Best Android Emulators for PC and Mac of 2022 – we all know that the Android Emulators is a powerful OS with a complete PC, Mac, and smartphone package. You can run and enjoy the Android ecosystem flawlessly on Windows and Mac.
Android OS is popular because of its open-source nature, made with popular software for many Android-based emulators. You have access to install a 3rd party, change UI with high-quality and useful customization offered by the Android OS. For this reason, we discussed the best android emulators for your PC and Mac.
But the responsiveness and ease of using these emulators depend on your system specifications. A computer with modern hardware can be able to run high-end Android games on Windows and Mac.
In this post, let’s enroll together with the 20 Best Android Emulators for PC and Mac.
The 20 Best Android Emulators for PC and Mac in 2022
- BlueStacks
- MEmu
- Nox App Player
- LDPlayer
- KoPlayer
- Android Studio Emulator
- Genymotion Cloud
- Bliss OS
- ARChon
- Xamarin
- GameLoop
- YouWave
- Andy
- Remix OS Player
- PrimeOS
- Phoenix OS
- LeapDroid
- NetEase MuMu Player
- AMIDuOS
- Build Your Own
1. BlueStacks
Price: Free / $2 per month
Bluestacks is the best of all Android emulators for its compatibility with Windows and Mac. It gets regular updates and targets mobile gamers. Anyone can easily and quickly install the BlueStacks with excellent UI and give a full Android environment. Bluestacks 4 launched in 2018 that brings an excellent gaming performance, low CPU and memory usage. The aim is to include keymapping and settings for many installed games.
BlueStacks is 6x faster than Samsung Galaxy S9+. The Android emulator of BlueStacks is based on Android 7.1.2 (Nougat). Bluestacks made the MSI App Player that works better than vanilla Bluestacks. The emulator combines various things like graphics, the right mixture of power, and processing. It is the most trusted and high-quality graphics games emulator.
Features
- Well organized functionalities.
- Good specs can handle the graphics.
- Best for Windows and Mac.
- 6 times faster than others.
- It has an advanced key mapping and control system.
Minimum System Requirements
- OS: Microsoft Windows 7, 8, 9, 10.
- Processor: AMD Processor or Intel.
- At least 2GB of RAM.
- Free Disk Space – 5GB.
- It would be best if you were an Administrator on your PC.
- Up to date graphics from Microsoft or the chipset vendor.
2. MEmu
Price: $2.99 per month with paid promotion.
MEmu is a popular Android Emulator for both Windows PC and Mac. You can enjoy high-end games and a smooth working environment on PC if the system has a minimum requirement for the MEmu players. The emulator offers useful features to make gameplay easy on PC. Anyone can enjoy multiple instances at a time for various games or testing features.
The emulator allows high keyboard mapping customization to serve gaming control efficiently. You can get these emulators on Google Play Store to install and browse on the PC easily. The developers of MEmu release updates to add more features and fix any issues with the App. The emulator software helps in the deep integration of the mouse and keyboard to play the games smoothly. MEmu emulator supports Android Jelly Bean, Kit Kat, and Lollipop. It gives excellent performance for integrated and dedicated graphics on your PC.
Minimum System Requirements
- Intel, Nvidia, or AMD CPU Processor.
- Windows XP/7/8 /8.1/10.
- It provides Windows DirectX 11 or Graphics driver with OpenGL 2.0.
- MEmu can enable hardware Virtualization Technology (Intel VT-x/AMD-V) in BIOS.
- Minimum 2GB of system memory is needed.
- Minimum 2GB of hard disk free space is needed.
3. Nox App Player
Price: Free
Nox Player (Android Emulator) is another best choice for PC gamers. It contains all the features like another gaming niche Android emulator like keymapping, controller support, and gesture controls. The primary and best feature of this emulator is recording scripts and using multiple instances simultaneously.
This emulator is the best Android Emulator for both PC Windows and Mac.
Nox Player can handle high FPS games without causing any clutter and supports gamepad, keypad, and script records. And the script records help you to record a sequence on screen for later play. Sometimes it may take time for you to get acquainted with the controls, but when you achieve the controlling power, then Nox Player would turn out to be the best place to run Android Apps and Games when you get along with it. You can customize the control settings and optimize the quality if you feel graphics are higher than your PC standards.
Game lovers can get an utterly unlocked player from Nox Player to gain full access to the Android. It is a feature-rich and amazingly smooth run on the PC. The upgraded version of Nox Player is Nougat. Like BlueStacks, Nox is a fast, slick Android emulator for PC and Mac.
