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.
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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.
- Here are some of the best Android emulators for Mac. Bluestacks is one of the most popular Android emulators for Windows and is probably the best Android emulator for macOS, as well. This emulator is built primarily for mobile gamers and claims to provide a “PC-like” gaming experience for your mobile apps.
- Basically, if you created a new user account in macOS Catalina, zsh (Z shell) will be your default shell. In all other cases, bash will still be your default shell. Test the Android Emulator.
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:
Mac Os Emulator For Ipad
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 Emulator For Mac Os Catalina Download
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
Free Mac Os Emulator
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!