Post Contents. Since the popularity of the Android, we have seen many Android emulators fighting to be in the competition by providing great features. Today, we have listed out Top 10 Best Android Emulators for the Windows and MAC personal computers. You should definitely consider this list if you are looking for Lightweight Android emulators, alternatives to Bluestacks.
Dec 10, 2014 - Running via Run ⇢ Run 'app' in Android Studio. Output from the 'app' tab: Waiting for device. /usr/local/android-sdk-macosx/tools/emulator -avd.
Why Android Emulator? Windows or MAC natively do not support the Android Apps. But still, there are emulators to run the Android Applications on PC. Android Emulators are a piece of software that will let you run the Android Apps on your Windows or MAC PC. The emulators have gradually developed a lot and few of them are friendly for gaming. Almost all of them support the Full-screen view of Android Apps and also simulate other Android OS functionalities. We have refined and listed out the positives of Top 10 Best Android Emulators for Windows and MAC.
You can run them starting from Windows 7 to latest Windows 10, And OS X in case of MAC. Top 10 Best Android Emulators for Windows and MAC computers: Popular and Best Android Emulator Bluestacks is the obvious one you can guess to be on the list of Best Android Emulators. This is very easy to use and also has some unique features. Bluestacks 3 is the latest stable version and it runs on Android KitKat. But, there is a Beta version of Bluestacks which runs on Android Nougat. It is also the first ever Android emulator to do so. But Increased bloatware Ads is one main problem with Bluestacks.
Also, Blustacks is not a lightweight Android emulator requiring a good amount of PC resources to work lag free. If you Bluestacks user and need a shift, then welcome; there are many Alternatives to Bluestacks and we listed them down. Live Streaming Support (Stream your gameplay directly from PC. PlayStore supported and inbuilt. The linked BlueStacks version is totally free and offers a great gaming experience!
It also has a sample game so that you can see how it works. # Nox App Player. NoxPlayer Android emulator is built based on the Android KitKat 4.4. It is more suitable for running on older machines with limited resources. Nox can run the Android Apps using the minimal system resources and also comes with a gamepad. The other great features are pointed out below.
As Nox runs on the older KitKat version, it doesn’t need much PC resources making it one of the best lightweight Android emulators. You can choose the Android device Specifications like processor architecture, amount of RAM, storage etc while virtualization of the device. Nox also supports the GPS Emulation and uses the GPS of your Laptop/PC hardware.
Support for Gaming Controller to play the Android games on PC. # MEmu MEmu Android Emulator can operate on the newer Android UI of Lollipop. It will be working flawlessly on Windows and offers great UI experience. If system feels slow on Android Lollipop, you can also try emulating older KitKat version. Integration with Keyboard & mouse.
This is useful to play Touch based Android Games on your PC / laptop using your Keyboard, mouse or using a Joystick. Run Multiple Instances of the emulator to make separate runs for Work and Play. # Andy OS Andyroid Android Emulator Previously known as Andyroid, Andy OS Android emulator is best suited for your old PCs with fewer hardware configurations. Unlike other Android emulators works better even if your laptop or Desktop PC doesn’t have GPU dedicated graphics.
Andy OS built based on Oracle Virtualbox and gives lag-free performance most of the times. There is a feature to Play your favourite games on a Big screen, turning your mobile into a game controller. # Remix OS Player Remix OS is an open source project which allows PC users to boot Android, just like any other operating system.
You can either dual boot or live boot using a bootable pen drive. But Remix OS is large file bringing Android as Secondary OS and has lot of stuff to do. If Android gaming is the primary concern then you should use the Remix OS player. It can be installed on Windows and runs on Android Marshmallow with keyboard and mouse integration. Remix OS player is perfect to run games such Clash Of Clans, Candy Crush or any other Android Apps on Windows PC. Although, there will be few bugs they won’t affect you much. # Xe Player Xe Player is the latest & Lightweight Android emulator in the market and it quickly became popular among the gamers.