Minimum System Requirements
- Windows support versions – XP/7/8 /8.1/10 and DirectX 9.0C.
- It has a high configuration along with Dual-Core, AMD, or Intel.
- The supportive system needs OpenGL 2.0 and above.
- RAM Capacity must need 1.5 GB.
- Your PC needs 2.5 GB of Free space on the hard disk.
- AMD: Android 4.4.2 and the Android 5.1.1.
4. LDPlayer
Price: Free
LDPlayer is an Android emulator designed and focused on playing games on Windows. The Android Nougat 7.1 is fully gamer-oriented and rich in features. You can enjoy games with user-friendly keyboard mapping controls, mouse, multi-instance, macros, graphical support, and high FPS.
LDPlayer can efficiently operate simple and convenient multiplayer games. It is a combinational part of various types of games offering smooth controls, stable and efficient operations. You can get active updates with improved compatibility and enjoy a wide range of games such as Clash of Clans, Garena Free Fire, and many others.
You can enjoy multiple games at a time without interrupting any running process. It provides a multi-functional design and user-friendly settings.
The emulator has optimized League of Legends’ performance: Wild Rift, providing preset keymapping for different Champions and other custom features. LDPlayer has a well-rounded emulator for using TikTok, Instagram, WhatsApp, etc.
Features of LDPlayer
- LDPlayer is optimized only for mid-special devices.
- It can run heavy Android games entirely free.
- It offers high speed.
- High-quality performance.
- Smooth play and simple control.
5. KoPlayer
Price: Free
KoPlayer is an Android emulator that brings a quality Android playing experience to the Windows platform, and it is a reliable and free emulator. The main focus point is to deliver a lag-free gaming experience with lightweight software.
KoPlayer has built-in GMS support with Google Play Store. For this reason, you can download the emulator very quickly and safely. The platform is built on kernel technology on x86 Architecture. The most awaited features of KoPlayer is OpenGL and hardware acceleration.
It provides an excellent opportunity for the gamers without any hassle of speed, graphics, or critical functioning. So, forget to worry if you have a small screen but miss the larger one, then enjoy the gaming experience in a different look. KoPlayer has a bunch of premium functions of an emulator. You can easily play all Android games on a PC.
The emulator is not new in the marketplace, but it managed to get a targeted gaming audience. You can record your gaming session and post it on YouTube or anywhere you like. It supports both gaming and productive work equally with its high-quality software systems.
If you search for a free and well-performed Android emulator, then KoPlayer is not the wrong choice to select! The UI is simple to understand and easy to set up on any Android device. It supports gamepad emulation and keyboard mapping.
Minimum System Requirements
- Windows 7 or above.
- CPU – dual-core AMD or Intel CPU.
- Graphics card – GPU support with OpenGL 2.1.
- 10 GB free disk space.
- 2GB RAM.
6. Android Studio Emulator
Price: Free
Android Studio is designed for developers who want to develop their apps. It has a default development console (integrated development environment, or IDE) for Android. The emulator provides many tools to help developers make excellent and fabulous apps and games only for Android. However, it is a built-in emulator but serves fewer features than other Android Emulators. Mainly it provides the testing environment with various emulators.
Android Studio is the fastest and most feature-rich emulator. You can also run vanilla Android, download apps from Google Play. They can test their apps for various conditions such as the battery, storage, RAM, CPU, GPU, signal strength, and many more. It has custom launchers and keyboards and can emulate any size or form-factor device.
Features of Android Studio
- APK Analyzer.
- Layout tester.
- Real-time error detection.
- Code editing.
- Page loading speed test.
Minimum System Requirements
- 64-bit distribution capable of running 32-bit applications.
- 3 GB RAM.
- 2GB HDD space.
- Windows, Linux, or Mac.
- Minimum Monitor resolution needs to be 1280×800.
Android Studio supports Kotlin for better performance. Developers’ best choice is Android Studio because of its high-quality emulator and free of cost.
7. Genymotion Cloud
Price: Free with paid options.
Genymotion is different from other Android emulators. It is a pure Android development tool with speed and fantastic Android versions. The developers prefer Genymotion to test their Android application.
The interface of Genymotion is user-friendly and automatic. The App supports both gaming and product testing. The emulator is a good platform for Android SDK and Android Studio. It also works on macOS and Linux. Genymotion Android Emulator works with VirtualBox.
