously favorite of many developers.
For a complete setup and installation instructions, we would recommend you read through the following tutorials:
- First, download and install the latest Android Studio.
- Second, install and setup Android 10 emulator.
Compatibility: Windows and Mac
9. Remix OS
Well, Remix OS is nothing like other Android emulators out there. It is an entire Android OS which you can boot into. Unlike the other emulators that can easily on top of the Window, Remix OS needs to be installed on a separate partition.Remix OS is a Jide Technology product, a company formed by Google’s former employees. You can put Remix OS on a USB device and boot from there to any computer on the planet. The Android emulator is good for productivity apps but does not support heavy gaming.Although Jide technology has killed its support, you can still download the last Android Marshmallow version. Meanwhile, a similar project known as Phoenix OS is being well-liked among the Remix OS fans. And recently, the project was updated to Android 7 Nougat.
Compatibility: Windows PC only
10. ARChon
ARChon is not some big shot Android emulator, nor it has a huge fan following, it’s more of a fix to run Android apps on Chrome OS.It started out when Google brought support for two or three Android apps on Chrome Web Browser. Following which, a GitHub developer took it a little notch further and released ARChon to run all Android apps on Chrome.The ARChon Android emulator is not suited for hardcore gaming, but it is excellent for using productivity app due to its easy access
Compatibility: Windows and Mac
11. Bliss OS
Bliss OS is a little different from the above emulators. Where ‘Android Emulators’ emulate Android on your Windows PC, Bliss OS, on the other hand, is Android itself and needs to be installed as a separate OS. As for its installation, you could use a Virtual Box or you can create a bootable USB drive and install the Bliss OS ROM on the external storage.Now, installing Bliss OS or any other Android x86 based projects is always better if you are looking for the exact Android experience on your PC. Not to mention the fact is Bliss OS is open source and don’t encompass ads or any Android emulator clutter.
Compatibility: Windows PC only
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12. Phoenix OS
Phoenix OS is a big-screen Android operating system that can run on bigger display screens like a computer monitor. This OS is designed with Android at the backend, but is customized to run like a full desktop platform. And most importantly, it has been optimized to run Android games on PC. Phoenix OS also support keymapping for all popular games like PUBG Mobile, Fortnite and other FPS / MOBA games. You can download and install Phoenix in a virtual environment on any laptop or MacBook easily. This emulator is available in two variants. One is based on Android 7.1 Nougat and one is based on Android 5.1 Lollipop.
Compatibility: Windows PC, Mac, Linux
This was a detailed look at different Android emulators available for computers — Mac, Windows and Linux systems. Do you think we missed any? Let us know in the comments!
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
Android Studio Emulator Macro
- 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.
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.
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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
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.
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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.
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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.