M1 Mac Android Emulator

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.

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.

Setup M1 Android Emulator. Go to Tools → AVD Manager, then click +Create Virtual Device. Pick a device definition you like, e.g., Pixel 5. Pick a system image whose ABI is arm64-v8a. If you can't find any of them, check out the 'Other Images' tab. Download the ‘S’ or ‘R (30)’ API level. Play apk on PC with best Android Emulator - free NoxPlayer. Be compatible with Windows, and faster and more stable than Bluestacks. As shown by developers, the emulator on M1 can render 8.94 frames with one watt of power, while the Intel MacBook Pro renders 1.38 frames per watt. There’s no denying it; macOS M1 hardware kicks.

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.

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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

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.

Back in 2012, When I started using Android Apps and playing Android games on my Windows PC there were not many Android emulators out there to choose from.

But now in 2021, this situation is quite opposite to that. There are over 30 Android emulators available for Windows 10 OS and Mac OS.

So, if you are not an expert then it is really hard to pick the right one for your needs.

To give you the best advice I have decided to test most of these Android emulators myself. So that you don’t need to spend hours and days downloading and installing all of these Android Emulators.

After testing the simulators for days finally, I have come to my conclusion.

M1 Mac Android Emulator Pc

I have tested more than 20 Android emulators on my Windows PC and most of one most of them were not really good. But there are some really amazing Android emulators out there that we can use to play games or use any of our favorite Android Apps like Snapchat Instagram WhatsApp or any Other Android App. Here’s the list of the Best Android emulators for PC.

Here’s the overall difference between the major Android emulators.

#	Best Overall	Best For Gaming	Best For Developers	Lightweight
Name	Bluestacks	Gameloop	Android Studio	Youwave
Link	Download Bluestacks	Download Gameloop	Download	Download
Price	Free	Free	Free	Free
Platform	Windows & Mac	Windows OS	Windows OS	Windows OS

Before installing any Android emulator it is the most important thing you should know,

Most of the Great Android emulators Use a lot of your PC resources that means multitasking will become very difficult. Especially if your PC has a low configuration like an i5 processor and maybe 8GB RAM.

Even if you have a low configuration PC or laptop then you can still use these emulators but the thing is that The simulators will work better if you close all other softwares.

Once you have tried some of these Android emulators on PC, don’t forget to share which one is your favourite one and which App do you use the most.

So without any further ado let’s see the list of best Android emulators for Windows 10 PC and Mac.

1. Bluestacks – The Best Android Emulator

Bluestacks Android Emulator is probably the best emulator to use to run Android Apps on MAC or Windows 10 PC. The performance of the Bluestacks is excellent. You will experience unmatched Android performance with this emulator.

Bluestacks is easy to install and use. The User Interface is so good. Even a third-grade student can use Bluestacks emulator without any guidance.

It does not require any virtualization, and it is easy to install and play android games on Windows PC using BlueStacks Android Emulator.

The great performance and user experience of Bluestacks come with a catch. Bluestacks slows down many PCs and Laptops significantly.

We need to keep installing some kind of Apps every day to keep using Bluestacks for free. This is the worst thing about Bluestacks App Player.

Available for both Windows OS & MAC OS.
Price: Free or $2 per month for premium features.

2. Nox App Player – Great Android emulator for macOS

Nox App Player Android Emulator is perfect for gamers. If you want to play Android games on Windows 10 PC, then you can use Nox App Player.

You can control and play games with a mouse and keyboard. Due to its speed, many use it to test their Android games.

It has a lot of exciting features like one-click to hide or show root. It has keyboard mapping, where you can use a keyboard if you want to click anywhere while playing games.

Available for both Windows & MAC.
Price: Free

Nox Player has built-in GPS controller settings, through which you can play GPS based games like Pokemon on Nox Player in Windows OS.

3. Gameloop – Great Android Emulator for Gaming

Gameloop emulator has launched just a year ago but this emulator has become very very popular within no time.

If you want to play Android games then look no further, Gameloop is the best emulator to play games on PC for free.
Right now this is the second most downloaded Android emulator on Windows PC with over 400 Million installs.
The reason why this emulator became so famous within a short time is that it was developed by the Tencent company.

In case, if you don’t know about the Tencent company then you should know that it is the same company behind developing the most amazing games on Android mobiles that is PUBG and Call of Duty Mobile.

This is the official Android emulator to play PUBG and Call of Duty games on Windows 10 PC

If you’re looking to play only Android games on your Windows 10 PC then this is the only in Android emulator that you need to use there is nothing that can be compared to the Gameloop emulator.

When it comes to Android gaming performance on your Windows 10 PC, Gameloop is the best.

The only problem with the Gameloop emulator is that it is not available for Mac devices & It only supports Android games it does not support any other Android Apps as BlueStacks does. You can download Gameloop for free using the download link below.

Price: Free
Available Platforms: Windows 10

4. MEmu Android Emulator

MEmu is another fascinating Android emulator for Windows 10 laptops.
The latest version of Memu Player supports Android Nougat, and it is compatible with AMD and Intel Chipsets.
It has a lot many features as it comes with root access. If you are looking for productivity and gaming, then the MEmu android emulator can be chosen.
Memu is a free emulator.
Memu emulator is not available for Mac OS devices.