You can easily configure the emulator with various Android versions for multiple devices to fulfill your needs. Anyone can switch between virtual devices (Nexus One with Android 4.2 or Nexus 6 with Android 6.0).
Genymotion offers their services to enjoy free for personal use. It is available on both desktop computers and the cloud, and it is the most powerful feature.
It is considered an easy way to use Genymotion because it is designed to help developers test Apps. It would be best if you run the Android Apps over the cloud as a virtual machine. The emulator runs over the cloud on PaaS, SaaS, CGS, AWS, and many more. You only need a modern updated browser and good internet speeds. It has developer-friendly features. And this emulator is not the right choice for people who like the Android gaming experience.
8. Bliss OS
Price: Free or optional donations.
Bliss OS is a little bit different from another Android emulator. It works for PCs via a virtual machine. But Bliss can run on your computer through a USB stick. But bear in mind that the boot-from-USB option is entirely a power user option and not recommended for less extreme use cases. The VM install is easy.
For this reason, it makes Bliss a super unique emulator if you can make it through the steps to the end. The Bliss OS runs well if your system is compatible, so be prepared with a backup of your current operating system. This emulator system runs Android Oreo, which is among the newer versions of Android offered on an emulator. Bliss OS is open source and does not encompass ads or any Android emulator clutter.
9. ARChon
Price: Free
ARChon is not a traditional Android emulator. Anyone can install it as a Google Chrome extension, and it gives Chrome permission to run Android apps and games. You obtain APKs. ARChon works with any operating system that can run an instance of Chrome (Mac OS, Linux, Windows, etc.). To find out quickly, we linked to the official GitHub so that you can find detailed instructions for its use.
The ARChon works in Android 4.4. Want to install the extension, then download the ARChon runtime and unzip it. Now upload the file into ‘Unpacked Extensions.’
Hardcore Gaming lovers will love this emulator, and also an excellent choice for using productive apps. It is not a well-known product, but it’s the first to work on Chrome OS. It runs apps on Chrome, is free of cost, and runs on Windows, Linux, and Mac Os.
10. Xamarin
Price: Free or Enterprise options.
Xamarin, the Android Emulator, is an IDE similar to Android Studio and comes with heavy applications just like – Microsoft Visual Studio (a better and bigger development environment). Like Android Studio, it has a built-in emulator for app or game testing. Xamarin is best suitable for developers. It is free for personal use. But companies and larger teams may have to negotiate a payment plan.
Xamarin is a complete package for developers and works fine on gaming too. The user interface and setup is user-friendly and fair to use. Though the speed is not as fast and power-hacked as Genymotion, it gets you no complaints. There are many features in Xamarin so that you can play with and configure them according to your needs. The emulator is free to download.
11. GameLoop
Price: Free
GameLoop is another Android Emulator for game lovers. This emulator’s most popular title of this emulator is Call of Duty: Mobile and PUBG Mobile, which calls it the official emulator for its games (COD games).
There are other significant titles such as Fortnite and Grand Theft Auto V that are available to play through the emulator with a host of other games. But this one is not good for productivity or developmental testing.
GameLoop has keyboard controls, and the performance is good. It can not support mobile apps for business and office. But android games on your desktop GameLoop serve as a fine emulator.
Most of the Android emulators are designed for PCs. But GameLoop by Tencent created the emulator specially for mobile gaming on PC and is developed for PUBG gaming. The crazy Gaming Buddies can be able to handle high-end games.
GameLoop settings are simple to understand, easy to control, install Apps, and some more settings to improve the gaming experience. The emulator is small in size as compared to its counterparts.
12. YouWave
YouWave is the oldest emulator, and it is still working very well. The emulator has its limitations if you use the free version. The paid one comes with Android Lollipop. YouWave features both the free and paid version that is pretty much the same.
The YouWave is not a good fit for gamers, but you can play some low RAM games. The emulator is an excellent choice for productivity and testing with many useful tools for the developers. But it can not support Apps that require hardware sensors or use closed source APIs.
Minimum System Requirements
- Intel Pentium 1.6GHz CPU.
- 2.0GB DRAM.
- 500MB disk space.
- Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10.
- The Premium version requires Windows 64 bit and VT-x support.
13. Andy
Andy provides one of the best Android emulator experiences. The Android emulator can give you a smartphone experience and comes with many handy features for both developers and gamer lovers.