Xe is a Windows and also gamer friendly emulators giving a smooth experience. Other core features include one-click root, external gamepad support for Android games, multiple account support and video recording feature. If also has a Direct X mode making it suitable even for PCs with older hardware features. # KO Player Similar to Xeplayer, KO Player is also a Gamer friendly and Lightweight Android emulator. Perhaps, both emulators can be regarded as siblings due to their same features. Ko player offers all the features, similar UI of Xe player and also free to use.
Features. External Gamepad Support. Fake GPS & screen recording support. Stable and powerful performance # GenyMotion Developer Friendly Android Emulator If you are a professional looking out best developer friendly emulator, then Genymotion might be your choice. But make sure that, you have Pc or Laptop with a good set of hardware features or it might lag. Developers not using Android studio may require a separate emulator or simulator to test their Apps.
Perfectly suiting them, Genymotion comes with no nonsense and bloatware. Best Android emulator for Developers due to emulation support for multiple Android devices and screen sizes. You can also integrate Genymotion with Android studio for better development purposes or In case you want to replace default emulator.
# AMIDuoS AMIDuoS Android emulator is based on the Lollipop and comes with the new android material design. It provides good Android experience and App support. You won’t get any exclusive gaming controls but works lag free. Also, the emulator is not free and requires you to purchase an activation key. Recently, AMIDuos announced the farewell for its Android emulator and you will be not getting further updates. This keeps it last on our list of best Android emulators. While you cant get official download links, you can download it and use from third-party download resources.
# Droid4X Droid4X Android emulator is the minimalistic one running on older jelly bean version. But it allows you to access apps and games on your PC through Playstore. Droid4X is best suited for the on Windows 2 in 1 Tablet PCs with support for Touchscreen.
In case your having one and not happy with other Android emulators, you can try this one. This emulator although old offers a great combination of speedy performance. High speed and performance. The option to play games on a PC using an Android phone as a joystick.
Take screenshots, Activate GPS and adjust the screen resolution. Compatible with most of the apps and games offered. This completes our list of Top 10 Best Android emulators, Alternatives to Bluestacks. KO player and Xe player are latest ones on the list and best to start if you are on Windows 10. If you running MAC, any of our Top 10 lists must work fine.
The choice is subjective here and changes in your preferences and required a set of features.
Mac users can now run Android apps on their desktop thanks to, an Android emulation platform that is available as an alpha version for OS X. Bluestacks does not specify any system requirements on its site, but in my tests App Player for Mac worked just fine on a MacBook running Mac OS X 10.6, Snow Leopard. When you download and install App Player, the program sticks an Android apps folder in your dock for easy access.
Clicking on any of the apps will start up the app emulator for you. If you're looking for the folder through the Finder you'll find it in ApplicationsAndroid Apps. Right now, there are only 17 apps and games available for App Player on OS X such as Facebook, Glow Hockey, Paper Toss, Pulse, Seesmic, Twitter, Whatsapp, and Zebra Paint. Most of the apps run without many issues: Pulse responded quickly and was fairly easy to navigate, and the game Paper Toss worked well but was a little slow.
I couldn't get Whatsapp, the cross-platform messaging service, to work, and I encountered the same problem when trying out Bluestacks' App Player on Windows. App Player for Mac is pretty feature-bare compared to what Bluestacks offers on Windows, but that's to be expected since this is only an alpha release. You won't find any of the sync features the Windows version has, or the ability to download apps from the various Android app stores including Amazon Appstore for Android, Get Jar and Google Play. Running Android apps on your Mac could be a handy feature just as it is for Windows users. At the moment, however, there isn't much content available to convince users to give App Player a try.
Some of the 17 apps currently available such as Seesmic and Twitter are already available as native Mac apps, and you can find comparable games to what Bluestacks offers in the Mac App Store (although not for free). So unless you're dying to run Facebook for Android on your Mac, there's not a whole lot to win you over right now. Nevertheless, Bluestacks says it will be adding new app developers every month, so keep your eye on App Player to see what new features and apps it adds over the next few months. You can from the Bluestacks site. Connect with Ian Paul ( ) on Twitter and and with Today@PCWorld on Twitter for the latest tech news and analysis.