5. Android Studio – No 1. Android emulator for Testing Apps

If you are new to Android emulators, then initially, you need to get your hands-on this Official Emulator.
This is the official Android emulator released by Google for testing Apps in different Android versions.
It is highly recommended for Android App developers.
Developers can choose from 100’s phone models to emulate and see how the App works on different phones.
It has a complete guide and documentation to make it easy to use, and you need to try it.
Keep in mind that the setup of Android Studio very complex and I only recommend this for Android Developers, not for normal users.

6. Andy OS – Android emulator for low-End PCs

Android Andy OS is another unique emulator for PC. It stands unique when compared to other android emulators due to its unique features.

It allows you to use your phone as a remote control to play games. Using your desktop browser, you can install apps directly in Android Andy OS Emulator. It requires Virtualbox to be installed on your system.

7. YouWave – Great Choice for Windows 7

YouWave is another Android emulator for Windows 10 PC. It has a lot of exciting features and is the best choice for Windows 10 PCs. It has got easy to use user interface and has gained popularity in a short period.
YouWave Android emulator works with all Windows versions. It supports Android 5.1 Lollipop and has SD Card functionality. It supports dynamic rotating and can play multiplayer online games.

8. Windroy Emulator

Windroy is said to be one of the best Android Emulators for Windows as it runs on the Windows Kernel. It does not require any Virtual Box support the same as BlueStacks.

It is handy and easy to use. You need to make sure the path you install Windroy should not have spaces.

9. GenyMotion -Best Android Emulator for Enterprises

GenyMotion Android emulator for Windows 10 PC has salient features like OpenGL and support for hardware acceleration.

It is a bit different form of BlueStacks due to its unique features. It is faster when compared to BlueStacks as it is built on X86 architecture.

Genymotion is a cloud-based Android emulator. You can use Genymotion on AWS, GCloud, and other servers. Genymotion is primarily for developers who want to test their Android Apps performance and scaling up issues.

The price for using Genymotion on the cloud is $.05 per minute. As you can see it is definitely not for regular use.

10. Remix OS Player

Remix OS Player is the new Android Emulator by Jade, and it comes with Marshmallow.
It is straightforward to install and simple for productivity and gaming.
It has a sidebar that helps you to customize the configurations. It does not support AMD Chipset.

11. Droid4X

Droid4X is the lightweight Android emulator for your PC. This is good for users with old desktops and laptops.
It has some exciting features, you can try this Droid4x once.
It comes with Play Store pre-installed in it, and it allows you to configure your keyboard as a controller while playing games.
It is fast and does not lag any of your games, and it is the right choice.
Droid4x has been discontinued by the developers. I do not recommend this emulator for beginners.

12. Jar Of Beans

Jar Of Beans is an Android Jelly Beans Android emulator for Windows 8/10 PC.
It has priority worldwide and easy to install. You can configure settings as you want and can also create a Virtual SD Card.
You can download apk and connect them using jar Of Beans.
I do not recommend this for regular Android emulator users. Anyway, if you wanna give it a try then you can download it.

8. AMIDuos

AMIDuos is one of the recent Android emulators for Windows 10 PC and is perfect for gamers. It is straightforward to install and has an excellent user interface. It is said to be a smooth Android emulator and has things like gaming and productivity well.

It is not said to be developer-friendly as it does not have device-specific configurations, but on the user side, it is perfect to use android apps on Windows PC.

Note: This Android emulator has been discontinued by the developers. So, it is not wise to use this anymore.

14. Many Android Emulator

Many Android Emulator is one of the underrated Android emulators.
It comes with in-browser support, and it supports all android versions.
So, if you are an android app developer, then you can use this to test your Android app in all versions without leaving it. It is easy to download, install, and check your applications.

15. Xamarin

Xamarin Android Emulator is a must need an Android emulator if you want to work with a visual studio as it comes built-in with this.
It also has Xamarin studio and OpenGL support. Xamarin is not suitable for normal users who want to run Android Apps on PC or Play Android games on Windows 10.
Xamarin is for people who want to develop Android Games and Applications.

16. LDPlayer – Best Android Emulator for Windows 10

LDplayer is recently released by XUAN ZHI INTERNATIONAL CO., LIMITED. The good thing about the LDPlayer is that you choose the Android OS version. This is the reason LDPlayer has become a choice for many people.

It works with all versions of Windows and is said to be the lightweight android emulator. Android Emulators for Mac Free download.

17. KoPlayer

KoPlayer is another best android emulator in this list, and it is best to play an Android game on Windows 10 Laptop. It has a lot of features that make KoPlayer unique from other Android emulators. You can record the emulator screen while playing games so that you can record the shared video of your gameplay. You can also use multiple accounts simultaneously.

Here are some of the frequently asked questions about Android Emulators.

If you are an Android developer, then you can use Android Emulators to test your Apps to know how it works.

There are many such reasons to use Android Emulators. If you are also looking for Android Emulators for Windows 10 PCs or Mac Laptops, then you have landed on the right page.

M1 Mac Android Emulator Download

Android Emulators Conclusion

Have you ever thought of playing Android games on Windows PCs or MAC? Yes, you heard it right. Not only Android games, but you can also use any Android Application on Windows PC using Android Emulators.

Some applications look excellent in your mobile, and using them on the PC will be more impressive, and those same Apps will give you an incredible experience. There are many more such reasons to use Android Emulators on Mac OS laptops or Windows 8/7/10 PCs.

Note: Most of the Android Emulators would drain up your CPU, So I recommend not using any other software while running Emulators. This way, you will not run into any issues.

M1 Mac Android Emulator Apk

These are some of the best emulators for Mac & PC. If you have anything to add, please do let us know through comments.

Android Emulator For Apple M1

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