The Android emulator for Windows puts Android Nougat on your PC. Andy is a full Android emulator. Anyone can reposition the apps on the home screen and install widgets just like a real Android device.
Andy is a simple and powerful emulator for both PC and Mac. You can quickly transfer the Apps from mobile to emulator freely.
You can use the phone to enjoy the games on a Big Screen. Your smartphone plays a controller role and gives a good UX for play. Andy’s target is to bring Android games to the desktop. There is support for both Xbox and PlayStation controllers. But also, you need to use an Android phone as a gamepad.
Minimum System Requirements
- AMD is Dual-Core or Intel CPU with Virtualization support.
- 3GB of RAM.
- Free disk space is needed for 10GB.
- GPU with OpenGL 2.1 support.
- Windows OSX 10.8+ / Ubuntu 14.04+ / Windows 8.1 / Ubuntu 14.04+ / 7 SP1.
- Unlimited storage capacity.
- PC and Mac compatibility.
14. Remix OS Player
Image Courtesy – sourceforge
Price: Free
Remix OS Player (Android Emulator)is the newest for Windows PC and Mac. The emulator runs Android Marshmallow. The installation process of Remix OS Player is pretty simple to use. It is the best choice for gamers and capable of running multiple games at once. The emulator is entirely usable and clean as a productivity tool but not perfect for heavy gaming.
Users can put Remix OS on a USB device and boot from there to any computer. The emulator is optimized for gaming, and you can map keyboard buttons and control the game to your every comfort. The developers are improving the software every time. The emulator does not support AMD chipset and also requires Virtualisation Technology that is enabled in your BIOS. The interface is clean and fresh. Remix OS has lots of customization options for gaming preferences and allows you to play multiple games simultaneously.
Minimum System Requirements
- Dual-core Processor is 2 GHz dual-core or better.
- System memory is 2 GB.
- Free hard drive space is a minimum of 8 GB.
- Any updated graphics.
15. PrimeOS
Price: Free
PrimeOS is not an Android emulator but an operating system that boots itself after creating a computer storage partition. So, users will enjoy dual-boot options when they boot their PC, Windows OS, and PrimeOS. You can install quickly and boot up running native Android.
PrimeOS is a gamer-focused Android experience. PrimeOS supports mouse and keyboard and also access Android Apps and Games. Using PrimeOS, you can enjoy multitasking, watching video content, or playing games as your choice. Developers can use this emulator for productivity.
The interface of PrimeOS is spotless and clutter-free with a nice feel of a desktop the power of Android. The developers include all fundamental elements of the Android ecosystem to the PrimeOS, such as – Desktop characteristics like start menu, taskbar, etc. It serves as a very fresh usage experience. For gaming, there are some dedicated features given in below:
- Keymapping tool (Decaprokey),
- custom control settings,
- a dedicated gaming center (manage your games).
- CPU & GPU support tools, and more.
- OTA support (EXT4 RW) is available.
- Hardcore games.
16. Phoenix OS
Price: Free
Phoenix OS Android emulator is the newer one for PC. It gives a unique gaming experience along with productivity tools. Phoenix OS is run by Android 7.1 that is a modern version for an Android emulator.
Phoenix OS is developed based on many classic PC features like – desktop, multi-windows, mouse, keyboard support, and excellent support for Android games. It has Google Play services.
Phoenix OS’s supporting system is – LAN access, universal search, along with mouse support, drag and drops cross-windows. You can get ethernet, app clone, shortcut key support, and more. The emulator can run on devices with Intel x86 series CPUs. You can install it on the hard disk for operation without affecting the original document system.
17. LeapDroid
LeapDroid Android emulator is the best and fastest emulator for processing Android APK files and helps run all high-end games. The main focus point of this emulator is to maintain speed and performance. The LeapDroid offers very few options for customizing the functions. Users can not change the resolution and the adjustment of any deep parameter except for general Android settings.
LeapDroid is a good emulator that can beat any competitors by running a virtual machine. You can do some testing and play games very smoothly without any difficulties.
From the Google Play Store, you can download and install apps easily. The emulator allows users to create several accounts and use the emulator function on multiple devices.
Minimum Requirements
- Windows OS supported version 7 and above (32 bit or 64 bit).
- The emulator supports Dual-core AMD or the Intel CPU in the device.
- Graphical Processing Unit is GL 2.1 and above.
- 2GB RAM is required for higher and better performance.
- 2GB free disk space is required for lag-free performance.
18. NetEase MuMu Player
Price: Free
NetEase Android Emulator is made with MuMu. MuMu Player didn’t have any difficulties. But it ran well, and users can download all the games they want to test. The emulator runs Android 6.0. NetEase is a bit older emulator than other competitors. MuMu, Bluestacks, and GameLoop all have the same features, and three of those get regular updates. But it has a boot-time quality and rich-features that provide a warrant consideration.
19. AMIDuOS
AMIDuOS is also called DuOS, an Android emulator for PCs. It is running on the Lollipop version of Android. Before installing AMIDuOS, you need to make sure that the “Virtualisation Technology” is enabled in BIOS and also you have Microsoft Net framework 4.0 or above. The emulator is considered one of the perfect emulator systems.
The AMIDuOS doesn’t support Google Play Store. You can find this emulator on the Amazon App Store and can install any APK file as your preferences. AMIDuOS is capable of high-end handling games and serves external gamepad support. But the emulator does not provide any keyboard and mouse mapping features. AMIDuOS is a paid platform with a 30-day free trial, and the price is $15.
Minimum System Requirements
- Windows 10/8.1/8/7.
- CPU – Intel x86.
- Must need hardware “Virtualization Technology.”
- Need OpenGL 3.0 and above.
- RAM capacity is 2GB.
- Must need hard disk free space 2GB.
20. Build Your Own
Price: Free (usually)
You can quickly build your emulator. Let’s explore how it works in a nutshell. Firstly, you need to download VirtualBox. Secondly, download an image from Android-x86.org. From this site, you can discover many guides online and follow the steps line by line. It is quite tricky to follow and execute, but still not as tedious as other IDE settings like Android Studio or Xamarin.
We do not permit you to try these instructions without a tutorial and previous detailed knowledge. If you do as per your wish, then it won’t work well, and you face some bugs. But if you are a coder, then there are no issues to install.
Android Emulators: What are They and What Are the Reasons to Use Them?
Android Emulators is a software application that allows accessing Android OS features into your PC, Mac or Mobile. For this reason, you can enjoy Android apps and games. The emulators help developers who need to test their Android games or apps before launching in the market.
The most common use of Android Emulator is to play Android games. Using emulators, you can configure the CPU, RAM, and other parameters. You can experiment and test the app for experimental purposes.
There are plenty of emulators available, but the main point is why and what are the reasons behind them to use?
5 Reasons Uses for Android Emulators
There are several reasons to use an Android emulator for PC or Mac. We all have an idea that gaming is the most common reason for using an Android emulator on a desktop computer.
For this reason, if you do not use Android emulators to play games/apps on a computer, it is to swim against the tide. In today’s lifestyle, the use of Android emulators is increasing. Let’s discover the real facts:
Reason #1 – Save Battery Life
Gamers love to discover various and new games. Extensive gaming heat can harm and burn out the power very quickly. For this reason, they use emulators on their computers to make some games more comfortable to play. And they don’t need to rely on the battery life of their devices. These types of tricks aren’t considered an illegal process (in most games), so nobody has a problem with it—the best Android EMulators for gaming include Bluestacks, NOX, KoPlayer, LDPlayer, and MeMu.
Reason #2 – A Bigger Screen
Always staring on PC is terrible for health because most of them tend to tilt down their neck. Avoiding from the small phone screen to the PC screen can help pull your head up and serve a bigger screen with a better display.
Reason #3 – Testing Apps and Games Before Launch
The Android app and game developers like to test their creating apps or games on many devices to check the fluency and functional efficiency. Android Studio is the best emulator for them. It provides “Android Virtual Device” (AVD) for high-quality performance and functionality. You can enjoy these emulators by installing Android Studio and Android Software Development Kit (SDK).
Reason #4 – Increase Productivity
The gaming emulator works as a productivity emulator. To explore hyper-specific use cases, we can try ARChon and Bliss. We suggest moving into the Chromebook route to run Android apps in a laptop or computer environment.
Reason #5 – Multiple Apps or Multiple Game Accounts at the Same Time
To work and watch videos on any video-sharing app without interrupting each other functionality is quite impressive. Though all Android Emulators have not supported that feature, with Nox App Player, you could run and enjoy multiple Android instances on your PC screen.
Most of the emulators run anywhere between Android 7.0 Nougat and Android 9.0 Pie.
Wrapping Up
I hope you guys found the best emulators for your PC. There are the 20 best android emulators for PC and MAC but my recommendation is to choose from the top 5 according to your PC and operating system.
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